Good tourism

The very best tourism enriches community and heritage, preserves the environment while supporting entrepreneurs. Daintree Ecolodge has been a great an example of a company that works hard on all three "bottom-lines" while providing a great product.

This article "Inherited Wisdom put to work" from The Australian newspaper highlights one personal story from the Daintree.

Well done !

Indiana Artisans - Sustainable Tourism in Action

Local artisans are an important part of the culture of a destination. It makes a lot of sense for tourism to support local artists. That type creates benefits for both tourists and locals.

The Indiana Artisans program is a great example of a cultural heritage program that enriches everyone. Check out Indiana Artisans

Mainstreaming Sustainable Tourism 1: Fast Company

Fast Company remains at the "cutting edge" of business publications. Over the last few years, the folks at Fast Company have launched a number of great new ideas from Tom Peters( Brand You, Projects) Seth Godin (Idea Virus)and Chip/Dan Heath (Made to Stick)to name a few.

I was thrilled to see sustainable tourism on the pages of Fast Company in the July edition. Sure - it wasn't a big article but there it was !(click through here).It is important to see "Sustainable Tourism" being recognized in mainstream media.

For the record I was even happier to see Queensland, Australia in the Fast Company article.

On the radar - Biodiversity

The issue of maintaining the world's biodiversity is fast becoming one of the major topics in sustainability and CSR. A recent McKinsey study shows that it is on the minds of many corporate executives.

Tourism has an important role in supporting the maintenance of biodiversity. Our industry must plan to ensure our actions are biologically and environmentally sustainable. Our people must recognize the role they play in sharing the stories of the world's endangered species.

Sustainable Tourism and Social Media

At the recent DMAI conference I had the pleasure of moderating a panel of some of the most forward thinking Destination Management Organization Managers on the topic of social responsibility and sustainability. It was a great topic - made better by the speakers passion for teh topic.

Rodney Payne of Think ! Social Media jotted some notes on what he heard in the session. See his blog on the panel here

Google and Travel

Google is moving into the travel marketplace and will soon be using its incredible reach in ways that will impact the tourism industry for years to come. An old mate, Clayton Reid of MMG Worldwide interviews Rob Torres of Google to discuss the plans. Check it out at Brands that Travel.

Tourism - The path to export competitiveness

Sometimes it is hard to remember that each dollar an international visitor spends is an export. It is.

As America prepares to increase its export competitiveness it is important to keep in mind that encouraging international visitors to explore "from sea to shining sea" will spread the value of those export dollars to communities across the nation. I was impressed by a recent Brookings Mountain West report that export earnings in the Denver area were driven by the travel and tourism industry (11.5 percent). It is important for our leaders and policy makers to keep the important fact in mind. Tourism is an economic development tool.