basura

Oaxaca, Mexico – Teotitlán del Valle

Signage extolling recycling

separa la basura nada te cuesta (separating the trash doesn’t cost you much)

Maori Tourism

About ten days ago I was listening to a radio segment ‘NZ tour operator in strife for hiring pretend Maori performers’ and was blown away by the idea that a Maori performance could be enacted by foreign backpackers pretending to be Maori.

The story broke initially as a NZ Herald feature. In private email, the director of the port told me this was a one-off incident (which explains why the company doesn’t appear on the Web before the scandal). Much has been made of this incident with the story repeated and retweeted at length.

But the scandal del jour makes me ask … what is the status of Maori tourism in New Zealand? Since my 2007 gig speaking at the Ecotourism NZ Conference, I have been eager to know more about the no-doubt complicated nature of indigenous tourism in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Which tourism services are owned by Maori? What partnerships exist that benefit indigenous communities? As a visitor, what are my options?

I’m pleased with the participation of four nominees from New Zealand in the Indigenous Tourism and Biodiversity Website Award. I’m not sure how long the link will last but check out the Maori television feature which documents one of our ITBW Award nominees, Te Urewera Treks. This is a down-to-earth profile of a company learning how to make effective use of the Web. And remember: we’re all on the learning curve.

If you want a taste of Maori tourism, check out this company and the other NZ nominees this year including Taiamai Tours and TIME Unlimited NZ Tours.

On top of my personal wishlist is a clear message drafted by New Zealand Tourism and the leading Maori councils on the country’s commitment to indigenous tourism. Now is the time to show the world what New Zealand’s own Maori tourism leaders wish to show the world.

Mixe

Oaxaca – Mixe friends are hosting a series of events in February 2010 to feature their indigenous culture. Events take place in various locations including Plaza San José and the Saturday Pochimilco Market. The celebration peaks with a special meal in the town of Lachigolo on Valentine’s Day.

Planeta.com will be updating our regional guide. Suggestions are always welcome!

Enamorarte de la cultura Mixe. (Fall in love with the Mixe culture)

Australia Night

Australia

Top 10 List: USA

To celebrate the new year, I’m looking to the future in a positive way with my Top 10 list of countries which we expect to hear a good deal in the coming year.

After years of not paying that much attention to eco travels in the USA (mostly because it was already well covered and frankly, I’d already grown up with the idea thanks to my parents), I’m ready to shift gears and pay attention to the homeland. If I could, I’d award President Obama with another Nobel Peace Prize for getting the country out of official climate change denial and making the entire government more Web 2.0-savvy. Among the signs of all-around positive change, Ken Burns’ wonderful documentary about the park system and the National Park Service on Twitter!. For those who love responsible travel, ecotourism and indigenous tourism options, the pieces of the puzzle appear to be falling into place.

On top of our wishlist for the USA is a big ask – less politics as usual and more integration. If we can’t agree on some things, can we search for common ground? We’d also like to see some forwarding-thinking U.S. universities walk the talk of responsible tourism and participate more in open forums and dialogues about tourism.

Keep an eye on state guides such as Nevada. In the past few years I’ve been lucky enough to visit some beautiful parks and museums including Valley of Fire, Lost City and Red Rock Canyon

More about rural tourism in and urban innovations in the USA in 2010!
Call for photos: North American Ecotourism

YOUR TURN – What are you favorite things about the USA?

Top 10 List: South Africa

To celebrate the new year, I’m looking to the future in a positive way with my Top 10 list of countries which we expect to hear a good deal in the coming year.

Sport fans look to South Africa in 2010 for the Fifa World Cup and we are paying attention to how the country connects the thousands of sports fans with places to go and people to meet in between the games. We’re inspired by the work of Kurt Ackerman via twitter and the always inspiring Afrika T Blog . The government offices have also taken up Web 2.0, including Cape Town with its own Live it, love it Flickr group and the country could easily qualify for the Spotlight Award.

What we’d like to see: On top of our wishlist for South Africa is a successful World Cup that shows the world good sport and good tourism. Over the coming months look for updates including a revised guide to Cape Town and Things to do. In the works is our guide to South Africa slang.

Call for photos: Ecotourism Africa

YOUR TURN – What are you favorite things about South Africa?

Responsible Tourism Fair on Facebook

Responsible Tourism Fair on Facebook http://ow.ly/Xdxt #rtf2010

Top 10 List: Mexico

To celebrate the new year, I’m looking to the future in a positive way with my Top 10 list of countries which we expect to hear a good deal in the coming year.

I want to be optimistic about Mexico . I’ve written about the country since 1992 and it has been a labor of love with rich personal rewards, but I’m getting frustrated that many of the proposals developed in the past decade simply have not come to fruition.

On the plus side, 2010 will be a big year for the country as it celebrates centennial and bicentennial anniversaries. This week Oaxaca plays host to a responsible tourism fair which begins Sunday with a very slow walk and photo safari in Llano Park. It’s the 10th annual event which we’ve pleased to partner with artisans, language schools, travel operators and other friends in Oaxaca and it promises to be best event yet.

Online I’m collaborating with editors on the wiki i updating regional resources, including guides to Mexico City, Guanajuato and Copper Canyon (Barrancas del Cobre). On the Planeta 1.0 site, look for more changes to the popular Mexico Guide.

What we’d like to see: On top of our wishlist for Mexico is an integrated strategy for tourism development and marketing. Tourism development has been on the menu for various government ministries and ngos, but there’s little evidence that the players are communicating with one another and very little to show how the services can be accessed by, well, tourists. Efforts seem hit and miss because too many players are competing with one another instead of cooperating. Tourism promotion remains a top-down affair with rhetoric about ecotourism and adventure travel, but little conversation with the communities and visitors. On my personal wishlist is finding new places to sell postcards from Oaxaca!

Call for photos: North American Ecotourism

YOUR TURN – What are you favorite things about Mexico?

Top 10 List: New Zealand

To celebrate the new year, I’m looking to the future in a positive way with my Top 10 list of countries which we expect to hear a good deal in the coming year.

Friends and colleagues working on responsible travel and ecotourism have shared a number of inspiring stories from New Zealand, the Land of the Long White Cloud. We’ve been updating our guides to Auckland, the Bay of Plenty and Queenstown in addition to essays on Maori Culture and travel tech tips featuring Flickr New Zealand. In the works is a guide to New Zealand Slang just in time now that Flight of the Conchords has flown the coop from HBO. On the playlist we recommend New Zealand’s national radio broadcaster Radio NZ with programs including Te Ahi Kaa and the Darwin Lectures. On the twitter front, check out Simon Young, Te Ara and Good Magazine.

What we’d like to see: On top of our wishlist for New Zealand is the development of the proposed Indigenous Ecotourism Conference. Could we be seeing friends in Hokianga? Stay tuned. If I do get the chance to visit NZ in the near future, it will include a visit to Wellington’s Te Papa where we’ve had an ongoing a Conversation with OurSpace and Queenstown’s Ziptrek which begins operation this year. After 2010, New Zealand hosts the World Rugby Cup in 2011. Will the country be able to use the global sporting event as a springboard to informing the world about local ecotourism, indigenous tourism and responsible travel? It certainly will if South Africa does something similar during this year’s FIFA World Cup.

Call for photos: Ecotourism Oceania

YOUR TURN – What are you favorite things about New Zealand?

Top 10 List: Germany

To celebrate the new year, I’m looking to the future in a positive way with my Top 10 list of countries which we expect to hear a good deal in the coming year.

Here’s to Germany! My favorite saying auf Deutsch: Wenn der weg schön ist frag nicht wohin er führt. (When the path is beautiful, don’t ask where it leads.)

After learning German as a foreign language in my Indiana high school in the glorious 70s, I abandoned the language upon reaching college when classes were simply awful. Note to college students – don’t limit yourself to a classroom island – immersion programs are a blast!

Back in ‘89 I found new reason to rekindle my interest when the Berlin Wall fell and returned to Germany in 1990. Twenty years later I’m getting ready to return to the Old World and in 2020 I’ll be addressing the Reisepavillon in Berlin, April 22-24. This puts the country squarely in the Top 10 list for the new year. On my social media reading list is Berlin tourism’s twitter account and recommended listening comes by the way of Radio New Zealand’s Our Boy In Berlin.

What we’d like to see: On top of our wishlist for Germany is a better understanding of how the country is managing its own conservation, biodiversity and tourism and how development programs are supporting responsible tourism and biodiversity conservation around the world. On my personal language quest,  I’ll be updating the guide to learning German and listening to Deutsche Welle’s German courses – my favorite segment is Deutschlernen mit Nachrichten (slowly spoken news reports!)

Call for photos: Ecotourism Europe

YOUR TURN – What are you favorite things about Germany?