Maybe a good-hearted sustainable corner has been turned
Perhaps it’s because we’re right in the middle of the festive season, maybe it’s the thought that 2018 can’t be as bad s 2017 was. But maybe, just maybe, the travel industry is beginning to see the economic, social, cultural and environmental benefits that tourism can deliver. And we’re all getting to understand how to do it!
The cruise industry seems to be getting the message and recognizing that possibly cruising could have a less filthy dirty sustainable footprint – maybe those Peace people could have a plan that works
And talking of peace, Louis d’Amore of the IITP has been battling away for years and maybe he is finally getting a bit more exposure
The Travel Foundation, too, one of the really, really good, professional outfits in the global travel industry, seems to be getting right to the cutting edge of things with 1700 of Travel Counsellors’ franchisees
Plus YOUR destination could be a sustainable tourism leader as resilient Green Destinations with its Top100 Sustainable Destinations is launching for a fourth year
In Jamaica at beautiful Montego Bay the World Bank got together with UNWTO to create something really interesting and incredibly important – inclusive development in destinations
And France is wielding a Big Green Stick all the way to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris – when by all reports there will be NO internal combustion engines in the city
And more and more travel agents and tour operators are giving back a little to where they got it from
Maybe it’s something to do with a more sophisticated clientele who can see through the marketing Bullsxxt and want travel arrangements that deliver real value like Romagna:
Maybe we know that the writing is on the wall when fragile little destinations are gently demanding environment pledges from tourists on behalf of their children. Can you imagine what would happen if every destination, fragile or not followed this honest and clearly heartfelt innovation?
The sadness is that, even though a little peace and love and charity is breaking out in the global travel industry – it looks like in Bethlehem this year it’s a sad Christmas story
Valere Tjolle
@ValereTjolle
