MEP Josianne Cutajar, member of the European Parliament’s Transport and Tourism Committee, has become a signatory of the Future of Tourism Coalition. The MEP is campaigning for the tourism industry to transform its business models, putting local communities and their ecosystems at the centre of tourism management and development.
New international funding will be used for sustainable tourism development in the area Maya Ka’an, Mexico. It includes the promotion of the region, sustainability training to tourism cooperatives and the improvement of the region’s ecotourism offerings. The region aims to generate local income across the Yucatán Peninsula without the negative impacts of tourism.
TExTour is a new project that will analyse and demonstrate new strategies for improving the socio-economic development of less known areas, but which have much cultural value. The overall aim is to conserve tangible and intangible cultural heritage while developing a tourism that is sustainable.
Many people are touting the vaccine as the saviour for our “new normal,” but this perspective is only reserved for those with privilege. The author suggests that if the tourism industry is serious about putting people first, then now is not the time to get on an airplane and take a trip. Instead, it is the time to support local businesses and to pressure local governments to financially support the tourism companies in our own communities.
As a result of overtourism, communities often choose to limit tourism at a destination. However, whilst many communities are concerned with ‘overtourism’, undertourism can be a bigger problem for many others. These communities dream of economic development, and with it jobs and opportunities. Either way, the host communities should be able to choose their vision of ideal tourism development.
