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Details of RTD8 which runs from 3rd to 5th April in Manchester are now on the conference website www.crtmmu.org/rtd8/ More detail and a booking page will go live on Monday 3rd February.
Day 1. Thursday 3rd April 10:00 – 18:00 Responsible Tourism in Destinations
VisitEngland is partnering with the Responsible Tourism Partnership to address the challenges of tourism development and management. This is VisitEngland’s English Tourism Week conference.
Thursday 3rd April Professor Harold Goodwin’s inaugural lecture at MMU: Taking Responsibility for Tourism
Day 2. Friday 4th April 09:30- 18:00 Taking Responsibility, Achieving Change.
During the day we shall address three topics and three challenges in order to learn more about how to encourage individuals and organisations to take responsibility and to achieve change
Topics: carbon pollution and climate change; local economic development; human rights and social inclusion. Challenges: (i) Agreeing what the problem is. (ii) Securing consensus about the solution. .
(iii) Achieving action and reporting progress.
19:00 Conference Social Networking Opportunity
Day 3. Saturday 5th April 09:30-16:00 Networking Day
An opportunity for those involved in organised around the issues and themes which participants bring to RTD8 – if you would to suggest a topic or challenge you would like to explore please contact Harold Goodwin
One-day conference aiming to stimulate debate and discussion around the concept of responsible tourism in Ireland co-hosted by the Irish Centre for Responsible Tourism and the Green Hospitality Programme. Speakers include Lorena Arias, Maurice Bergin, James Chilton, Robert Cleverdon, Carol Gleeson, Harold Goodwin, Catherine Mack, David MacNulty, Paddy Matthews and Cillian Murphy For more details and to register Ideally the ICRT in Ireland will be driven by the industry, highlighting best practice and acting as a hub for the promotion of the principles of responsible tourism - making Ireland a better place to live in and to visit. www.icrt.ie
Kerala Tourism was awarded for its path-breaking Responsible Tourism project in Kumarakom, where the Department has demonstrated leadership in working with business and the communities to make better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit. Their initiative has successfully linked the local community with accommodation providers encouraging the creation of local employment and local sourcing of goods and services for the industry in Kumarakom. The Department of Tourism in Kerala has successfully established a model which has empowered the local community to secure development and to manage the environmental impact of tourism on the farming land and the Vembanad Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Kerala, heavily trafficked by houseboats. more
responsibletravel.com has launched a new series of destination guides, best time to visit, maps and highlights, things to see and do. standard fare perhaps but well written and insightful. What makes these guides stand out is the Responsible Tourism tips and issues - which tell it as it is, and there is an opportunity to comment if you think they've got it wrong. There should be more of this kind of honest commentary for travellers, enabling them to travel like a local. California Gozo Helsinki Jordan KwaZulu Natal Peru New York State Destination Index
This new Masters programme is designed to develop leaders in Responsible Tourism, change makers able to make a real difference to the way tourism works, to use tourism to make better places for people to live in, and better places for people to visit – in that order. This MSc focuses on tourism but the skills learnt and much of the knowledge is transferable to other sectors.
The MMU Masters in Responsible Tourism (subject to validation) will be offered part-time over two years and is designed as CPD with a strong emphasis on professional engagement and development – we are developing and supporting change-makers. Full details on the website
The International Tourism Partnership has published advice for hoteliers to help them to understand and address the issue of trafficking, ITP has produced a Know How Guide and Guidelines for Checking Recruitment Agencies.
WTM. Means responsible tourism. World Travel Market is extending its Responsible Tourism programme to WTM Africa in Cape Town. There will be panels RT: Good Business; Environmental Responsibility; and Child Protection.
As Stephen Farrant argues in the 2014 Hotel Year Book we need to move beyond business as usual. "The opportunity to drive real competitive advantage is there for us all to seize. And yet, within that competitive space, the whole industry has a collective interest in ensuring that “green” and “sustainable” become aspirational for customers, as well as drivers of continual improvement for business. Over time, that is likely to take the leaders in the industry to shift the focus from incremental reduction targets to describing “net positive impact,” from low-carbon to carbon-positive hotels, from water efficiency to water stewardship, from entry level jobs to career paths of choice, from community engagement to measurable social value."
"Embedding the movement within “business as usual” compliance or risk management functions won’t get us there; creativity, innovation, risk-taking – and anticipating the needs of tomorrow’s marketplace – most certainly will."
TUI Travel PLC has exceeded its latest airline carbon reduction target (9% by 2015 on a 2008 baseline). Across its six airlines, the Group has reduced its relative carbon emissions by 9.3% in 5 years, Average CO2 per revenue passenger kilometre now stands at 70.7g- an improvement of 3.2% since 2012, making us one of the most carbon efficient airlines in Europe and beyond. In the 2013 atmosfair Airline Index, TUIfly was named the most climate efficient airline worldwide with over a million passengers and most climate efficient charter airline (for the second year in a row), and also ranked Thomson Airways as the second most climate efficient for short haul flights. more
Ninety-seven million Chinese traveled abroad in 2013, beating the 2012 mark by roughly 14 million, according to the China National Tourism Administration. The number is expected to surpass 100 million this year. According to the Tourist Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said that China's tourists have had the world's strongest purchasing power since 2012. They overtook German and US tourists as the world's biggest-spending travelers in 2012, spending $102 billion overseas, a 40-percent increase from 2011. Chinese tourists spent on average $7,107 per person during their trips in the US in 2011, well above the average amount of spending per tourist in the USA of $2,440.
With increased spending and traveling by Chinese travelers, more travel service providers in foreign countries are reported to be adjusting their business models. Hotel groups, including Hilton Worldwide and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, have designed new services specifically for Chinese customers. By August 2013, all of Hilton's hotels worldwide were providing a service called "Hilton Huanying" that provides Chinese tea pouches and teapots in guestrooms. Chinese food is also being served in its hotels. Domestic tourism is reported to have reached 3.2bn more
Stories circulating on the web about the slaughter of dolphins in the Faeroes and Denmark appear to be an urban myth. Unless snopes.com have it wrong
Urban myths are remarkably pervasive there are 10 more here. They may make you smile
