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The travel and tourism business is now perhaps the largest industry on Earth. While tourism can build understanding, tourism managed poorly can ruin a place. Yet if handled well, tourism provides an incentive to preserve the best things a destination has to offer: wildlife habitats, historic districts, great scenery—even a style of music or a unique local cuisine.
That's why the National Geographic Society has a program to increase knowledge about sustainable tourism and destination stewardship. In this website, you'll find some useful resources:
• Sustainable tourism resource directories
• Honduras announces world's first national geotourism strategy
• World Legacy Awards
• 2004 Scorecard of Destination Stewardship
• TravelWatch articles archive
• Geotourism Study
• The Untold Story: Travel Writer's Guide
• Creating a Geotourism MapGuide
We want to help residents, visitors, and professionals practice what is now being called geotourism: tourism that supports the geographical character of the place being visited—its environment, culture, heritage, aesthetics, and the well-being of its citizens.
Awareness is the key. Residents who benefit from tourism tend to value and conserve what tourists are coming to see. Visitors reinforce that link when they support businesses that sustain the destination. We hope these web pages help, and we welcome your comments and suggestions.
Jonathan B. Tourtellot, Director of Sustainable Destinations
Sustainable Tourism Resource Directories
Additional subsections within these three directories address
such topics as Ecotourism, Culture and Heritage, Transportation,
and Destination Appeal.
Honduras Develops World's First National Geotourism Strategy
On October 22, 2004, President Ricardo Maduro of Honduras signed an agreement establishing Honduras as the world's first country to officially adopt a geotourism strategy. Read the Geotourism Principles on which the agreement was based.
World Legacy Awards 2004
On June 8, 2004 at National Geographic headquarters, Queen Noor of Jordan presented these awards in sustainable tourism in four categories: Nature Travel, Heritage Tourism, Resorts and Hotels, and Destination Stewardship. Visit www.wlaward.org to read about the World Legacy Awards—a program of National Geographic Traveler and Conservation International—and the 2004 winners and finalists.
Destination Scorecard
Read about 115 places around the world rated for destination stewardship in the March 2004 National Geographic Traveler and download all 115 scores. (PDF requires free Adobe Acrobat Reader.)
TravelWatch Archive
Read TravelWatch articles and other stories on destination stewardship from National Geographic Traveler and National Geographic News.
Geotourism Study
Read the Executive Summary of the landmark survey of U.S. travelers' behavior and attitudes about sustainable practices, commissioned by National Geographic Traveler and conducted by the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA). (PDF requires free Adobe Acrobat Reader.) To purchase the complete study at $225, contact TIA.
The Untold Travel Story
A Travel Writer's Guide to Sustainable Tourism and Destination Stewardship
This practical handbook gives travel journalists and curious consumers ways to evaluate companies and destinations for sustainability. You can download either of two PDF versions: 8 1/2 by 11 inch size or a version that you can assemble into a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch booklet. For the booklet, you'll need to print six sheets of paper on both sides, then arrange the pages, fold in half, and staple in the middle. (PDFs require free Adobe Acrobat Reader.)
Creating a Geotourism MapGuide
To raise awareness about your region's geotourism appeal both at home and abroad, read "How to develop a Geotourism MapGuide." Local participation is required to create this tool for enhancing destination stewardship, tourism benefits, and community pride. (PDF requires free Adobe Acrobat Reader.)
Photographs:
Smiles across cultures in Nepal. David Samuel Robbins, Corbis.
Ecolodging in South Africa. CC Africa.
Traditional architecture in Provence. Markham Johnson/Backroads.
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