wtml-blog

July 20, 2021July 20, 2021

Is there a business case for Responsible Tourism?

The answer is yes and no. Yes, because as I have written about here before, the market research demonstrates that increasing numbers of travellers, from all source ... Read more

July 13, 2021July 20, 2021

Responsibility matters for businesses communities and destinations

Blog, Responsible Tourism

The Responsible Tourism movement is broad, it encompasses all those who are actively making tourism more sustainable. The taking of responsibility is demonstrated by action. It is ... Read more

July 6, 2021

What can I do to travel sustainably?

Blog, Responsible Tourism

Research shows that travellers and holidaymakers want to travel sustainably and look for businesses and destinations that take responsibility for providing them with those opportunities. 48% say ... Read more

June 22, 2021

Why Sustainable Tourism Failed

Blog, Responsible Tourism

This is a guest post written by John Swarbrooke. Way back in 1998, John published the seminal text on Sustainable Tourism Management, and it is still in print. ... Read more

May 4, 2020August 26, 2020

COVID-19: Is it time to press the reset button?

Blog, Responsible Tourism

The current crisis is without parallel, the first global pandemic in the age of mass tourism. Any return to business as usual looks uncertain.

April 22, 2020May 29, 2020

Webinar – Developing resilience in the face of Covid 19

Video

The Global Travel & Tourism Resilience Council has partnered with World Travel Market to provide the travel industry with insights and thought leadership during this time of ... Read more

April 17, 2020August 13, 2020

Business as Usual – no time soon

Blog, Responsible Tourism

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

April 17, 2020August 12, 2020

10 travel films to help cure your holiday blues

Blog, Wellness

If you’re feeling the FOMO right now, here’s a few travel films to help transport you to your favourite destinations… ... Read more

April 9, 2020August 12, 2020

What Can Luxury Travel Brands Do in the Midst of a Pandemic?

Blog, Luxury, marketing, Resilience and Recovery, Responsible Tourism

Luxury during a global pandemic. Is there such a thing? Moreover, is it even proper to think about luxury at this time? ... Read more

April 6, 2020August 13, 2020

Eight things the hotel industry can do to aid revenue recovery

Blog, Hospitality, Resilience and Recovery

Hotels have been attempting to mitigate lowering the rates and putting new measures in place with an aim to revive the hotel industry and contribute to revenue ... Read more

March 31, 2020August 11, 2020

A future template for resilience? How we can repurpose tourism and support local communities

Blog, Responsible Tourism

We have been forced to stop travelling, to repatriate our guests, do what we can for those that depend on us, and only then try to find ... Read more

March 25, 2020August 13, 2020

Finding resilience in travel Industry – despite COVID-19

Blog, Resilience and Recovery

The Global Travel & Tourism Resilience Council has partnered with World Travel Market to provide the travel industry with insights and thought leadership during this time of ... Read more

March 23, 2020August 12, 2020

Keeping teams motivated during a crisis

Blog, Travel Industry

When it comes to your business, keeping teams motivated and customers engaged is crucial. We believe there are three key things to do to ensure morale is ... Read more

March 20, 2020August 12, 2020

How to maintain your wellbeing while working from home

Blog, Wellness

As the current pandemic keeps escalating a lot of us have found ourselves working from home, and a bit wary of how we are going to adjust ... Read more

March 13, 2020August 10, 2020

Does Coronavirus have any lessons for sustainable tourism?

Blog, Responsible Tourism

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. ... Read more

February 12, 2020February 12, 2020

WTM’s Simon Press hits the airwaves to address ‘Brexit perplexity’

Blog, Economy

WTM director takes part in BBC radio interviews to bust some of the myths about travelling now we’re in the Brexit transition period “The nation has celebrated ... Read more

December 23, 2019December 23, 2019

How the Quest for Epic Adventures is Changing Luxury Travel

Luxury

Last November 4-6th marked the 40th World Travel Market annual tradeshow at the ExCel London. Attended by over 50,000 representatives from the tourism and travel industry all ... Read more

December 16, 2019July 10, 2020

2019: A Turbulent Year in Travel

Podcast

Listen now on iTunes Listen now on Spotify Travel has seen its fair share of ups and downs this year, from the collapse of big travel ... Read more

December 16, 2019July 10, 2020

WTM Insights LIVE: Courting Hollywood

Podcast

Listen now on iTunes Listen now on Spotify This episode was recorded LIVE at the World Travel Market, London- the biggest travel trade show in the ... Read more

December 11, 2019December 11, 2019

Kerala has been hit by flooding, a resilience challenge well beyond the capacity of tourism to address

Responsible Tourism

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

December 4, 2019December 4, 2019

Tourism, Climate Change (and why I feel like a fraud)

Responsible Tourism

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

November 26, 2019November 26, 2019

Resilience requires that travel and tourism prepare for the worst

Responsible Tourism

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

November 25, 2019

What should Extinction Tourism look like?

Responsible Tourism

“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

November 12, 2019

Future Proofing Travel and Tourism

Responsible Tourism

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

October 23, 2019October 25, 2019

My way of being one with nature

Destinations

As a leading sustainable holiday destination, the Slovenian Tourist Board (STB) has long since believed in using tourism as a force for good – raising awareness for ... Read more

October 18, 2019

Thomas Cook’s remarkable journey

Economy

The outpouring of grief on social media over the weekend of 14-16 September resembled the response to a national disaster. Yet no lives had been lost – ... Read more

October 16, 2019October 16, 2019

The Hospitality Tech Landscape: What Does the Future Hold?

Technology

The Future of Hotel Tech: What Does It Hold? For a long time, hotel tech didn’t give investors much to get excited about. Why? Many technology companies ... Read more

October 15, 2019

WTM London Responsible Tourism Programme 2019

Responsible Tourism

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

October 10, 2019October 14, 2019

Thomas Cook and the travel industry’s warm heart

Economy, WTM Team

The demise of Thomas Cook was a sad and sobering event for all of us in the travel industry, and has prompted some remarkable acts of kindness ... Read more

October 10, 2019July 10, 2020

How Is Pop Culture Driving Tourism?

Podcast

Listen now on iTunes Listen now on Spotify With travel being the second biggest spend for 16-35’s over things like bills and food, it’s no wonder ... Read more

October 7, 2019November 18, 2020

Turn Flightshame to your advantage – Promote train travel

Responsible Tourism, Responsible Tourism, Social Media

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

October 1, 2019

Emerging Leaders in Responsible Tourism

Responsible Tourism

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

September 12, 2019November 18, 2020

Floriade Expo 2022 – Green City of the Future

Blog, Exhibitor News, Responsible Tourism

With only a few more years to go, the preparations for the Floriade Expo 2022 are in full swing. Everyone is working hard on the realization of ... Read more

September 9, 2019July 10, 2020

Accessibility in travel – what more can we do?

Podcast

Listen now on iTunes Listen now on Spotify As we strive for a more inclusive and diverse society, is that being reflected in how we meet ... Read more

August 28, 2019November 18, 2020

Shambala Festival: What tourism should do next

Responsible Tourism, Responsible Tourism, Social Media

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

August 15, 2019August 15, 2019

The impact of technology on business and leisure travellers

Technology

There is a convincing argument that the travel industry invented e-commerce. In the 1960s, American Airlines and IBM developed the first-ever computerised customer reservation system. Fast forward ... Read more

August 9, 2019July 10, 2020

How to Harness the Power of Influencer Marketing

Podcast

Listen now on iTunes Listen now on Spotify With around 3.5 billion people actively engaged in social media, it has become integral to the success of ... Read more

August 5, 2019October 8, 2019

Tourism needs new stories

Carbon & Water, Social Economy

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

July 9, 2019August 14, 2020

Making Strides In LGBT+ Tourism with Ian Johnson

Diversity & Inclusion, Podcast

Listen now on iTunes Listen now on Spotify In a competitive industry like travel and tourism, how can companies ensure that they appeal to all demographics? ... Read more

July 2, 2019July 2, 2019

Tourism is not working. And that’s a good thing.

Responsible Tourism, Social Economy

Most of our time is defined by work. It is how we afford the things we need and want. But more than that – it’s assumed as ... Read more

May 30, 2019May 30, 2019

10 reasons to enter the International Travel & Tourism Awards

Professional Development, WTM Team

The International Travel & Tourism Awards, presented by WTM London take place on Tuesday 5 November 2019 at Magazine, London and are now open for entries. Here ... Read more

May 21, 2019May 23, 2019

My four least favourite phrases that tourism should stop using

Responsible Tourism, RT Marketing

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

May 17, 2019May 17, 2019

How Can Travel Brands Make Things More Personal For Luxury Travellers?

Luxury

When talking about travel trends, ‘experience’ has been the keyword in trends across the travel industry. As a whole, consumers are choosing to spend on things that ... Read more

May 16, 2019July 10, 2020

Episode 10 – How Podcasting Can Strengthen Your Brand

Podcast

Listen now on iTunes Listen now on Spotify The rise of podcasting into the mainstream has been significant and more and more businesses are seeing audio ... Read more

May 9, 2019May 9, 2019

ITTA Awards prove they are the Industry Stamp of Approval

Blog

Shortly after the International Travel & Tourism Awards (ITTAs) evening last year, we reached out to all the winners as we wanted to find out if winning ... Read more

May 7, 2019May 16, 2019

The week when everything changed

Carbon & Water

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

April 10, 2019April 10, 2019

Marketing to the modern Muslim traveller

Halal Tourism, Trends

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 ... Read more

April 4, 2019April 4, 2019

Halal Tourism Becomes Mainstream

Halal Tourism, Trends

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 ... Read more

March 19, 2019March 19, 2019

Marketing to Female Travellers in the Middle East

Halal Tourism, Trends

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 ... Read more

March 4, 2019July 10, 2020

Episode 9 – Unforgettable Journeys: The BBC on Creating Memorable Branded Content

Podcast

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 ... Read more

February 26, 2019February 26, 2019

Popular honeymoon destinations in the Middle East & Asia

Destinations, Halal Tourism, Trends

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 ... Read more

February 18, 2019February 18, 2019

The importance of native language reviews and trusted sites for Middle Eastern travel consumers

Destinations, Halal Tourism, Trends

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 ... Read more

February 7, 2019July 10, 2020

Episode 8 – June Sarpong on the Importance of Diversity in the Travel Industry

Podcast

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 ... Read more

January 25, 2019July 10, 2020

Episode 7 – How to Capitalise on Chinese Outbound Tourism

Podcast

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 ... Read more

December 11, 2018December 11, 2018

Decarbonisation and the Travel and Tourism Industry

Carbon & Water, Responsible Tourism

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

December 10, 2018December 10, 2018

Responsible Tourism Podcast Sessions

Responsible Tourism

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

December 7, 2018July 10, 2020

Episode 6 – 100 Years of Suffragettes: Gender Balance in Today’s Travel Industry

Podcast

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 ... Read more

December 5, 2018July 10, 2020

Episode 5 – Johan Lundgren CEO easyJet – Exclusive WTM ‘Meet the Experts’

Aviation, Podcast

Listen now on iTunes Listen now on Spotify Johan Lundgren took over as CEO of easyJet in December 2017 and, since joining the airline, has set ... Read more

November 20, 2018November 21, 2018

Could Black Friday offer a teachable moment for tourism?

Responsible Tourism

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

November 19, 2018August 14, 2020

5 Years of Women in Travel Meetups: Reflect, Resolve & Be Resilient!

Blog, Diversity & Inclusion, Women in Travel

The Women in Travel meetup celebrated its 5th year this year in London with an even bigger and bolder event. When I first raised the idea of ... Read more

November 9, 2018July 10, 2020

Episode 4 – UK Travel Market: What to expect in 2019

Podcast

Listen now on iTunes Listen now on Spotify On this episode, direct from WTM London, five industry leaders from Euromonitor International, TUI, Easyjet, Travel Counsellors and ... Read more

November 7, 2018November 7, 2018

#WTMLDN 2018 – The Final Day

Adventure, Blog, Business Travel, Destinations, Technology

It may have been the third and final day of WTM London 2018, but that didn’t mean things slowed down at all. ExCel London was once again ... Read more

November 7, 2018November 7, 2018

World Responsible Tourism Awards 2018

Responsible Tourism

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

November 6, 2018November 6, 2018

#WTMLDN Day 2 – #IdeasArrivedHere

Blog, Events

Ideas certainly did arrive here on day two of WTM London 2018, as industry experts continued to inspire audiences across The WTM Global Stage and the brand-new ... Read more

November 6, 2018

Sardinia, a unique land, timeless & boundless

Destinations

A unique land, timeless and boundless, an endless island. His ancient story steeped in charm and mystery, beyond comparison with other Mediterranean and European civilizations, which has ... Read more

November 5, 2018July 10, 2020

Episode 2- Global Consumer Trends: Opportunities for Travel

Podcast

Listen now on iTunes Listen now on Spotify Direct from the shop floor on the first day of the 3 day World Travel Market event in London’s ... Read more

August 30, 2018August 30, 2018

10th Climate Week NYC confirms New York as capital city of a responsible world

Carbon & Water, Destinations

Climate week NYC is the largest climate event in the world, New York City is its home, and this year’s event on 24 to 30 September is ... Read more

August 10, 2018August 10, 2018

Drum Roll Please

Blog

Guest Blog by Nick Pilbeam, Divisional Director, Reed Exhibitions I recently spent the day heading up the judging panel for the brand new International Travel & Tourism ... Read more

July 31, 2018August 1, 2018

Senior travel industry experts meet for awards judging day

Blog

Last month we officially closed the Awards entry portal for the FIRST EVER International Travel & Tourism Awards. After a steady flow of entries from national, regional ... Read more

July 10, 2018July 10, 2018

TUI leads the way in reporting progress on sustainability

Carbon & Water, Certification, Responsible Tourism, Social Economy

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

July 5, 2018August 3, 2018

Coping with Success aka Overtourism

Overtourism, Responsible Tourism

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

July 4, 2018July 5, 2018

In the future, tourism should look more like this Climate Positive Swedish burger

Carbon & Water, Food Tourism, Responsible Tourism

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

May 1, 2018May 1, 2018

All you need to know about tourism in Russia

Destinations

Russia has a great offering of tourism, and after reading this blog you will get the complete picture of the Russian travel market and what it has ... Read more

April 10, 2018April 12, 2018

African Travel & Tourism Entrepreneurship: a Female Perspective

Professional Development, Women in Travel

For the current blog I am delighted to interview the amazing Chantelle Cole, Executive Manager: Strategic Projects and Brand at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. Chantelle tells us ... Read more

March 28, 2018July 5, 2021

The reasons driving a boom in Sri Lanka’s tourism

Destinations, Spring 2018 Magazine

Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is prospering, fuelled by a diversification of its visitor markets. Dave Richardson explains Nearly a decade on from the end of its civil ... Read more

March 27, 2018March 28, 2018

The future of hotels is circular… and two of them are opening soon

Hospitality, Responsible Tourism

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

March 26, 2018April 3, 2018

Healthy outlook for wellness tourism

Spring 2018 Magazine, Trends, Wellness

A new report by the Global Wellness Institute sheds light on the spa trends of the future. Charlotte Cullinan asks the experts how these will change the ... Read more

March 20, 2018March 20, 2018

Making a Difference with Every Holiday

RT Marketing

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

March 19, 2018

#IWD18 taught us that girls can be a girl’s best friend!

Women in Travel

Thursday 8th March was International Women’s Day 2018 and its theme was #pressforprogress. Women in Travel run a day of celebration in connection with a leading hospitality ... Read more

March 15, 2018May 10, 2018

Losing your voice

Technology

I have been doing some research for a presentation I will be giving next month. I am going to be talking about our future customers – Generation ... Read more

March 14, 2018April 3, 2018

Benefits of tourism grant programme spread throughout England

Destinations, Economy, Spring 2018 Magazine

A £40 million Discover England fund has been distributed to ensure England stays competitive in the global tourism industry. Debbie Ward finds out what the grant recipients ... Read more

March 13, 2018March 13, 2018

How to engage tourists in sustainable tourism (Part 2): redesign the loyalty scheme

Carbon & Water, Development, Hospitality, RT Marketing, Social Economy

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

March 9, 2018April 3, 2018

Cape Town’s Big Five tourism trends

Destinations, Responsible Tourism, Spring 2018 Magazine, Trends

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

March 7, 2018May 10, 2018

City break innovations in a Balearic capital

Destinations, Spring 2018 Magazine, Technology

Now that Palma de Mallorca has reinvented itself as a city break destination, Katherine Lawrey finds out how the city is refining the visitor experience. Encouraging visitors ... Read more

March 6, 2018

Travelling to encounter the other

Blog, Development, Social Economy

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

March 1, 2018August 18, 2020

Social media mayhem, why bloggers need to control their creative content

Blog, Blogging, marketing, Social Media

One of the most common questions you’ll get at many blogging and influencer conferences these days from new content creators is “what advice would you give someone ... Read more

February 27, 2018

How to engage tourists in sustainable tourism – make them feel proud to come

RT Marketing

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

February 22, 2018June 2, 2020

Social media expertise needed as the market gets complicated

Technology

For three years from 2014-17, I looked after a lot of social media accounts. It was the phase where travel companies knew they had to have social, ... Read more

February 20, 2018

Orphanages: Slavery and Birthday Parties

Human Rights

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

February 16, 2018May 10, 2018

At last a use for Blockchain

Technology

I don’t know about you but I have been to quite a few presentations on blockchain and read plenty of articles on the subject. I now think ... Read more

February 13, 2018

To deal with the climate costs of flying, we need to talk about growth and carbon offsetting

Carbon & Water

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

February 12, 2018August 14, 2020

How women returners could become a valuable part of your future workforce

Blog, Diversity & Inclusion, Women in Travel

According to PriceWaterhouseCoopers Women in Work Index 2016, Women Returners still make up a significantly underutilised resource. In particular, this research shows that in the UK an ... Read more