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 Species”. What should ... Read more
Unlike hotels where guests can sometimes book nights out of necessity, resorts are an entirely different business wherein guests book simply because they want to indulge. From equine therapy to ... 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 voters expect to ... Read more
While some Halal tourism networks showcase outstanding promotional services to their audiences, many travel professionals still struggle to address their Muslim travellers’ needs. A panel of thought leaders in the ... 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 world would inspire ... Read more
Blunt force trauma is a medical term which describes an injury caused when an object hits or strikes a body. These days, social media has pretty much the same effect. ... Read more
Halal tourism is amongst the fastest developing sectors in the travel industry, gradually becoming more conventional. Global travel companies are thus implementing business models to be included into this growing ... Read more
If influencer bashing had begun a while ago, we’re certainly in full swing now. Only if you’d been sleeping under a rock (or in one of those deluxe Fyre festival ... 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, if you know ... 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 inspire. For a ... Read more
As current children under the age of 18 are capable of booking holidays on their own, the access to digital technology has made children sharper and more advanced than ever ... Read more
Instagram has taken another step forward in becoming a key marketplace for people to buy things. This week the company announcemenced the rollout of something called Instagram Checkout, which will ... Read more
March is a month that celebrates women. It is Women’s History Month, an annual commemoration to highlight the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. On top ... 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 place where increasing ... Read more
Upon the recent news that women make 80% of all travel decisions, the future of travel certainly appears to be female. But how do travel professionals speak up and get ... 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 our industry, and ... Read more
Gemma Greenwood, Director of Content Inc. panelled a discussion to gain insight into pivotal market trends and how the industry is going to evolve and move on from the Muslim ... Read more
“What is work, Mummy?” “Oh it was just something we used to do before AI and robots started doing everything for us, darling.” “And what did you do?” “Oh I ... Read more
Day by day the travel industry is improving and people are learning about more features and innovations that they didn’t know before. Technology makes the daily technical processes easier, but ... Read more
As ATM 2019 rapidly approaches, I’m delighted to say that Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates, will be our first guest for the aviation programme. Sir Tim’s words are always ... 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 in the local ... Read more
Listen now on iTunes Listen now on Spotify Branded content in the travel sector means telling memorable stories, but how can you be sure you’re delivering your brand story ... Read more
Just two months into 2019 and it’s clear to see that food travel is well and truly on the menu for this year’s travel agenda – and it’s here to ... 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 the UK, things ... Read more
They say that love is the food of life, and travel is the dessert. If that is to be believed, then it means that honeymoon (the dessert after the wedding) ... Read more
SIT back and enjoy the films. No, not The Oscars silly, but a series of travel shorts from Culture Trip, the media company promising to shake up travel. Consciously being ... Read more
Travel is a right for all people, but all too few travelers are actually aware of the passenger rights in case of disruptions. Are you aware of your passenger rights? ... 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 Kevin Anderson at ... Read more
The world of travel content is as vast as the globe itself. Newspaper and magazine articles, blogs and vlogs, influencers’ social media posts, TV documentaries, radio podcasts – and not ... Read more
“Roses are red, violets are blue. Love is in the air, bring out the fondue.” It’s the month of love, and whether you celebrate Valentine’s Day or not, I think ... 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 far away from ... Read more
Cast your mind back… Do you remember the reason you started blogging in the first place? Maybe it was because you wanted to publish your words and experiences, to help ... Read more
Messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are a shady place. Lots of stuff gets shared around in these private places. That’s kind of annoying if you work in ... Read more
Listen now on iTunes Listen now on Spotify TV presenter and campaigner June Sarpong came to the WTM to host a panel on the issue of gender equality in ... 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 family of awards ... Read more
Halal tourism is one of the fastest-growing facets of the global travel industry. Muslim travellers around the world are hungry for travel experiences and this is driving the sector’s phenomenal ... Read more
A good spread of traveller types, source markets and seasons are the aims of most destinations, and Malta offers something of a masterclass in what’s possible, with a decade of ... 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 week. Yet when ... Read more
It was a bold move, but Primera Air’s venture into low-cost long-haul will surely be recorded as the shortest-lived attempt to break into the market. From waving off the first ... Read more
ANOTHER new year, another debate on whether virtual and augmented reality will become, well, a reality. Not delivering on what’s been promised, gimmicky ideas, a focus on escapism – a ... Read more
Solo travel is on the rise across all markets, and you would have to be living under a rock not to notice it. Open any of your favourite social media ... Read more
Listen now on iTunes Listen now on Spotify Destinations and travel businesses around the world are making great efforts to attract a larger share of China’s outbound travellers, but ... 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 that tourism was ... Read more
Of the seven sheikhdoms that together make up the United Arab Emirates, perhaps just two – Dubai and Abu Dhabi – are familiar names. But while the two largest emirates ... Read more
Whatever the final outcome of the difficult negotiations between the UK and EU over Brexit, Ireland has had to re-assess its international marketing and try to address its over-dependence on ... 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 I say this ... Read more
There can’t be many brands that boast a global market share in excess of 65% but whose boss argues he has not yet reached more than 1% of the potential ... Read more
As a travel writer, I can tell the time of year just by looking at my email inbox. At Easter, the subject lines are usually filled with puns along the ... Read more
Tourism to China has traditionally been based around Beijing and Shanghai, but that could be in for a shake-up thanks to a boom in flights to regional cities. In the ... Read more
Many holidays to the Caribbean are all about palm trees and gleaming white sands – and with options ranging from mega-resorts to B&Bs, villas and luxury hotels, there’s certainly no ... Read more
Tunisia’s recovery from the impact of two devastating terrorist attacks three years ago has gathered pace during 2018. Figures from the country’s tourism ministry show that visitor arrivals for this ... 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 by humans from ... Read more
When travelling around America in the 1980s, helpful signs directed you to park the car and photograph a view. With a camera back then, not a smartphone. These viewpoints were ... 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 was responsible for ... Read more
Social Enterprising is quickly becoming a buzz word and I have written about it before. One of the most recent trends however is how quickly food and drink focussed social ... Read more
I was at a conference the other day and, whilst awaiting the first speaker’s presentation, I was chatting with the lady next to me. I am not sure how it ... Read more
In six days, a video has raced up YouTube’s trending charts thanks to, at the time of writing, some 113 million views. It is not the latest Bieber or BTS ... 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 the decarbonisation of ... 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 agenda is taking ... Read more
Travelling affects quality of life. For beyond your customary trip, Puglia is the most effective cure to rejuvenate, enhance yourself and become aware of the world. Rather than a destination, ... Read more
Listen now on iTunes Listen now on Spotify 2018 marked the 100th anniversary of British women gaining the right to vote and WTM London held a special travel-focused debate ... 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 of the many ... Read more
True or False: When we think of luxury destinations, images of overwater villas in the Maldives and luxury hotels and cars in Monte Carlo may come to mind. Answer: True. ... Read more
The analysis of an influencer’s worth is deepening daily, as brands turn away and genuine influencers turn on their wannabe colleagues. Two influencers in the past week called out others ... 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 “overtourism” being associated ... Read more
I quite often give presentations explaining the characteristics of our future consumers – Generations Y and Z when actually, they are just about all grown up now. Gen Y were ... Read more
Are you an influencer or a microinfluencer (or even a nanoinfluencer)? After this week, more may be in the latter category. Instagram has finally announced that it is to crack ... 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 scramble to ‘get ... 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 week there were ... Read more
Technological advancement has been improving our everyday lives as well as public health, from refrigerating food in the 19th century, through seatbelts, to airbags and other innovations. Why would this ... 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 Tourism; it carries ... Read more
Travel is booming, with international trips expected to grow by 5 percent in 2018. We live, however, in an ever-changing world, and the travel industry needs to adapt continuously. Euromonitor ... 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 pizzas with the ... Read more
It seems incredible that 20 years have passed since I launched Just a Drop at World Travel Market 1998. At the time, I was a new Exhibition Director and a ... Read more
Almost 104 million visitors travelled to Latin America in 2017, a figure expected to grow to 122.5 million by 2022, according to Euromonitor International. The US still makes up the ... 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 the show, culminating ... Read more
A $12.2 billion price tag is a hefty one, but understandable when you consider what Marriott bought back in 2016 when it purchased Starwood. The combined company now boasts 30 ... Read more
Quite a few years ago (pre-Internet) I was commissioned to carry out a feasibility study for a large telecommunications organisation. The idea was to test the concept of an electronic ... Read more
Millions of visitors from across the globe will enjoy an exceptional experience at Expo 2020 Dubai, as the world comes together for a celebration of human ingenuity, culture and creativity. ... Read more
It has been a busy time in the wholesale sector in the past year or so, with some major deals cementing the hold of the big two players in the ... Read more
With two weeks to go before WTM London, I am proud and delighted that this year we will celebrate our 5th Women in Travel Meetup under the theme of ‘Make ... Read more
It’s been an amazing 5 years since we last had easyJet in the interview hot seat at WTM! Then Carolyn McCall had not long arrived as the airline’s new CEO ... Read more
According to American economist Theodore Levitt, the difference between creativity and innovation is: “Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things.” Due to a market that is ... Read more
As the clock continues to count down to the UK’s official Brexit day, on 29 March 2019, the negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union continue to unfold ... 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 this election got ... Read more
It was once a diseased, poverty-stricken southern town where many inhabitants lived in caves, but such is the transformation of Matera that next year sees it become a European Capital ... Read more
Four “excellent” shortlisted finalists will be going for gold in the ‘Best in Luxury’ category at the inaugural International Travel & Tourism Awards, presented by WTM. The final four will ... Read more
We have talked for a long time now about how video is the future in the world of social media. That was underlined again last week when Snap announced the ... Read more
LGBT guests are in demand and the destinations that make the effort are in competition to be top choice for the LGBT traveller. The inaugural International Travel & Tourism Awards ... Read more
France’s World Cup win will hopefully mark a positive turning point in the country’s global profile, following dark times around the terrorism attacks of recent years. The French government has ... 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 affairs. Much of ... Read more
For this latest blog I am delighted to interview another inspirational woman in travel, Kate Webb Co-Founder of Orbis Expeditions who will be speaking at the Women in Travel Meetup ... Read more
Shortlisted candidates are hoping they have the recipe for success in the ‘Best Food Tourism’ category of the inaugural International Travel & Tourism Awards, presented by WTM London. The winner ... Read more
The rapidly evolving world of digital influencers will be recognised with a prestigious honour from the inaugural International Travel & Tourism Awards, presented by WTM London. Contenders from across the ... Read more
A wedding or honeymoon overseas is often the most luxurious holiday a couple will have in their lifetime, and tapping into this market can be lucrative. WTM Buyers’ Club members ... Read more
As some of you out there might know, I’ve been toying with the idea of traveling more and working remotely. Also sometimes referred to as being a digital nomad, yes… ... Read more
Tourism campaigns in line to win an honour in the inaugural International Travel & Tourism Awards, presented by WTM, say that being shortlisted is already a great achievement. Seven candidates ... 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 reading this article ... Read more
As a leading green destination, the Slovenian Tourist Board (STB) is well versed in using tourism as a force for good – to raise awareness for the environment, support local ... Read more
England had its hottest summer ever this year, while the UK as a whole equalled previous highs set since records began in 1910. The heatwave lasted 46 days, from June ... Read more