China’s five-storey Tianjin Binhai Library occupies an area of 33,700 square metres with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves which can contain up to 1.2 million books.
Roman Pilipey
In our world of pervasive consumerism, libraries continue to be founded on humanism. Their core purpose as accessible places is vital – yet they are also now popular tourist destinations.
Venice is among the cities that have had public protests against soaring numbers of tourists – including this protest banner on the Rialto bridge.
Andrea Merola/EPA/AAP
The future of tourism depends on ensuring visitors do not wear out their welcome. Giving locals more of a say in tourism can help ensure they share in the benefits and minimise the costs.
Backpacking has become an important of the travel market.
Khongtham/Shutterstock
Backpacking is growing and West African countries such as Ghana need to actively attract them.
Locals send a message in Barcelona.
Miltos Gikas/Flickr
Bad tourists are causing a global backlash, with consequences for the entire industry.
BlueOrange Studio/Shutterstock
Wild animals don’t mind humans in their habitats, so long as they make as little noise as possible.
The Serengeti-Mara ecosystem is home to the famous wildebeest migration.
Susan Schmitz/Shutterstock
Intense and extensive changes mean that the Serengeti-Mara area’s wildlife has an unsure future.
We might not be able to use common insecticides to kill mosquitoes that arrive from other countries.
from www.shutterstock.com
Been on a tropical holiday? You might have brought home more than just a new sarong and extra colour in your cheeks – perhaps a mosquito that spreads dengue, or another known as ‘the BBQ stopper’.
Dutch vessel, Willem van Oranje, harvests sand off Kenya’s coast.
CORDIO
Kenya needs a national strategic environmental assessment which focuses on the use of sand for large scale construction.
An elephant faces down a car full of tourists.
Isabelle Szott
Wildlife tourism is a million dollar industry, but do we know enough about how wildlife feel about tourists in their habitat?
A balancing act.
szeke/Flickr.
Airbnb has been criticised for contributing to housing problems in cities across Europe – but history shows there could be a way forward.
The Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island. Each new luxury ecotourism development becomes a precedent to allow future incursions.
Southern Ocean Lodge/AAP
Around Australia, and the world, national parks are under threat from the curious paradox of luxury ecotourism.
The Miss Curvy contest in Uganda attracted a lot of local and international media attention.
Mike Brunette/Flickr
Uganda’s tourism ministry has launched a beauty pageant to use local women to attract tourists.
Children play on a beach in Palau, in the western Pacific Ocean. The country was the first to place a sweeping ban on sunscreen to protect its reefs.
(AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
As the mid-winter break draws crowds to beaches, tourists may be wondering if their sunscreen is toxic to coral reefs.
Virtual reality can bring historical sites to life.
Virtual reality can be more than a mirror that gives you a realistic simulation of the current world: it can bring the past into the present.
Tourism is putting some natural sites under increasing pressure.
from www.shutterstock.com
Can tourism ever be sustainable? Only if operators and consumers start looking beyond the idyllic postcard images and take undesirable consequences of tourism into account.
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Before democracy South Africa’s mining sector prioritised profits over the people and environment. Not much has changed.
Ja Rule and Billy McFarland in still from Netflix Fyre documentary.
Netflix
Two new documentaries about the disastrous 2017 Fyre fail to fully acknowledge the exploitation of the people of the Exumas.
Tourism accounts for 8% of global emissions, much of it from planes.
Shutterstock
Other industries plan for the future, but the tourism industry is acting as if responses to climate change will leave it untouched.
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The story of Macau is one of globalisation and the rise of China.
Shutterstock
A former elf looks into the work that goes into an authentic Christmas experience.