Winter 2022 January - March

The Destination Stewardship Report seeks to provide practical information and insights useful to anyone whose work or interests involve improving destination stewardship in a post-pandemic world. Its success will depend on your interest, feedback, and content contributions. Join us, and help each other. Please subscribe here. 

— Jonathan Tourtellot, Editor

Doing It Better: Snæfellsnes Peninsula, Iceland

On a long, skinny Icelandic peninsula, five small municipalities have teamed up to create a modest destination stewardship council and supporting network. Tiffany Chan, with Jonathan Tourtellot, explores the Snæfellsnes model of sustainable collaboration – a work in progress that has already earned a platinum sustainability rating.

A Council-and-Network Approach to Destination Stewardship

Iceland’s narrow Snæfellsnes peninsula pokes out 90km westward into the far North Atlantic from a point partway between Reykjavík and Vestfirðir (the Western Fjords). Its wild and diverse landscapes offer...

Cooperation on Jeju Island

Seonheul village on Jeju Island has undergone several transformations throughout its history, but in the last ten years, community-based tourism has become a mainstay — bolstering conservation, the local economy, and the social fabric of the village. Dr. Mihee Kang explains how stakeholders came together to establish a social cooperative that changed the future of the village.

A Village Unites to Protect its Cultural and Natural Resources

Many government-supported rural development schemes focus too heavily on infrastructure; many villagers don’t know how to run a business. By contrast, the Korean village of Seonheul on Jeju Island has established a local business that would ensure economic sustainability...

Teton County Stewardship Journal

What does it take to align a destination’s differing stakeholders and separate agendas into a coherent sustainability program? In Teton County, Wyoming, USA, better known as Jackson Hole, a mission to “unite efforts” sounds simple. As Tim O’Donoghue’s journal shows, however, those two words conceal a host of challenges when dealing with a complex, often overtouristed destination that includes two iconic national parks. The good news: The challenges can be overcome, with patience.

Jackson Hole’s Journey Toward Sustainability – A Journal

Before I begin: Teton County covers 4,200 square miles of some of North America’s most pristine wild lands and is home to the most abundant, diverse wildlife in the lower 48 states. Also, known as Jackson Hole, our destination includes Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks...

OPINION: The NY Times's Selection of Good Stewardship Destinations

This year, The New York Times Travel section devoted its annual list of recommended destinations to places where “where travelers can be part of the solution” – a sustainability first that recognizes the interactions between tourist and destination. How did the Times do? DSR editor Jonathan Tourtellot does a quick review of their choices.

The NY Times Chooses 52 Sustainable Destinations

“Did you have something to do with this?” My friend’s message contained a link to The New York Times’s annual list of 52 places to visit. It’s issued every January, only this year the newspaper’s list could have been wrapped in recycled brown paper and tied up with biodegradable string: “52 Places for a Changed World,” announced the venerable Times, where tourism can help with problems “like overtourism and climate change.”

Thank you, but no, not me, I replied – erroneously, it turned out – “but great that they’re doing this.” The 2022 list, says the Times, “highlights places where...