We can learn much about tourism in Africa – celebrating diversity and inclusiveness, growing the cake to create more value for neighbouring communities, living with and benefitting ... Read more
There has been great optimism in the media that we will “build back better” after lockdown. It is a worthy aspiration. I also hope that we will. ... Read more
The climate emergency is upon us. We need to reduce emissions faster, but we also need to cope with the consequences of our failure to act over ... Read more
David Attenborough in his most recent series A Perfect Planet has celebrated our Earth’s biodiversity and documented the natural forces – volcanos, the Sun, weather and oceans ... Read more
The greenhouse gases we emit are largely invisible, the travel and tourism industry does not have smoke stacks and many of our emissions are embedded in our ... Read more
The challenge of climate change is characterised by scale and complexity. But, it is not seen as a clear and present danger; it is not seen as ... Read more
The sudden changes caused by pandemics in 2020 forced us to reconsider innumerable times the ceremony format of WTM – Latin America Responsible Awards, initially scheduled to ... Read more
It is improbable that there will be a post-COVID world. Our sector will need to learn to deliver business and leisure travel in a world where COVID-19, ... Read more
Three current crises – COVID-19, climate change, biodiversity loss – all have one thing in common. No country, state or individual can successfully solve or even ... Read more
We can’t keep reinventing the wheel, operating in silos, or treating efforts to act more sustainably as a marketing differentiator. We’re all in this together, and we ... Read more
As we move towards 2021, and begin to imagine what comes next, isn’t it time we prepared for an increasingly inevitable future, rather than build backwards to ... Read more
One of the recurring themes during the sessions for WTM Virtual and London Travel Week was the need for tourism to pay far greater attention to the ... Read more
Our industry thrives on the diversity of our world – we need to ensure that we ensure that we are diverse and inclusive, to build a better ... Read more
Reflecting on the two days of Responsible Tourism panels at WTM, London last week it is clear that there is increasing recognition of the role of government ... Read more
Last Wednesday, we announced those we had commended and highly commended in this year’s World Responsible Tourism Awards, we wanted to recognise those who had shouldered responsibility ... Read more
The pandemic has caused WTM London to go virtual. WTM London this year is carbon neutral – well nearly. Our computers, networks and servers all use increasing ... Read more
At the heart of Responsible Tourism is the idea that tourism businesses look at the social, environmental and economic issues in the place or places that they ... Read more
If regenerative tourism is just another new buzzword repackaging the same old thing, it will also be devalued and then replaced in time. Yes it is about ... Read more
The COVID-19 crisis has created an opportunity to rethink tourism, a pause enabling us to reshape the sector and to do tourism better – if we want ... Read more
Tourism’ future won’t be saved by cleaner aviation fuels or speedier quarantine processes. These just improve the current model. They get us back to getting bigger again.
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While recognising that the pandemic is far from over and that many countries are experiencing a second wave, it is important to look beyond survival to recovery. ... Read more
Biodiversity loss and climate change are the twin existential challenges that we face as humanity. The responsible recovery of the travel and tourism sector after the ... Read more
So, at the end of Climate Week, on Friday’s for Future Global Day of Climate action, and with World Tourism Day at the weekend, here are my ... Read more
Neoliberalism is in retreat. In an increasingly protectionist world this affects tourism directly as travel across borders becomes less frictionless, decarbonisation becomes a political imperative and biodiversity ... Read more
Last week I learned that 2020 is the second hottest year on record, after 2016. (For the record, that makes it the second hottest year in the ... Read more
In the new normal, destinations should place sustainability at the core of their strategies as it is the main element that underpins their resilience and tackles impacts.
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At WTM Virtual in November we shall be addressing the core challenge that confronts our sector: How do we build back better after the damage done to ... Read more
As we imagine our new place in the world, how might such trends change the world? How should they influence our planning? Are we trying to build ... Read more
Cut emissions in half by 2030. This is what defines the future of tourism. Not what tourism looks like in 2020, but what it needs to look like in ten ... Read more
Aviation Week earlier this month concluded that “from 2030 onward to 2050, renewable hydrogen production technologies should reach maturity, the strategy says. Hydrogen and hydrogen-derived synthetic fuels ... Read more
COVID-19 is a global pandemic, but it is unevenly spread around the world. In some countries the worst has passed for now, in others the situation is ... Read more
The pandemic has hit tourism to Africa hard. The Gambia, in West Africa, has a population of just over 2 million, with many living in rural poverty.
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Can hotels help us live more sustainably? Can they help us prepare and adapt for a life that will increasingly be defined by an ever-worsening climate emergency?
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WTM Portfolio is leading the way in tackling the climate crisis by hosting a symposium of top scientists who are working on ways to decarbonise aviation. Harold ... Read more
The global pandemic has revealed how important tourism is to so many developed and developing countries. COVID-19 has had very different impacts on guests and hosts.
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Learning to live with the threat of COVID-19 will take time. As this month’s Responsible Tourism News goes to press some states in the USA are halting ... Read more
Last week I was able to interview Derek, I began by asking him about how important tourism was to creating a more just and equal society post-apartheid.
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Now as our industry enters a different phase, where we are tentatively reopening again, it is good to see examples appearing of governments and private sector initiatives ... Read more
As international travel comes to a standstill with closed borders and struggling airlines, experts around the world are looking up to domestic travel as a means to ... Read more
As many of you will already be aware, we opened entries for the World Responsible Tourism Awards a couple of weeks ago. The aim of this year’s ... Read more
For our industry, where much of the conversation of the last few years in tourism has focussed on the issue of over-tourism, this question is especially pertinent. ... Read more
The World Responsible Tourism Awards 2020 are dedicated to acknowledging those in travel and tourism who have taken remarkable steps to address the multiple challenges brought to ... Read more
In this year when the world faces a global pandemic, it seemed inappropriate to continue with the World Responsible Tourism Awards as usual.
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As we look at ways to achieve a sustainable future for tourism, we should ask what tourism can do to support a sustainable future. How can we ... Read more
Recent tourism initiatives and campaigns give me hope that the industry’s recovery can be marked by the same generosity and resilience that has been shown through the ... Read more
These are extraordinary times, a return to business as usual looks improbable. The IMF is predicting that the ‘Great Lockdown’ will result in the worst recession since ... Read more
When the post-mortems begin to be done on the different ways the pandemic was handled in different countries we shall learn a great deal about what works ... Read more
The World Health Organisation is providing data on the spread of the virus; national governments are determining their response. Governments around the world have acted to advise ... Read more
Coronavirus dominates the news, but one doesn’t have to look very far to see people making connections between the current emergency and sustainable tourism.
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I have explained why carbon offsetting is part of the problem, it is not part of the solution. Most carbon offsets do not deliver for the environment, ... Read more
As the sustainable travel sector continues to grow, more and more travellers are seeking out holiday experiences that align with their own values on sustainability. What’s more, ... Read more
Early this July, the Jazz Night Express will take a trainload of passengers from Rotterdam to Berlin. Along the way passengers will be able to enjoy live ... Read more
56 businesses and individuals working in tourism have joined Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency accepting that this “requires immediate and radical action by our governments, our industry ... Read more
My vegetarian wife says that when I met her 15 years ago I pretended to be a vegetarian to impress her. She says I was pretending, because ... Read more
I am writing this in Binsar, in the foothills of the Himalaya in Uttarakhand. I was Delhi for the presentation of the India Responsible Tourism Awards, I ... Read more
This New Years Eve, a group of friends and I were having dinner. At someone’s prompting, we all shared our five favourite moments of 2019. Two things ... Read more
There is little doubt that, assuming war does not break out, that climate change will be the dominant story of 2020. COP 25 was, to say the ... Read more
At best, the tourism sector can address its own resilience. We often hear talk about the resilience of a destination, its ability to bounce back from adverse ... Read more
Most people I know suffer from imposter syndrome. Most of us believe that any second now, we’ll be found out as frauds, hypocrites, or simply as completely ... Read more
We are failing to reduce and mitigate – resilience requires that we adapt. We have not even begun to slow the rate of growth in greenhouse gas ... Read more
“The Bramble Cay melomys was a little brown rat,” said the director for the Wilderness Society, Tim Beshara. “But it was our little brown rat and it ... Read more
At World Travel Market, London this year the focus on World Responsible Tourism Day was on the challenge of decarbonising our industry. Carbon emissions from our fossil-fuelled ... Read more
Don’t miss the World Responsible Tourism Awards 11:00 – 13:00 today in the Europe Inspiration Zone 11:00 – 11:15 Opening of WRTD Europe Inspiration Zone EU80 WTM World ... Read more
We have a full programme of Responsible Tourism events today with some of the most high profile panels on The Challenge of Building Sustainable Hotels with the ... Read more
WTM London is the largest Responsible Tourism event in the world. We focus on the solutions with a programme designed to help businesses and destinations thrive in ... Read more
Do you love adventure? Does African wildlife inspire and amaze you? Do you want your children’s children to be able to see wild elephants? Yes? You sound ... Read more
On 5 December 2016, the Australian city of Darebin, a municipality in the suburbs of northern Melbourne, was the first place in the world to declare a ... Read more
By John Pagano, CEO of The Red Sea Development Company We have entered a new age of travel. An age in which technological advancements making travel even ... Read more
By João Almeida Watch dolphin shows, swim with pink dolphins in the rivers of the Amazon region, touch these animals and take selfies with them. It all ... Read more
By Teresa Llusá There is growing evidence that consumers expect business and destination governments to ensure that consumers are offered more sustainable holidays. According to World Travel ... Read more
By Gustavo Pinto The day São Paulo became ‘night’ at 3P.M.: only after the biggest city in South America felt direct impacts from the Amazon fires with ... Read more
The award recognizes outstanding Latin American initiatives in the sector The entries for the WTM Latin America Responsible Tourism Award are open and are already at full ... Read more
This year at WTM London, we are addressing some of the major sustainability challenges and asking who can do what about them. We need businesses and destination ... Read more
A friend of mine called last week for holiday advice. It’s not the first time someone has done this, but it is the first time that a friend has done ... Read more
We announced the finalists in the 2019 World Responsible Tourism Awards two weeks ago, they will be presented with Gold or Silver Awards at WTM London on November 6th, ... Read more
Insights for the event’s 2020 edition along with new business formats were presented at the meeting WTM Latin America’s Director Luciane Leite and the Advisory Board’s Chair ... Read more
Each year at WTM London on World Responsible Tourism Day, the first Wednesday in November, we present Awards to those businesses, destinations and organisations which our panel ... Read more
These meetings are part of a strategy for recognizing market needs and generating opportunities. WTM Latin America’s team met up with Air Europa, Copa Airlines, Orinter Tour ... Read more
To imagine what tourism should do next in my ongoing quest for ‘tourism’s new stories’, I found that the Shambala Festival is one of the best examples around
As the UK’s Tourism Concern pointed out in a long-running campaign “We take our holidays in other peoples’ homes.” Way back in 1994 Colin Marshall, at the ... Read more
By Gustavo Pinto The rules for visiting Machu Picchu changed in 2019. One of the top cultural destinations in the whole of Latin America (which in 2018 ... Read more
Overall indices in terms of satisfaction and return to the event are up WTM Latin America, the leading B2B event for the Latin American travel industry, presents ... Read more
By Gustavo Pinto The first edition of the WTM Latin America Responsible Tourism Awards is taking place in 2020. This widely-renowned award has been held since 2004 ... Read more
There are still places where locals are surprised to see tourists, although there are fewer each year. And of course, many businesses are pleased to see them ... Read more
Across Europe, the beginning of August signifies the beginning of the long summer holiday. Children are all off school for several weeks. Parliaments shut for a while. ... Read more