In 2004, Justin Francis decided to visit Phuket on vacation. It certainly wouldn’t seem out-of-the ordinary for a Westerner to holiday in Phuket – after all, a little less than 3.5 million non-Thais visited the island in 2004. But his excursion to the popular tourist destination didn’t come at the best of times. Phuket – […]
World Heritage Sites, as designated by the United Nations Scientific, Educational, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), are places of outstanding universal value. Each one represents an incredible culture and its history or living tradition, a work of architectural or artistic marvel, or a place of exceptional natural beauty or ecological importance. By design, UNESCO World Heritage […]
Sea Turtle Shell Bracelets (Photo: Hal Brindley) Several years ago, Brad Nahill, co-founder of ecotourism organization SEE Turtles*, was shopping for souvenirs in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua when he noticed something rather troublesome. “I was shocked to see how many [turtleshell products] were being sold in the souvenir shops and artisan stands around town,” […]
Jerusalem Tourism in Israel is thriving. And no wonder: the country is rich in cultural and historical attractions, it’s the cradle of three major religions, and it features magnificent landscapes ranging from Mount Hermon‘s snow-capped peaks, to Negev Desert’s dramatic craters, to the Mediterranean’s serene white-sand beaches. It boasts the highest concentration of museums per […]
Badri Rai is celebrating some good news this month. Nepal’s Department of Immigration just announced that foreign tourist arrivals shot up 28 percent in the first half of 2017 – 460,304 tourists arrived via air in the first six months of 2017, compared to 359,672 in the first half of 2016. This is a big […]
It’s no secret that traveling requires quite a few resources. From the fuel to power your plane, to the water the hotel uses to wash your towels each day, to the money you spend on the trip, vacations put a strain on the earth and on your wallet. A great way to settle both your […]
Note: See end of article for new policy update When Malia Everette came back from Cuba in 1991, one word summarized her feelings about the experience: inspired. “I saw a nation doing so much to steward their social successes over decades of socialism, with so little in terms of material resources,” said Everette, founder and […]
Traveling can be a huge boon to developing communities. Tourism brings jobs, knowledge, and new experiences, and it gives the communities a chance to strut their stuff before the rest of the world. As travelers, it is our responsibility to ensure our travels are truly beneficial to local communities, and that we leave a positive […]
“We have been residing in this area for decades, and all of a sudden the government told us to vacate,” Rafiz Ali told Reuters journalist Rina Chandran last September. Ali was a community leader in one of three of illegal settler villages in the buffer zone of India’s Kaziranga National Park. In 2016, in an […]
