Extractive tourism encompasses the destructive impact of mass tourism on local communities, as travel ceases to be seen as a benign activity to be enjoyed by all. Governments and local authorities around the world are looking at ways to limit tourist numbers and encourage businesses to invest in the areas that they serve.
It’s a wonderful thing that so many people are finally talking about travel being a force for good. The challenge now, though, is how do we really know who’s walking the talk?
A city that had 8 million overseas visitors in 2019 – including free-spending parties of Chinese people – is getting used to the peace and quiet. After two years of the toughest borders restrictions in the world, Japan’s tourist boom feels as if it belongs to a different age.
Colombia-based Impulse Travel offers community-led tours in different parts of Medellín that are helping to change the city’s narrative. The aim is to let community leaders paint a more realistic picture of the city for visitors whose image of Medellín is still associated with the drug lord Pablo Escobar.
Are there needs, wants, and desires common to all (or most) individuals within your community? How might travel & tourism serve them? In this “Good Tourism” Insight, K Michael Haywood explores the challenge all destinations face if they wish to create ‘community shared value’.
