“Rethinking Tourism“
As the world looks to enter a recovery era, the tourism industry needs to focus,
assess and reinvent itself to build a stronger foundation.
The World Tourism Day this year is themed #RethinkingTourism, encouraging the industry to rethink tourism in a way that people and the planet come first and bring everyone from local communities to other sectors together around a shared vision for a more sustainable, resilient tourism in future.
Community-based Tourism (CBT) and Gastronomic Tourism has been on the rise as sustainable and responsible travels gain its prominence within and beyond the industry. This year, we’ve invited three industry professionals to share their thoughts on the topics.
Audra Morrice
Masterchef Asia & Singapore (Host & Judge), Cook, Author;
PATA Sustainable Gastronomy Ambassador
“Let’s not only focus on creating a home away from home; Let’s highlight what is going to make a meaningful difference in the traveller’s life when they come home.”
Functional Expert, Tour Dure Taskforce Team
Chan Young Jung
Yu Jung Choi
“Community-based Tourism creates added value for local culture, encourages the participation of local residents, and returns tourism benefits to the local community.”
Aayusha Prasain
CEO, Community Homestay Network
“We need to put people at the core and center of tourism.
Community-based tourism is not about the saviour mentality,
but how we can partner and work together with the communities.”
Community-based Tourism (CBT)
“Tourism activities and services which have been developed by local community members, working together in a ‘CBT’ club or group, sometimes in partnership with the private sector.”
As community-based tourism continues to gain its weight in today’s tourism- as a solution to mass tourism and as a measure to realise sustainable and responsible tourism, we are proud to invite our Gold Award- Community-based Tourism Winners in 2020 and 2021 to share how their projects “rocked“ their destinations!
2020 Winner:
Community Homestay Network by Royal Mountain Travel, a Nepalese sustainable tour operator and a valued PATA Member.
2021 Winner:
Tour Dure by Korea Tourism Organization, Korea (ROK)’s official tourism promotion organisation and PATA Government member.
“All You Need to Know About CBT”
in 4 Minutes:
“Even as travellers, we also need to promote CBT for a wider value chain and bring all the actors together to maximise the impact of CBT to even players beyond the scheme.”
- Aayusha Prasain, CEO
Community Homestay Network
“The best part about Tour Dure is that local residents create and nurture a tourism business by directly exploring regional resources or by linking different regional resources. With this, they can develop a customized regional tourism development model while strengthening the sense of community where everybody works together.”
- Chan Young Jung & Yu Jung Choi,
Functional Expert, Tour Dure Taskforce Team
Sustainable Gastronomic Tourism
““Gastronomic Tourism is a type of tourism activity which is characterised by the visitor’s experience linked with food and related products and activities while travelling. ”
Gastronomic tourism, based on the concept of community-based tourism is the pursuit of unique and memorable eating and drinking experiences.
It is about how visitors travel for food and experience the community’s home life; and it is also about creating food experiences that will enrich the traveller’s experience- leaving a destination with more knowledge about the culture and the people- all through cuisine.
As Audra phrases it, the essence of Gastronomic Tourism, or even Sustainable Tourism as a whole, is “not changing ourselves to meet the tourists, but educating tourists about what our life means locally.“
“Food has always been a big part of my upbringing. I am excited to share my insights and experiences with everyone on why food is a way of truly getting to know a country, its people and culture.”
“Things You Must Know About Sustainable Gastronomic Tourism”
in 4 Minutes:
“Each of the destination has to embrace what is unique about them. Feature the culture elements that create the differences within each destination itself. We need to stop thinking what is going to appeal to the tourists and start thinking how to provide what is true to our pure forms.”
- Audra Morrice
PATA Ambassador for Sustainable Gastronomic Tourism