best practices
When local cultures aren’t so great
Travel exposes us to many strange sights and experiences. By setting foot beyond our own borders we might explore palaces and temples that we’ve seen before in movies; we might meet people of races we’ve never encountered and see their colourful national dress; we’ll probably hear many languages that we don’t understand. Most of our […]
Going local in Chile!
Traditional tourism, sitting on a comfortable bus and taking pictures of the main landmarks of a place can certainly be fun and interesting. But there’s nothing better than going in deeper into the local culture of a destination and exploring off the beaten path. At least that’s what I try to do whenever I travel […]
Visit local to have a better vision of the world – Tour de Chocolate
Partaking in local tourism gives us a concrete and practical approach to better understanding how the various communities around the world evolve. Going local is not always the easiest way to plan a trip because usually it doesn’t come in a package. But the research is worth the effort because it makes us take a […]
Linking Cultures Through Sustainable (and Local) Tourism in Celebration of World Tourism Day
Do you believe travel can be a force for good? Since 1980, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNTWO) has celebrated World Tourism Day on September 27th to bring awareness to the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political, and economic value. “World Tourism Day is an opportunity to reflect on the importance of […]
Stories from a local traveler
I don’t need to go anywhere except my front porch to encounter life in its finest form. Living in Los Angeles has forever redirected my reasons and motives for traveling. When I travel, I often think of my LA days as a reference point for the type of openness, ingenuity and experiences I seek to […]
Conscious travellers want suppliers to think globally but act locally
Because most visitors to a place come from another and because most other places are far away, suppliers of tourism services have inevitably had to adopt a global perspective. Considerable attention is given to understanding cultural and linguistic differences of various source markets and to researching and deploying the different channels of distribution at work […]
How to become a responsible traveler: 5 tips from a local travel expert
I remember the first time I saw ‘local travel’ mentioned in writing. I don’t recall the actual article, but I must have been thinking about food; I read ‘local’ as ‘lo-cal’ travel (i.e. travel on a low-calorie diet). My confusion didn’t last long, but it made for some welcome chuckles while I pondered the possibilities. […]
Indigenous People’s Week: August 8 to 12, 2011
Indigenous tourism is the topic of the moment thanks to an innovative and fun ‘unconference’ that is taking place around the globe as part of Indigenous People’s Week, from August 8 to 12, 2011. As the founder of Planeta.com, I’m co-hosting the event with Sweden’s Nutti Sámi Siida. Their Anders Kärrstedt tweeted more than a […]
The Zikra Initiative helps the people of Ghor Al Mazra’a, Jordan
In 2007, after I learned that the government of Jordan had declared a poverty pocket in the community known as Ghor Al Mazra’a (Jordan Valley) in the governorate of Al Karak, I founded something called the Zikra Initiative, an ‘exchange tourism’ program through which city-based people can immerse themselves in the uniqueness of a rural […]
An interview with John McKenzie about the launch of the Geotourism Development Foundation
Launched today from its base in Washington, DC, the Geotourism Development Foundation (GDF) is a not-for-profit tourism-development organisation committed to elevating travel as a force for good. Mr John McKenzie of the International Finance Corporation (part of the World Bank Group) is the President of the GDF. He talked to the Local Travel Movement about […]