The problem is not plastic, the problem is waste plastic. Attenborough’s Blue Planet exposure of plastic waste in our oceans has raised awareness of the issue, and ... Read more
Not a lot apparently. Next week is the annual Responsible Business Summit Europe. Organised by Ethical Corporation, it brings together senior executives from some of the biggest ... Read more
It is official. Yesterday the 34-member Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) determined that we have now entered, in geological terms, the Anthropocene: the Age of Man. The group ... Read more
Last Friday, the Guardian newspaper announced that it was updating its style guide “to introduce terms that more accurately describe the environmental crises facing the world.” The ... Read more
Just yesterday we heard that Victor Vescovo had descended some 11km to the deepest place in the ocean, the deepest dive ever. He discovered new species of ... Read more
By Sharon Conceição Addressing climate change in the adventure travel industry isn’t an easy task. At times, it can even be quite overwhelming, especially for tour operators ... Read more
I wanted to write about May Day. I wanted to write about working less and remaking our connection to the earth. I really didn’t want to write ... Read more
Last week the UK’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary, Michael Gove, admitted that “we have not done nearly enough” on man-made climate change. Gove went on, ... Read more
This Monday – April 22, is Earth Day. It’s the 49th anniversary of the event, first celebrated in 1970. And this year, the theme is “Protect our ... Read more
The strikes by school children demanding government action in climate change are growing, reflecting the next generation’s concern about the impact on their future, as they become ... Read more
“Hamstrung by the idea that any mention of eco-problems would make audiences switch off, and the broadcasters’ preferred strategy of hoping that sharing incredible sights around the ... Read more
Beware of Greenwash – Why Awards Matter. The World Responsible Tourism Awards open today for nominations. The judges can only choose from amongst those that apply. So, ... Read more
Some good news for a change. Two high profile marketing campaigns, for two very different destinations, show the time is increasingly right for stories about sustainability to ... Read more
In a crowded market place it’s important to stand out from the crowd. WTM’s World Responsible Tourism Awards enable you to do just that. In a market ... Read more
Innovators and pioneers working in tourism are encouraged to enter this year’s WTM World Responsible Tourism Awards. Today (Tuesday 19 March) the six categories, chosen to highlight ... Read more
A wave of climate protest is sweeping the planet, and those of us working in tourism would do well to reflect quickly on how it will impact ... Read more
In the Responsible Tourism Awards each year we see many examples of businesses which have made real efforts to benefit local communities by sourcing goods and services ... Read more
This blog takes a different approach to normal, because when it is 20 degrees on a February morning in London, apparently the hottest February day ever in ... Read more
This year we are focussing on climate change and carbon emissions at all tour WTM shows. Some of you will recall the stark presentation made by Professor ... Read more
At the beginning of this month, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) published a series of detailed maps revealing that 36% of England’s population live too ... Read more
I was privileged to spend last week in India, first in Kerala and then in Delhi, for the 4th India Responsible Tourism Awards – one of the ... Read more
“Gradually, then suddenly”. It’s how a character in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, describes how he went bankrupt. I was unaware of the phrase until last ... Read more
Way back in 2011 the issue of orphanages in Cambodia was raised by Michael Horton during one of our Responsible Tourism sessions at WTM London. Michael reported ... Read more
While it is always risky to make public predictions, I think this year we will see a lot more discussion about aviation and climate change. The reason ... Read more
Over the last twenty years there has been a marked change in the significance of the European source markets. While there is a global market for travel ... Read more
Fifty years ago on December 24th 1968 the Apollo 8 astronauts took the famous Earthrise photograph as they orbited the moon, the first image of Earth captured ... Read more
In a year where the accelerating breakdown of the world’s climate got yet more headlines (if not yet enough action), the travel industry also discovered that it ... Read more
In 2018 there has been very little discussion in the Responsible Tourism programme across WTM’s portfolio of trade shows in Cape Town, Dubai, London, Sao Paulo about ... Read more
Catch up on the Responsible Tourism sessions from WTM London right here… 1. Business Taking Responsibility for Security, Health and Safety At the heart of the responsibility ... Read more
Today at the UN Climate Conference in Katowice Poland, David Attenborough’s People’s Seat initiative will see the 92yr old naturalist use his position to share the voices ... Read more
There is more coverage of the issue of overtourism in the mainstream press than in the trade press. Understandably destination marketers and many governments dislike the word ... Read more
Few people see Black Friday as a day for reflection. Along with its online sibling – Cyber Monday – It’s the apotheosis of consumption – a no-holds-barred ... Read more
The Responsible Tourism programme of talks, presentations, discussions and interviews held across all four WTM shows reflects the broad agenda of Responsible Tourism. At WTM London last ... Read more
Organised by WTM London To become a Finalist in the World Responsible Tourism Awards is a significant achievement, it marks you out as a leader in Responsible ... Read more
Few people can have missed this week’s pictures of a flooded Venice, and the video of the pizza restaurant that channeled the Titanic’s violinists and kept serving ... Read more
Every year many of the world’s leaders in Responsible Tourism gather at WTM London and participate in the Responsible Tourism programme which forms a major part of ... Read more
Last week Bhutan held only its third general election. And for the third time in a row, the Bhutanese people voted in a different party. And though ... Read more
Tomorrow is Global Ethics Day, inspired by Earth Day and established by the Carnegie Council. It is an opportunity to explore the meaning of ethics in international ... Read more
Every single person reading this line is currently benefiting from the Everything as a Service (XaaS) business model, whether we realise it or not. No one is ... Read more
The judges have deliberated long and hard after reviewing all the applications, longlisting and then shortlisting, the finalists for this year’s World Responsible Tourism Awards have finally ... Read more
How can we better understand the growing economic, societal and environmental impacts of technology and innovation in tourism? That’s the question posed by the UNWTO on its ... Read more
As I checked into my most recent rest camp in South Africa’s Kruger Park a few days ago, I was handed a questionnaire created by South African ... Read more
While there is little discussion of overtourism in the travel trade press and many destinations are in denial, the issue is hot in the national and local ... Read more
Tourism is about connections. Connecting to another place. Connecting with friends and family. Connecting to nature. It follows, therefore, that the better the connection, the more one ... Read more
Jost Krippendorf is the father of Responsible Tourism. In his seminal work on Holiday Makers, published in 1987, he foresaw the growth of the new form of ... Read more
What difference does tourism make to our daily lives? We create memories and enable people to rest and unwind. These are important things, but of themselves, all ... Read more
The overtourism issue has a great deal in common with the issue of climate change. We’ve known for a long time that the problem of overcrowding exists ... Read more
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the progress TUI is making in implementing their 2015-2020 Better Holidays, Better World strategy. They have understood that, to ... Read more
The TUI Group operates in 180 destinations, employs 67,000 people in more than 100 countries and provides holiday services to around 20m people. In size, they are ... Read more
Yesterday activist travel company Responsible Travel launched Crowded Out, a documentary about the growth of overtourism which is a consequence of exponential growth in travel and tourism ... Read more
A couple of weeks ago the Swedish burger chain MAX Burgers announced that all its burgers are now climate positive. From June 14, 2018, any meal eaten ... Read more
Tourism and the hospitality industry are often criticised for creating local quality service employment. There are three major reasons for this. People tend to waiters and room ... Read more
Now in their 15th year, the tourism industry’s longest running and best known responsible tourism awards are once again looking to find the most inspiring companies and ... Read more
Have you been on holiday recently and been amazed at what your hotel was doing for the local community, or perhaps taken a tour that really impressed ... Read more
The judges can only select from amongst those that apply – if you know good candidates nominate them, phone or email them, and encourage them to apply. ... Read more
Today is World Environment Day, and the theme is Beat Plastic Pollution. We’ve looked at this issue before, but so rapidly are the responses emerging, that it ... Read more
The World Responsible Tourism Awards to be presented at WTM London in November are now open for nominations and applications. They close on 6th August and are ... Read more
Like most of the best ideas, the Refill my Bottle initiative is incredibly simple. So simple that you’ve probably guessed most of what it is about from ... Read more
Responsible Tourism is about taking responsibility to address the issues that matter whether in a particular place or one that occurs in many areas. This year in ... Read more
Recent research published by TUI clearly shows that consumers expect the industry to take responsibility for ensuring that their product is sustainable. Research by booking.com found that ... Read more
For a somewhat obsessive follower of tourism industry news like me, the spike in press releases that mark the annual Earth Day celebrations provide a quick reference ... Read more
G Adventures has helped push sustainable tourism to the top of the world travel agenda. Katherine Lawrey speaks to founder Bruce Poon Tip about how the company ... Read more
Cape Town – Wilderness Safaris – an operator of safari camps, lodges and experiences in seven African countries, has grabbed the main prize at the 2018 African Responsible Tourism ... Read more
TUI recently published survey results on UK consumer demand. 62% of UK holidaymakers agree it makes them feel better when they know their holiday was organised with ... Read more
A luxury island in the Seychelles, a cultural experience among the Maasai in Kenya and a township experience in Namibia are among the organisations selected as finalists ... Read more
The Western Cape government is to spend “millions” on making Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) safe for tourists and locals, says Economic Opportunities MEC, Alan Winde. He told Tourism Update on ... Read more
It’s becoming more and more important to think about the marks we leave on places when we travel. After all, we all want future generations to be ... Read more
This article covers all you need to know about travelling to Cape Town, including detailed safety tips and information on health and medical facilities. Safety Here are ... Read more
Wellness and sustainable travel are top of the agenda for Central America tourism boards, writes Katherine Lawrey Costa Rica is promoting a new tourism strategy for 2018 ... Read more
As Jane Ashton, then with First Choice, said in a newspaper interview back in 2006 “‘The product we sell is the people and environment – so we ... Read more
A couple of exciting new stories about two upcoming hotels suggest the travel industry is beginning to wake up to the potential of the circular economy for ... Read more
Thomas Cook has just launched a new three-year sustainability strategy, promising to “Make a Difference with Every Holiday”. Their ambition is to make a positive contribution to ... Read more
Last week, I spent a night in a hotel in Brussels that has taken a circular economy approach to redesigning the way its loyalty scheme works. Following ... Read more
Here are five ways that Cape Town, host city of WTM Africa, is at the forefront of tourism trends, writes Katherine Lawrey. 1. Investment in Halal training ... Read more
Fifty years ago my father took me for a day trip to Boulogne, just across the channel from Ramsgate. He headed us straight for the back streets ... Read more
What connects most of the recent high profile campaigns to make tourism more responsible? Stop riding elephants. Don’t swim with dolphins. Avoid handicrafts made from endangered species. ... Read more
There is mounting concern about orphanages and tourism around the world, but the response has been patchy. Our world is a diverse place and our understanding of ... Read more
Last week Harold Goodwin’s blog laid out his reasons why the aviation industry’s approach to addressing its ongoing growth in emissions is inadequate. This week, I want ... Read more
Globally aviation emits around 2% of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, bring its total emissions to around 5% of the global total; if aviation were a country ... Read more
Thomas Cook is making the news this week for a new programme it is trialing to enable guests to pre-book sunloungers before they come on holiday. From ... Read more
It is a kind of pollution. There are of course several contenders. Carbon emissions and consequent global warming, soil degradation, overpopulation, biodiversity and plastics. It is not ... Read more
This week the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has launched an impressively extensive resource targeting food waste in hotels. Titled with one of the better acronyms around ... Read more
In my last blog of 2017, I looked back at some of my personal responsible tourism highlights of that year. I’ve been on holiday for most of ... Read more
2017 was the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. Taleb Rifai’s tenure of office as Secretary General of UNWTO closed at the turn of the year ... Read more
Looking back over 2017 the issue of governance has come to the fore. The challenge of overtourism has emerged as a cause of significant concern in part ... Read more
With the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development drawing to a close, I’ve looked back through the year’s headlines to chart an extremely personal selection of ... Read more
The concept of the “curate’s egg” was first used in the British satirical magazine Punch by George du Maurier in November 1895. The curate was too timid ... Read more
A few days ago, a new hashtag started appearing on Twitter. Created by the Good Awards, #pointlessplastics is encouraging people to tweet images of the unnecessary use ... Read more
At WTM London this month the least well-attended session of the Responsible Tourism programme was the one addressing climate change. We chose a panel of speakers from ... Read more
Just two months ago, on September 18th, Hurricane Maria hit the Caribbean island of Dominica. Minutes before, this was the Nature Island, a tropical paradise of 365 ... Read more
Tuesday the 14th November 2007 was the first WTM & UNWTO World Responsible Tourism Day, today we are ten years on. This year at WTM London we ... Read more
With a new Responsible Tourism Theatre in the Africa Section (AS580) the Responsible Tourism programme is now firmly established down on the show floor. An experiment last ... Read more
A report released last week into the working conditions of hundreds of thousands of women cleaning bedrooms and other hotel areas across the world. Published by Oxfam ... Read more
World Responsible Tourism Day is on Wednesday this year and our main focus is on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Tanya Beckett will be interviewing tourism leaders ... Read more
Alongside the stories of Ryanair and Monarch’s woes in the last few weeks have been excited posts on the potential of electric flight, following Easyjet’s announcement that ... Read more
