Rethinking Tourism Destinations: ARCH 3: Destination Challenges

Watch this video on the protection of biodiversity in Africa.

World Bank (2013, February 5). Toward a Greener future: Conservation Success Stories from Africa. [Video]. YouTube.

Brent Leo-Smith has spent his entire life and career in the African wild in multiple countries. He grew up on Phinda Game Reserve, where his father was a co-founder of the reserve, and in Kwando, Botswana. Since leaving school in 2002, Brent has been a safari guide, camp builder, and manager for some of Africa’s leading safari destinations and companies, including Londolozi, Singita, and Great Plains. Brent’s media career began in 2011 filming for Animal Planet, and in early 2015 he joined WildEarth as a cameraman but ended up as a presenter for four years. He is now CEO of Painteddog.tv, a wildlife media and safari company operating out of the Greater Kruger National Park, South Africa, which he co-founded in 2019. Throughout his career, Brent has also been directly involved in conservation operations, working alongside the continent’s conservation NGOs, veterinary scientists, and wildlife capture teams.

Watch the UNICEF video from 2018 about sustainable development goals.

UNICEF Georgia (2018, April 25). UN Sustainable Development Goals – Overview. [Video]. YouTube

Read the article Robots, Men and Sex Tourism from the Journal: Futures

Yeoman, I., & Mars, M. (2012). Robots, men and sex tourism. Futures, 44(4), 365-371.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016328711002850

Ian Yeoman is the world's only professional crystal ball gazer or futurologist specializing in travel and tourism. Ian learned his trade as the scenario planner for VisitScotland, where he established the process of future thinking within the organisation using a variety of techniques including economic modeling, trends analysis, and scenario construction. Ian has published extensively within the field of tourism futures, with articles published in leading academic journals such as Tourism Management, Journal of Travel Research, and Journal of Vacation Marketing on a variety of topics from climate change to the future of energy and consumer trends – all within the context of travel and tourism. He is a popular speaker at conferences and was described by the UK Sunday Times as the country's leading contemporary futurologist. Ian has received a number of awards in recognition of his research including his appointment as an Honorary Professor of Tourism Management at Stirling University, Visiting Research Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University, Charles Forte Foundation Scholarship, and the Mike Simpson Award from the Operational Research Society. When not thinking about the future, Ian enjoys almost everything. He is a follower of Sunderland AFC, which Ian thinks is the greatest football team in the world.

Watch the video about Girona and accessible tourism.

Girona Turisme TV (2019, December 27). Martin Heng, Lonely Plant’s Accessible Travel Manager, visits Girona. [Video]. YouTube.

Martin Heng has long experience as a freelance editor in London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Melbourne in a wide variety of genres, from investor and public relations to educational, academic, and general trade publications. He worked at Lonely Planet for 21 years in a number of roles: Senior Editor, Trade Publishing Manager, Commissioning Editor, Managing Editor, Editorial Manager of the large in-house Editorial Department, Editorial Production Manager, in charge of all aspects of book production (editorial, design, and layout). In his most recent role as Lonely Planet’s Accessible Travel Manager & Editorial Adviser, he published a number of accessible travel titles, including a guide to Rio de Janeiro that was supplied to all athletes participating in the 2016 Paralympics. He also maintains the world’s largest collection of Accessible Travel Online Resources, which was featured in the UNWTO’s Good Practices in the Accessible Tourism Supply Chain. His most recent publication was an Accessible Travel Phrasebook, featuring disability-specific words and phrases in 35 languages. In 2014, he was a keynote speaker at the UNWTO-sponsored global accessible travel summit, “Destinations for All”, in Montréal, and has since become a regular speaker on accessible tourism at events in Australia and around the world. In 2016, he was a VIP delegate and speaker at the UNWTO World Tourism Day event in Bangkok, “Tourism for All: Promoting Universal Accessibility”. In 2017, Martin opened the Barrier-Free Day at the world’s largest travel fair, the ITB in Berlin, and was a panelist at the UNWTO’s first Smart Cities conference in Spain. Since then, he has spoken at numerous international conferences for organisations such as the UNWTO, the Pacific Asia Travel Association, and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.

Read the following blog post from Jane Holland in which she interviews Christy Hehr about tourism's role in conservation.

In conversation with Christy Hehr

Holland, J. (2020, September 22). Turning experiences into research: A conversation with Christy Hehir about tourism’s role in conservation:

Dr Christy Hehir, is an environmental psychologist, conservationist, polar alien hunter and lecturer within the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at the University of Surrey. Christy’s environmental psychology-based research collaborates with leading tour operators and international wildlife charities to measure the actual value travelling has for conservation. Outcomes of this research identify the types of experiences/activities that add value and engage tourists to emotionally connect with the environments they visit, and pinpoint triggers in travel that inspire philanthropic donations both onsite and subsequently. Christy is one of a few polar tourism researchers with experience at both poles having travelled to Antarctica with Students on Ice and subsequently to Svalbard on an expedition by the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme). Such experiences led to my award-winning Master’s thesis, The future of Antarctica. Is tourism an ally or an enemy? The publication of my first book, Arctic Reflections: Moment of Inspiration, a Lifetime of Action (Tomac., Hehir. 2013) and her PhD, Last-chance for wildlife: Making tourism count for conservation. Prior to academia, I have 10 years of travel industry experience having held positions at Walt Disney World, Bournemouth Tourism, The Tourism Society, VisitEngland and VisitBritain