The Tourism RESET

My guest today, Professor Stefan Gössling, has spent more than 30 years asking: what does flying really cost our economy, industry and who’s really paying for it?

He’s Professor of Tourism Research at Linnaeus University in Sweden. The Guardian has called him one of the most cited travel researchers in the world, he has consulted for the UN and the World Bank, and has been named one of the most influential climate researchers in the world.

From the outside, aviation looks like a booming business, with more passengers every year. But once you factor in public support, airlines may never have truly made a profit.

This is a conversation about understanding the economics of aviation, the importance of tourism questioning it rather than accepting its terms, and the ethics of flying, so we can all make better decisions.

Here’s what stayed with me long after this conversation

🌍 Why a taxi driver is 100 times more profitable than an airline per passenger kilometre, and the 14 subsidies that keep aviation in the air

🌍 What “future soothing” is, and why aviation is like a disappointing boyfriend or girlfriend whose promises always sit in the future

🌍 Why 42% of flights in one of Stefan’s studies weren’t deemed important to the people who took them, and what that says about cheap flying

🌍 The ethics of flying. 2 -4% of humanity flies internationally each year, and why asking who really pays the price matters

🌍 The risk facing tour operators, and how rethinking markets and the trips you sell can build a more resilient business

Stefan’s book recommendations with World of Books:

📚 Europe and the People Without History by Eric R. Wolf

📚 Putin’s People by Catherine Belton

Enjoyed this episode? Explore Stefan's 5-minute RESET or our Masterclasses from the industry’s leading experts at thetourismreset.com. Video first. On-demand. Accessible for all. Zero barriers to knowledge to help you better show up in your role or business.

Welcome to the third episode of ‘Bred To Entertain’, a series with World Animal Protection dedicated to captive wildlife in tourism. In this episode we’re exploring the hidden life of captive lions and tigers, with a focus on South Africa and Thailand.

Today I'm joined by two leading specialists, Dr Jan Schmidt-Burbach of World Animal Protection and Dr Louise de Waal of Blood Lions

Jan is Director of Wildlife Research and Veterinary Expertise at World Animal Protection Denmark. A vet with a PhD, he has spent more than 15 years researching wildlife in entertainment, from elephant tourism to the farming of big cats.

Louise is a Director of Blood Lions, which campaigns to end the commercial captive breeding of lions and other big cats in South Africa. Before Blood Lions, she founded and ran her own Africa tour operator. She's also led South Africa’s #HandsOffOurWildlife campaign and helped set up the Coalition to Stop the Captive Breeding of Lions for Commercial Purposes.

5 moments that stayed with me long after the conversation, with timings so you can go straight to them:

🦁 “There are 2.5 times more lions in captivity than in the wild here in South Africa... Tourism has definitely played a very large ROLE in this.” [3:44]

🦁 “The demand is huge... On average, 400+ lion trophies are exported each year. That’s more than one being shot in captivity every single day.” [15:00]

🦁 “The reality of voluntourism is that in a lot of cases, the lions are not rescued, they are not orphaned, there is no release... Many volunteers are lied to.” [30:44]

🦁 “Asking more questions in the wrong venue sometimes leads to reinforcing false intent. In terms of big cat attractions, it’s straightforward. You need to...” [43:22]

🦁 “In South Africa, there is a really good tool to help travel professionals and teams with this... There are a few captive facilities out there that are genuine.” [56:26]

Links to resources:

• Find out which facilities in South Africa to avoid or support with WildChoices here.
• Watch the Blood Lions documentary here.

Jan and Louise's book recommendations:

• Paula: Isabel Allende (Goodreads)
• The Collector of Worlds: Ilija Trojanow (Goodreads)

Beyond these conversations, you can deep-dive into expert-led Masterclasses, or dip your toe in with the 5-minute RESET series, over on thetourismreset.com. Create your learning dashboard today. Zero barriers to expertise for travel pros and business owners.

This is the second episode of ‘Bred To Entertain’, a three-part series with World Animal Protection dedicated to captive wildlife in tourism. Expert-led conversations for travel and hospitality professionals, entrepreneurs and tour operator teams, to help you navigate this topic with clarity and confidence.

My guests today are Delphine Ronfot and Dr David Perpiñán. Delphine has more than 20 years of international experience in captive wild animal welfare and sanctuary standards, and is World Animal Protection’s consultant on cetacean sanctuaries across Europe.

After graduating as a vet, David spent more than two decades behind the scenes of zoos across the UK, US and Spain. He holds a PhD in animal health. He's seen this world from the inside. And then he walked away from it all. Today he's a consultant, filmmaker and the author of Animals vs. Zoos.

• Find out more with World Animal Protection’s Behind the Smile report here.
• Learn about Europe's first ever Dolphin Refuge in Italy here.

The book recommendations from this episode are:

• Humans and Other Animals: Samantha Hurn
• Animals Vs. Zoos: David Perpiñán

Beyond these conversations, you can deep-dive into expert-led Masterclasses, or dip your toe in with the 5-minute RESET series, over on thetourismreset.com. Create your learning dashboard today. Zero barriers to expertise for travel pros and business owners.

This is the first episode of 'Bred To Entertain' a three-part series with World Animal Protection dedicated to captive wildlife in tourism. Expert-led conversations for travel and hospitality professionals, entrepreneurs and tour operator teams, to help you navigate this topic with clarity and confidence.

My guests today are Dr Jan Schmidt-Burbach and Sarah Blaine. Jan is Director of Wildlife Research and Veterinary Expertise at World Animal Protection, holds a PhD in diagnosing health issues in Asian elephants, and has led the most comprehensive assessment to date of Thailand's captive elephant industry.

Sarah co-founded Mahouts Elephant Foundation in 2015 and has dedicated her life to the welfare of elephants. Her foundation directly partners with Karen indigenous communities, empowering them with the tools they need to support their families and their elephants in their home village.

Bred To Entertain is the latest report across 15 years of research, which highlights that conditions for elephants have barely shifted since 2019, even as the number of captive elephants in tourism grows.

• Check out World Animal Protection's Bred to Entertain report here.
• Find out more about Sarah's work and the Mahouts Elephant Foundation here.

The book recommendations from this episode:

• Travels on My Elephant: Mark Shand
• A Voyage For Mad Men: Peter Nichols

Beyond these conversations, you can deep-dive into expert-led Masterclasses, or dip your toe in with the 5-minute RESET series, over on thetourismreset.com. Create your learning dashboard today. Zero barriers to expertise.

50 episodes of The Tourism Reset and we're marking the milestone with a big topic and a very special guest.

My guest today, Gopinath Parayil has spent over 20 years asking one question: how do we create a better place to live? He's the founder of travel company Blue Yonder, an award winning travel company founded in 2004 in Kerala India.

His business and team have been first responders across major climate disasters for over two decades - the Kerala floods, the Nepal earthquake, and Cyclone Aila.

"It's high time that this $10 trillion humanitarian potential of tourism industry is unleashed." Gopi

As disasters hit more destinations, more often, Gopi's case is simple: this isn't a problem that's going away. It's a direct threat to business continuity, wherever you operate. And it's not just about responding once disaster strikes - Gopi argues tourism has a role to play at every stage: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.

This conversation is about what that actually looks like on the ground, what agency means in practice, and why tourism's $10 trillion economy might be the most underused resource in building resilience today.

Here's what stayed with me long after this conversation

🌍 Why a dying river and the loss of his father became the starting point for a completely different way of building and running a travel business

🌍 How a village of flood-damaged saris became a doll, a global movement, and $132,000 raised - without a single cent of it being donated and why that matters

🌍 Why Gopi's team trained 1,500 people to swim - and how it became part of a wider disaster-response system

Episode 50 is powered by Tiger Mountain Pokhara (Nepal), one of The Tourism Reset's partners helping keep expert-led insights and solutions open access for all, zero barriers for travel pros and business owners around the world to get in the know.

Find out more about Blue Yonder here.

Enjoyed this episode? Explore The Masterclasses from the industry's leading experts and discover stories that invite in fresh thinking over at thetourismreset.com. On-demand. Accessible for All. Zero barriers to access.

25 Antarctic tour guides walked away from careers they'd spent years earning, and a place they loved. Not because the work dried up. Not because they changed their minds. Because of what they witnessed on the ice.

My guest today, Dr. Elizabeth Cooper, set out to find out why people were choosing to leave the industry. What she uncovered is an inconvenient truth about Antarctic tourism - one that directly undercuts the ambassadorship narrative the industry relies on, exposes the self-governance, and reveals the realities of life for the species that call it home since tourism moved in.

Here's what stayed with me after this conversation...

🌍 The tipping points that made 25 Antarctic guides leave the tourism industry for good

🌍 The real cost of a trip to Antarctica & why the sustainability narrative doesn't hold up

🌍 What happened next when a guide flagged an endangered fish on the ship's menu

🌍 What Liz says real care looks like - and why it has nothing to do with visiting at all

Liz's book recommendation - 'Slow down or die' by Timothée Parrique.

To find out more about the research mentioned in this episode visit Science Direct - search 'Mind the gaps: The moral journey of tour guides who quit' or click here.

Enjoyed this episode? Explore 40+ Masterclasses from the industry's leading minds and discover stories often missing within the industry over at thetourismreset.com. On-demand. Accessible for All.

Migration. Present in the places and destinations tourism operates in and sends travellers to. Tourism relies on the idea of freedom of movement - so what happens when those two worlds collide?

This story began as one man's dream to cross what he calls "one of the last remaining wildernesses." It became something else entirely. The story of a family's fight to survive.

My guest today is Rasmus Krath, a Danish filmmaker and adventurer who has spent his career in places most people won't go - from pirate territory in Somalia to conflict zones in Afghanistan.

In his latest film Rasmus spent six days filming a family crossing one of the world's most dangerous migration routes - crossing the notorious Darién Gap jungle, a vast area between Colombia and Panama.

Here's what stayed with me after this conversation...

🌍 Why Rasmus stopped traveling "to see places" & started traveling to bring back stories

🌍 His words: "Migrants travel, adventurers travel. So why not travel with migrants?"

🌍 Passport privilege and the missing impact opportunities for the tourism industry

🌍 The moment tourism and migration sit side by side and what that contrast brings up

You can watch the trailer for the film on Vimeo or Youtube. Search 'WHO OWNS THE STORY OF MIGRATION? To support the film you can donate, follow Rasmus on Linkedin for the links.

Enjoyed this episode? Explore 40+ Masterclasses from the industry's leading minds at thetourismreset.com. Video-first. On-demand. Zero barriers to access. Create your login today to gain access. Designed for tourism pros, hospitality teams and travel businesses.

If community tourism is part of your business, if community impact matters to you in the places you operate, or if you publish impact reports - this episode is for you.

My guest today is Ewan Cluckie, co-founder of Tripseed, a majority locally-owned, women-owned DMC based in Thailand. Tripseed recently became the first tourism operator in Asia to receive the Fair Tax Mark and is the first business anywhere in the world certified under the Fair Tax Foundation's new standard.

Here's what stayed with me after this conversation...

🌍 Why zero leakage is not the goal and why not all economic leakage is so called 'bad'

🌍 Why some "community impact" claims are, in Ewan's words, "nonsense" - and what it would take to know if yours holds up

🌍 Why economic leakage remains the BIG elephant in the tourism industry - going unnoticed, missing from impact reports, conferences and boardrooms

🌍 What Ewan discovered behind the scenes of some of the leading sustainability certifications and that made him walk away from B Corp

Coming to The Tourism Reset an on-demand Masterclass dedicated to this topic, packed with further insights, leading expertise and practical tools for your business, plus real-world case studies to get inspired from. Create your login today to gain access when it lands.

Enjoyed this episode? Explore 40+ Masterclasses from the industry's leading minds at thetourismreset.com. Video-first. On-demand. Access for All.

What's behind a hotel lobby that invites in a full-body exhale from its guests, and another that does the opposite? The answer? Already written into their nervous systems and missing entirely from most business strategies and ROI docs.

My guest today is Dr. Willy Legrand, Professor, author, and speaker based in Germany, where he's been teaching sustainability in hospitality for over two decades. In this episode, you'll discover what his garden tells us about him that his prolific academic career cannot.

Here's what stayed with me after this conversation:

🌍 What biophilic design is, what it isn't, and why it matters to your hotel, lodge, resort

🌍 The hotel lobby that fooled Willy, until it didn't, and why he left feeling disappointed

🌍 How architects and hotels can hijack biophilic design, and what it costs them

🌍 The overlooked research on hotel back-of-house spaces, where staff spend time

To find out more about the Hotel Yearbook mentioned inside this episode, click here.

*This episode is powered by Your Nature Anew, where tourism meets wellbeing.

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How does tourism hide the voices of communities on main tourism routes? And what happens when this industry is a vehicle to bring back lost stories and heritage instead?

My guest today is Professor Sandro Carnicelli, who teaches tourism at the University of West Scotland. Born in São Paulo to an Italian family, he completed his PhD in New Zealand, today he calls Scotland home. A journey that's shaped years of research and teaching - including his mapping of 50 tourism routes across southern Brazil, a project that connects deeply to his own heritage and, as he puts it, touches his soul.

Here's what stayed with me after this conversation

🌍 A powerful answer to "what does decolonising tourism actually look like?" - the first step any of us can take, whatever your role or the size of your business.

🌍 What Sandro discovered mapping 50 tourism routes across southern Brazil - the histories and stories tourism so often chooses to hide rather than acknowledge.

🌍 The anti-tourism attraction in Brazil that flips the script and engages visitors to confront a version of history the standard tour and usual narrative leaves out.

🌍 How domestic tourism in Algeria is helping communities reconnect with their identities, stories, culture and way of life that colonisation almost erased.

Enjoyed this episode? Explore 40+ Masterclasses from the industry's leading minds and voices at thetourismreset.com. Video-first. On-demand. Zero barriers to access.

You can connect with Sandro on linkedin.