Introduction to digital tourism

Already valued at an estimated $185 billion, the worldwide ecotourism segment is expected to exceed $374 billion in global impact within the decade.

We’ve all seen them. Envy-inducing Insta posts and enticing ads for longer-term, remote-working visas. You know the images we mean — pics of impossibly happy people lounging in hammocks, laptop casually to hand, with a beautiful beach as their genuine backdrop. No filter, no fake background. Just pure unadulterated, work-play balance bliss, and aspirational “this could be you” messaging. And the glorious truth is, this really could be you.

I meet Donald Macauley, the 37-year-old founder of Sierra Leone's first surf school, along a sunny swath of silky yellow sand at Bureh Beach, a surfing destination on the Western Peninsula where he’s been catching waves for more than 20 years. Macauley learned how to surf from a British soldier; before he had access to a proper board, he and other local teens would ride wooden surfboards shaped from busted fishing boats. In 2012, he launched Bureh Beach Surf Club—whose slogan, “Di waves dem go mak u feel fine,” says it all—and today he leads a handful of instructors, mentors street kids, and rallies behind some of Sierra Leone’s most promising young talents. Among them, I meet 25-year-old Kadiatu “KK” Kamara, the country’s preeminent female surfer. “My dream is to teach more girls in Sierra Leone how to surf,” says Kamara, who herself learned at Bureh Beach eight years ago and hopes to someday open her own school. When girls sign up for lessons, she refuses their money. “It’s my responsibility,” she says solemnly. “I want to motivate them not to be afraid of the water.”

Iberostar Hotel & Resorts is focusing on its commitment to sustainability and responsible tourism, making conservation a driving force in the company’s ethos. Here are some of the programs and efforts taking place at their properties.

In the near future, you’ll be able to get through airport security with just your iPhone or Apple Watch―no physical driver’s license required. Apple just announced that it is working with eight states to enable adding driver’s licenses or state IDs to the Apple Wallet on the iPhone and Apple Watch.

Australia started to recover from devastating summer bushfires only a month ago, leaving behind a landscape that led The New York Times to proclaim “The End of Australia as We Know It.” Many spent the hot summer indoors, unable to go outside due to the hazardous smoke that filled central business districts and country towns. Brave firefighters battled the flames trying to protect homes rather than enjoying Christmas with their families. When the rain eventually came, it provided much-needed relief. But with the rain also came flooding for some towns that could ill afford more bad luck.

France-based airport retail and duty-free ordering platform, Inflyter, is expanding its presence in airports having first debuted at Beirut-Rafic Hariri Airport in 2018 with global duty-free operator Aer Rianta International. The latest placement of its smart lockers was in Lima’s Jorge Chávez International in partnership with Lagardère Travel Retail and Lima Airport Partners in Peru.

Sitting on the far west coast of Africa , just south of Senegal, Guinea Bissau is a small yet vibrant African nation just beginning to take its place on the tourist map. Years of colonial rule followed by decades of political instability kept this once-Portuguese outpost a secret, known only by dedicated deep-sea fishermen and a handful of NGO workers. But it’s not going to remain a secret for much longer, as Explore begin running trips to Guinea Bissau in November 2016. We sent photographer Diana Jarvis to uncover Guinea Bissau – here are some of her best shots.

Sustainable tourism is about more than re-using your towels. To mark the UN’s Year of Sustainability in 2017, Keith Drew heads to Zimbabwe to see how a proper sustainable strategy can change people’s (and animals’) lives for the better.

We travellers love to seek out the old, cobbled, timeworn corners of cities and turn our noses up at the glistening new builds. It’s part of the reason that ruins are so irresistible. Then there are the unfinished places, of which Barcelona’s Sagrada Família is the most celebrated example. Do we ever want Gaudí’s masterpiece to actually be finished?

Our authors have travelled the length and breadth of Trinidad and Tobago, shimmying through the streets at Carnival, body-surfing at the beaches and gorging on street food, yet chocolate remains one of their highlights.

You’ve probably never heard of apitourism, or even considered “bee tourism” to be a thing. But it is, and it’s a travel trend swarming all over Slovenia.