COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on volunteer tourism businesses. It is also forcing organisations to examine past practice, their role and their impact. Accepting the need for change could be the first step towards a more sustainable future.
In this article, the authors put forward four ways in which governments can reimagine their role in the tourism sector in the context of COVID-19. These include the development of a central nerve centre, new financial mechanisms, transparent communication on protocols and the provision of a data and analytics infrastructure.
Is travel enough to engender the deep cross-cultural awareness people need now? Experts suggest that while travel may not inspire enough empathy to turn tourists into social justice activists, the alternative - not traveling at all - may be worse.
Given the pressing need to promote positive economic impacts while also conserving natural heritage, a free online training platform has been launched. ‘Sustainable Tourism: Training for Tomorrow’ aims to increase the quality, supply and accessibility of training in sustainable tourism for Protected Area stakeholders across Europe.
Food waste monitoring, training and awareness raising are key to providing significant impacts in reducing food waste. Speakers at a recent webinar for the World Regions of Gastronomy Platform also agreed that converting and reusing food waste for other purposes is a key challenge and that food waste reduction should be a positive message/campaign.
