ECOCLUB Blogs™

Book Review: "The Story of Ecotourism Sri Lanka" by Palitha Gurusinghe, President, Sri Lanka Ecotourism Foundation ‘The first ever book published in Sri Lanka to record the important landmarks of Sri Lanka Ecotourism for the benefit of those who are interested, inquisitive and looking forward to widening their horizons in Ecotourism" Reviewed by; Iraj Ratnayake, PhD, Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka (SUSL) The story of Ecotourism Sri Lanka is a detailed account of Sri Lanka's effort in adapting, developing, and promoting ecotourism during last two decades. It is a memoir of sorts, a higher autobiography, an echo back to Sri Lanka's pioneering ecotourism activist─ Palitha Gurusinghe, President, Sri Lanka Ecotourism Foundation (SLEF) The author emphasizes Sri Lanka's potential for local value addition in the process of ecotourism development where he compiles a rich account on astonishing resource base of the island nation. Especially the author is very critical and justifies the true potential of vibrant culture, centuries-old heritage and the rich biodiversity to develop and promote ecotourism. Gurusinghe hints with passion, where he presents some success stories of ecotourism especially from neighbouring states and asserts Sri Lanka's experience of developing the same and missed opportunities due...

When people discover I’m a travel writer they often ask for my favorite travel destination. I cringe knowing what’s coming next. I say “Canada” and they look disappointed, like someone with a mass of frequent flyer points should long for a Caribbean island or a distant Himalayan kingdom. But the more I travel, the more I love this country. So it was a special day last month when I was made a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS), an honor bestowed for my contributions to geography and making Canada better known to Canadians and the world. The RCGS has been around since 1929.   Banting - the inventor of insulin - was one of the first fellows, former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed was a fellow, and Alex Trebek of Jeopardy fame is a fellow (and honorary president). Pat Morrow, the second Canadian to climb Everest and his wife Baiba were honored at this year’s event with the Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration. Laval St. Germain, who has climbed the highest peak of every continent except Antarctica and rowed solo across the Atlantic, and Debra Garside, renowned for her Sable Island photography, were other Calgary area residents made fellows this...

Does tourism contribute to the rise of nationalism or quite the opposite? Over the years I have spoken with many tourism practitioners, academics and decision-makers and in the vast majority of cases have detected a strain of unadulterated nationalism in their views, even when these tend to be otherwise progressive and green. It could be that the daily preoccupation of these people with local culture, tradition, monuments and history contributes to the development of notions of national identity and particularity in their mind. It can hardly be disputed that National Tourism Ministries and National Tourism Boards, which exist in nearly every country (with the notable exception of the United States) have similarities with the propaganda offices of authoritarian regimes as they are always painting a rosy picture of the country/destination, inviting travel journalists and bloggers for hire, paying lobbyists and so on. On the other hand, community-based forms of tourism tend to highlight differences (in dress, language, customs) between each village and region within countries and encourage the discovery or rediscovery of ethnic or other minorities, something which is a red flag to nationalists, authoritarianism peddlers and assorted control-freaks. Of course, there is a cottage industry there, namely in the discovery...

I associate whale watching with choppy waves, ocean spray on my camera, and seasick compatriots. But on the north shore of Canada’s Saint Laurence River near Tadoussac, Quebec, there is a deep channel near land where you can see even the biggest of whales without donning a lifejacket. “It is the best place in the world to see whales from shore,” extols Patrice Corbeil, GREMM Executive Director (Group for Research and Education for Marine Mammals), adding with a smile that there are secret places where people bring a bottle of wine to sip while watching whales swim by. Intrigued by this this relaxed approach to adventure I decide to try whale watching from shore. I head north to Parks Canada Cap-de-Bon-Désir Interpretation and Observation Centre. A small building holds a room-size model of the different size whales found in the area. Two beluga whales look like salt-and-pepper shakers next to a torpedo-sized blue whale. “I saw a blue whale from shore, just north of here!” exclaims Valerie Busque, Visitor Services Team Leader proving great whale experiences can be had without a boat. The reason so many whales come close to Tadoussac - one of the first settlements on Québec's north shore...

An ambitious 14-month European Union-funded grant project under the rather long title “Technical Assistance action to support tourism planning and policy for the promotion of sustainable tourism development in Greece Reference No.: SRSS/S2016/013” was completed in September and last Friday 15/9 ECOCLUB.com was invited to attend the final “Dissemination Workshop” in downtown Athens. The project was supported by the EU Structural Reform Programme (SRSS), led by an Austrian consortium composed of the Federal Procurement Agency (BBG) and the Agency for Economic Cooperation and Development (AED) and involved the cooperation of the Greek Ministry of Economy, Development & Tourism (MEDT) while “twin” experts from Austria/EU and the Greek side were allocated on each topic. The leading domestic and foreign tourism experts also involved ECOCLUB.com Members Mr Robert Travers who was responsible for the Diving (sea) parks segment. The two key aims of this ambitious and multifaceted project, which started in July 2016, was to support, through knowledge transfer, the Greek Tourism authorities in their efforts to diversify and increase the quality of the tourism product so as to extend the tourism season beyond the summer months, and secondly, to promote sustainable tourism policies and to foster responsible business practices and policies. In...

An environmental disaster of yet unknown proportions is unfolding in the Gulf of Athens, known as the Saronic Gulf, following the peculiarly rapid sinking under calm seas, of an ageing, small oil tanker carrying 2,200 tons of fuel oil and 370 metric tons of marine gas oil, near the island of Salamis, on the early hours of October 11th, 2017. Decades of haphazard, boom and bust industrial development and lack of planning has turned a great part of the northern Saronic Gulf into a strange and conflicting mix of heavy industries, refineries shipyards, summer houses, restaurants, beaches, marinas, archaeological sites, and sea-farms. In the past decade, during a huge financial and social crisis, there is an effort supported by powerful private developers to relaunch the area as the Athens Riviera, a new destination with mega-projects including the construction of a coastal casino-leisure-business complex in the sprawling site of Athens Hellinikon, a former airport and military base, which until recently was also hosting Syrian refugees in derelict, athletic infrastructure built for another mega-project, the Athens 2004 Olympics. That mega-project has not been given the green light yet, as archaeologists claim that the former airport site contains important sites dating back to prehistoric...

CREST's "Local Traditions" Photo Contest: August 10 - 24, 2017Enter to share with the CREST community - and have a chance to win a FREE luxury, one-night stay in Chicago!At the Center for Responsible Travel (CREST), we believe that when you go on vacation, you don't have to leave your values at home. Part of traveling responsibly means engagin...

Kingston (Jamaica), Wednesday, 02 August 2017: Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says economic and social development in rural Jamaica has been boosted by the Community-based Tourism programme of the Rural Economic Development Initiative (REDI) implemented by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF). Speaking at the Symposium to close o...

Call it Climatexit? Perhaps, but there is no need to despair at President Trump's 'final decision' to 'withdraw' from the Paris Treaty. For a democracy, it may be scary if one is really able (there are doubts) to take such a decision without having to get approval from Congress. But looking at the bright side, this dev...

 Bashing villains (soft, anonymous, targets not, say, a powerful hotel developer!), real and perceived (all-inclusives, orphanages, slum tourism, voluntourism) is becoming a bit of a tradition these days. A UK-based responsible OTA, a minor player compared to mainstream OTA giants yet a big one on the adjectival tourism scene, has abruptly ann...