Civic Tourism

Tourism is one of the largest industries in the world, and perhaps the leading economic engine in your community — an industry with tremendous potential to change the social, economic and natural landscapes of every place it touches. In this "reframed" approach to travel and tourism, Dan Shilling encourages the caretakers of place to craft a restorative tourism ethic. At the basic level he asks, "Why do we do tourism?" Are the comings and goings of guests little more than a cheerleading backdrop for a rapacious growth policy that pays slight, if any, attention to its costs and consequences? Or can you imagine tourism as an enabler of healthy place-making, a tool for meaning-making and a means to provide the sense of purpose and connection more people seek?

It's not just retiring baby boomers who are searching for their own travel epiphanies, and it's not only Machu Picchu that can dish it out. Tourism isn't going away; it's not if you do it how. Get in the game, but establish your own rules.