A few dollars here, a few dollars there. Does how you spend your money when you travel really matter? Is it possible to align your travel approach and spending decisions with your values?
In the first part of this series, The Importance of People in Travel, we explored the relationship between people and the travel experience and we spoke of serendipity and human connections. In this segment, we talk deliberate decisions and the potential impact of our travel purchases on the communities we visit, and on the world.
Goofing with local kids having breakfast in Tarija, Bolivia.
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- Travel and Your Values: The Power of Deliberate Spending
- Tourism, It’s the People’s Business
Filed Under: Perspectives, Sustainable Tourism by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
26 Comments | 19 November 2012
In pursuit of the iconic, sometimes we lose the people. Then we need to come back. Here are a few thoughts on the often overlooked importance of people to travel and the connection between travelers’ experiences, their spending decisions and the impact on the communities they visit.
So much ink is spilled, understandably so, on the budget aspect of travel — how much we spend vs. the value we receive – almost to the point of commoditizing every dimension of one’s travel experience.
One bit is often missing in this discussion, however: people. Continue Reading »
- Travel and Your Values: The Power of Deliberate Spending
- Tourism, It’s the People’s Business
Filed Under: Perspectives, Sustainable Tourism by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
34 Comments | 2 November 2012
We don’t often write about upcoming conferences and projects (i.e., the business side of things), but many of you have expressed interest, so we’re trying to make amends. We also understand that this blogging and business stuff isn’t for everyone, so we won’t be offended if you decide to head to our thoughts on Paris or Mt. Fuji instead.
Saying goodbye to summer in Berlin.
Days get shorter, nights cooler. Summer is sadly coming to an end, but another period of travel and speaking begins.
So where will the next month take us? Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Business, Sustainable Tourism by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
13 Comments | 6 September 2012
This is a story about a baby turtle and how we helped to set him free. It’s also a tale of working together and conservation gone right.
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Filed Under: Mexico, North America, Sustainable Tourism, Travel by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
25 Comments | 16 April 2012
Travel holds tremendous potential. For the traveler, it offers a path to experience, education and personal transformation. For local host communities, it provides a means to economic benefit and cultural exchange. It’s this magic “travel equation” that among other things first inspired us to quit our jobs for the road over five years ago, and to this day encourages us to continue traveling, exploring, learning, and sharing.
Learning new skills from the women of the Zikra Initiative in Jordan.
However, developments across the tourism industry are not always rosy. Over the years, we’ve seen our share of rapacious tourism development and the cumulative effects of thoughtless individual actions conspiring to harm local cultures, economies and the environment.
So what can a traveler do? The cynic says nothing, the hopeful say plenty. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Sustainable Tourism, Travel by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
39 Comments | 4 April 2012
We’d like to think that we live our lives and travel according to a set of values, key among them respect — respect for other cultures, respect for the environment and respect for the complexities and nuances of the economic realities that face a growing planet. Until now, we just never labeled those values or the behaviors attached to them as “sustainable.”
So why are you telling us this now?
We are pleased to announce that we have been retained by the United Nations Foundation’s Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) to develop and execute their social media strategy. Continue Reading »
Filed Under: Sustainable Tourism by: Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott
25 Comments | 2 April 2012
