Category: Opinion

The tourism rebuild must negotiate a delicate balance between immediate recovery and long term sustainability. New tourism models must reduce the sector’s emissions while maintaining as much as possible its income and employment benefits, and an Australia-New Zealand-Pacific travel bubble is one solution.

It’s long been the case that destination marketers have largely ignored Black travellers. But with the widespread protests following George Floyd’s murder, the industry is rightly being called out. It’s time to go beyond mere representation and focus on holistic change from the inside out.

Indigenous tourism offers an opportunity for non-indigenous Australians to learn about Aboriginal culture and history. Many Australians would like to make personal connections with Indigenous peoples, but don’t know how. Indigenous tours can be a starting point for new connections, and ultimately reconciliation.

History illustrates how public parks in the US have often been socially constructed as white spaces. Given that these parks are important community resources that promote physical and mental health, social cohesion and conservation, how can we break down racial boundaries to make our spaces and society more egalitarian?

The global pandemic has provided an opportunity to redesign the tourism landscape and industry to be sustainable and truly equitable - and to reform the industry’s exploitations of people and places.