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This week in tourism, Greenland, Georgia, and Venice all want visitors — but with a few caveats. Then check out our long read on cultural tours to indigenous communities and the exploitation that happens beneath the surface.

Tourism News Weekly Roundup

Throughout the week we post dozens of original stories, connecting the dots across the travel industry, and every weekend we sum it all up. This weekend roundup examines tourism trends.

For all of our weekend roundups, go here.

Greenland Doesn’t Want to Be Part of U.S. — But It Wants American Visitors: Greenland, unsurprisingly, is not for sale. But it respectfully thanks Donald Trump for all the attention and would like to extend an invitation for more Americans to visit — as tourists, that is, not prospective buyers.

Are Cultural Tours Built on Exploitation? Cultural tours to communities of color involve many parties: travel advisors, tour operators, service providers, travelers themselves, and more. So who’s responsible for making sure that a trip to an indigenous community or a historically black neighborhood is carried out ethically?

Georgia’s Growing Tourism Industry Will Get a Major Lift From Ryanair: The low-cost carrier expanding its network to Georgia will be good news for the nation’s already-growing tourism industry. But with $11 (€9.99) flights comes great responsibility for a tourism economy.

Venice’s Big Money Conundrum to Solving Its Cruise Ship Crisis: Venice’s struggle to deal with oversize cruise ships is constantly in the headlines, but beware of anyone claiming a solution has been reached — the situation is beset with complications of almost every kind.

New York City Projects Record-Breaking Visitors as U.S. Inbound Travel Cools: The picture of U.S. inbound travel overall is not particularly bright. But New York City has proved uniquely equipped to weather the storm.

Skift Global Forum Preview: Carnival CEO Arnold Donald Says Sustainability Is ‘Job One’: When it comes to cruising’s responsibility to the world, the cruise industry has obligations that span land, air, and sea. Fortunately CEO Arnold Donald seems to recognize the scale of the challenge.

Inside the 5 Families Who Hold a Tight Grip on Philippines Tourism: A handful of families in the Philippines controls 70 percent of the country’s tourism industry, owning key travel infrastructure such as airlines, hotels, resorts, shopping malls, and tourist attractions. Is that tight control a formula for future success?

Philippine Tourism Industry Attracts More Family Money: Why It’s Wrong: For many, the idea that a few families can control a whole industry is unthinkable, unfair, actually galling. In Philippine tourism, it’s as entrenched as the sight of a jeepney — no one thinks anything of it at all. That has to change, although it won’t be anytime soon.

High-Touch and High-Tech Find Common Ground With Travel Advisors: Virtuoso CEO: Virtuoso Travel Week drew record attendance to the annual event it likens to Fashion Week. While heavily touting the consortium’s new Wanderlist travel planning tool, it also emphasized the human touch.

Travel Advisors Address the Power of Gen Z and the Emotional Quotient: Travel advisors are finding that kids are playing an increasingly important role in travel planning decisions. They must address the preferences of all family members, including their emotional needs.

How Much the Human Connection Still Matters: Serving the emotional needs of clients, a key theme during this year’s Virtuoso Travel Week, is another indicator of how the travel advisor’s role continues to evolve beyond the booking of travel. Tech tools are a help in determining emotional needs, but not as much as human interaction.

Skift Global Forum: What to Expect for 2019: Take a 60-second tour of what you can expect to see, hear, and do at this year’s Skift Global Forum.

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Tags: tourism, Travel Trends, trends roundups

Photo credit: Greenland wants American visitors, but under certain conditions. United Nations Photo / Flickr

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