Blog

You are here: Home

Blog

The World in 2019: What’s Hot and What’s Not

(Yellow Railroad New Year ‘Big Blog’ 2019)

Forecasting Is Futile…….but Fun

Tours d’horizon are all the rage at the start of a new year. January inevitably brings a host of soothsayers, doom-mongers and assorted pundits peddling predictions for the year ahead. These range from statistics on potential growth and decline to ‘listicles’ of what’s hot and what’s not.

From Russia without Love: Salisbury, the Kremlin and Tourism

Salisbury slogan “There’s no such thing as bad publicity”. The old adage, attributed to 19th century American showman PT Barnum, certainly rings true for Salisbury right now. In news terms, the tragic fate of the novichok victims has been overtaken by a pantomime of implausibility played out in the international media, which has put Salisbury on the map more firmly than any tourism board advertising could do in years.

Has Rwanda Scored an Own Goal by Sponsoring Arsenal FC?

Virunga P1050571 small

Interviewed by John Humphreys on the BBC Today programme on 29th May, the CEO of the Rwanda Economic Development Board (EDB), Clare Akamanzi, made a spirited defence of Rwanda’s sponsorship of Arsenal. Controversial?........Definitely. Effective marketing?.......To be considered. Positive for Rwanda’s image as a tourism destination?........Let’s see.

Through a Crystal Ball Darkly: What Does 2018 Smell Like?

(Year-End 'Big Blog' 2017)

A New Beginning.........or Just More of the Same?

Logically, there is no reason to view the end of one year and beginning of another as a reason to expect a change in human behaviour. Other than ephemeral New Year resolutions to lose weight, spend more time in the gym, and eat healthily, people don't change their behaviour dramatically, and certainly not their attitudes and tastes, on January 1st. So why should this make any difference to travel patterns? It doesn't. But, like New Year resolutions, it's a convenient milestone to pause the treadmill, take stock and assess what the future holds. Macroeconomic conditions, investment in infrastructure, and improved access, will drive change in 2018 far more than any shift in travellers' tastes.

The trends identified below are not earth-shaking revelations about radical changes in human desire. Rather, they are a continuation of what has been going on for some time, overlaid with an analysis of external impacts, which might affect where and how people look, book and travel in the months ahead.

'Overtourism': Fact, Fiction or Food for Thought?

"I think more has been written in mainstream press about issues associated with mass tourism in the past 6 weeks than in the past 6 years” (Justin Francis, CEO Responsible Tourism 16^th Aug 2017: http://bit.ly/2uV8II7 )

A combination of the media ‘silly season’, main tourism season, and relentless tourism growth, resulted in a rash of ‘overtourism’ stories in the British media this summer.

So, is this just a case of media sensationalism? Or is it the canary in the mine of the global visitor economy, warning of impending disaster? Have we lost sight of the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s laudable exhortation to develop sustainable tourism? The truth is many destinations need fewer visitors in the peak season and more in the off-season. There are two sides to this coin.

Page 3 of 5

Search