We came to their village and they welcomed us with warm smiles and simple gifts; Flowers, tea, tasty snacks. The head of the community spoke words of friendship and we walked through the village, the Annapurna range in the distance. We stopped by a well and spoke to the young people, collecting water for the evening meal. We were sharing our evening meal with a small group of families. After dinner, they brought out their iPhone and wireless speakers and played an eclectic mix of traditional Nepalese songs...

06 October, 2017 /

From a marketing perspective, the answer to “where do I start?” is always with your target market. For many small tourism businesses that can be a hard thing to do – after all – your product is right there in front of you – and it is beautiful. Over summer I had the great pleasure of visiting tourism product in the area of San Juan de Arama in the Meta region of Colombia. As the ink dries on the peace treaty that ends the war in Colombia, the people...

01 October, 2016 /

There is an excitement about the power of social entrepreneurship. Unleashing the power of entrepreneurial thinking on social problems provides “out of the box” solutions  after years of "standard" responses these challenges. However, some of the most vocal advocates for social entrepreneurship only extoll the virtues of scalable solutions and game-changing approaches. There is more to social enterprise than a few large organizations and I want to take a moment to celebrate social entrepreneurs that are working in their own small corners of the world, making real and positive change...

06 July, 2016 /

The idea that tourism is a system has been around for a while. Morrison and Mill wrote the first edition of The Tourism System in 1985 - and they weren't the first to recognize the concept. Since then there have been advances - Louise Twining Ward - added that tourism was a Complex and Adaptive System and Noel Scott and his colleagues have done great work on understanding the dynamics within these networks. So - if we know its a system - why don't we treat it like one ?...

22 May, 2015 /

"Sustainability" has been described as one of the most "jargony-ist" words of recent times. Because I talk about sustainability a lot, I get this feedback from everyone - students, hoteliers, tour operators and DMOs.  I agree ! The word "sustainability"  is used way too frequently and too carelessly - and it's too bad - because lost in the "I'm so over this word - sustainability" attitude is the important fact that DMOs are important agents of sustainability. Imagine working to make the destination the best place it could be -...

15 May, 2015 /

At a recent conference one of the speakers reminded the audience that tourism takes place at the acquiescence of the community. I thought the statement was eloquent and expressed an important idea...

10 August, 2014 /

So often, tourism is a "bit player" in the health of a community. In the traditional models of tourism,  tour operators come and - at best - the visitors they bring spend money that contributes to the local economy. While the tourism income helps, there is a lot of  what economists call "leakage". Imagine a new type of tourism company - a company founded for the purpose of enhancing the cultural and economic benefit of the host community. Imagine a social enterprise - like Tom's Shoes or Ethos Water...

16 May, 2014 /

While I am committed to promoting sustainability in tourism, I am sure that we can do better. Sure - I know many destinations are struggling just to ensure that tourism is not a destructive force in their communities.But just not being bad isn't good enough...

17 March, 2014 /

Surf City USA really gets sustainable tourism. The folks at Visit Huntington Beach realized that their long term success meant protecting the environment, and celebrating the culture of the iconic SoCal Surf City while ensuring the visitor economy remained vibrant. In other words - they recognized the importance of sustainable tourism and took an active role in promoting within the destination. To support industry and community adoption of sustainable tourism they produced some great materials that explain sustainability and provide action tips to visitors, business owners and the community. To get the...

26 January, 2014 /

Bain and Company, one of the world's leading consultancy companies, recently released their report - "Great Green Talent Machine" touting the importance of CSR in recruiting talent. This is the latest in a series of articles and papers highlighting the importance of corporate reputation and values, often best expressed through their CSR activities, as a factor in attracting talent. So what if you are the "talent"? You are attracted to the company and now you want to work with them. How do you get the job ? What do recruiters...

14 September, 2013 /
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