local development
Video Spotlight: Local Voices from Costa Rica
When you travel, one of the easiest and most meaningful things you can do is meet the locals. To the best of your ability – no matter what the language barriers – strike up a conversation. Find out their story, their culture, their way of life. During our last trip to Costa Rica to film our […]
A response to Get Lost, Go Local: Elham, Chilham and Eden Valley in the United Kingdom
A lot of hype is placed on Local Travel abroad, but there can be just as many rewards to Local Travel… locally. After all, Get lost! Go local! is also a perfect mantra for a “staycation” and how many people can say they have experienced everything their own nation has to offer? Local travel is […]
Explore, learn and make a difference: microfinance tours in Vietnam with Bloom Microventures
“So, how do you grow rice in Europe?” asks Ms. Ké, one of our project’s borrowers, during a microfinance tour in Northern Vietnam. Our guests, drinking their welcome tea and sitting on the bare concrete floor of Ms. Ké’s small house, smile: “We don’t grow rice in Denmark.” Ms. Ké is surprised: “What? You don’t […]
Conscious travellers want suppliers to think globally but act locally
Because most visitors to a place come from another and because most other places are far away, suppliers of tourism services have inevitably had to adopt a global perspective. Considerable attention is given to understanding cultural and linguistic differences of various source markets and to researching and deploying the different channels of distribution at work […]
The Zikra Initiative helps the people of Ghor Al Mazra’a, Jordan
In 2007, after I learned that the government of Jordan had declared a poverty pocket in the community known as Ghor Al Mazra’a (Jordan Valley) in the governorate of Al Karak, I founded something called the Zikra Initiative, an ‘exchange tourism’ program through which city-based people can immerse themselves in the uniqueness of a rural […]
An interview with John McKenzie about the launch of the Geotourism Development Foundation
Launched today from its base in Washington, DC, the Geotourism Development Foundation (GDF) is a not-for-profit tourism-development organisation committed to elevating travel as a force for good. Mr John McKenzie of the International Finance Corporation (part of the World Bank Group) is the President of the GDF. He talked to the Local Travel Movement about […]
The Tourism Development Bank: a new funding channel for small and local accommodation providers
In international development, access to finance at the local level is one of the biggest obstacles to real and sustainable progress. Wealthy donor agencies bring exciting promise of great opportunities, but many require matching funding or only agree to short-term engagements after which local businesses scramble to secure ongoing support. The local businesses find it […]