There are moments when the tourism industry needs more than optimism. It needs practical support, useful conversations, and spaces where professionals can come together to learn from one another.
That is why I am pleased to be part of the Responsible Tourism Development Academy’s (RTDA) free online learning week, taking place from June 1–4, 2026.
RTDA, an initiative of the World Tourism Association for Culture and Heritage (WTACH), will offer four complimentary live online courses for tourism professionals, SMEs, guides, educators, destination teams, NGOs, students, hospitality teams, government agencies, and community-based tourism enterprises.
The series will cover culture and heritage tourism development, cultural heritage tour guiding, food tourism development, and responsible tourism development. Each course will run for two hours, with sessions expected to take place at 09:00 UK time, making the program accessible to participants across several regions.
Learning at a Time When It Matters
Across the industry, many tourism professionals are navigating changing markets, rising costs, shifting traveller expectations, and uncertainty across key source regions. For smaller businesses and independent professionals, professional development is often something people want but cannot always prioritize.
That is what makes this initiative timely. It gives people a chance to pause, refresh, reconnect, and think more deeply about how tourism can be developed in ways that benefit both visitors and host communities.
For me, the real value is not only in the content. It is in the conversation. It is the opportunity to meet other professionals, hear different perspectives, and explore what responsible tourism looks like in practice across different destinations and communities.
“Tourism has always been about people,” said Chris Flynn, Executive Chair of RTDA. “It is about the people who welcome visitors, the people who tell the stories, the people who protect culture, the people who grow the food, guide the journeys, run the businesses, and keep communities alive. At difficult moments, we have a responsibility to stand with them.”
Four Courses, Four Useful Conversations
The June learning week brings together four practitioners working across culture, heritage, guiding, food tourism, and responsible tourism development.
The opening session on Monday, June 1, will be led by Nigel Fell, President & CEO of the World Tourism Association for Culture and Heritage. His course, Introduction to Culture and Heritage Tourism Development, will explore how culture and heritage can be developed as meaningful tourism assets without reducing them to simple attractions or photo stops.
Participants will be introduced to the foundations of cultural and heritage tourism, including its economic, social, and environmental impacts. The session will also examine ways to design, manage, and market heritage experiences that are authentic, commercially viable, and respectful of the communities and custodians behind the stories.
On Tuesday, June 2, Erina Loo will lead Introduction to Cultural Heritage Tour Guiding, focusing on the guides who often shape a visitor’s deepest understanding of place.
A good guide does more than share facts. A good guide interprets meaning, connects people to place, and helps visitors understand why a destination matters. The course will explore the role of the cultural heritage guide as interpreter, host, cultural ambassador, ethical storyteller, and guardian of meaning. Participants will examine key guiding skills and values, basic cultural interpretation techniques, and the guide’s role in heritage preservation.
On Wednesday, June 3, Jenny Leung will lead Introduction to Food Tourism Development, looking at food as one of tourism’s most powerful connectors.
Food tourism links travellers to farmers, markets, cooks, recipes, landscapes, traditions, and local economies. It can also give smaller towns, villages, and lesser-known regions a way to tell their stories through something deeply human and immediately memorable.
Leung has spent more than a decade working at the intersection of food, culture, and community impact. Her work began in Timor-Leste with local women and coffee farmers and later expanded through World Kitchen Club, a global food community that has connected more than 3,200 participants across five continents through virtual tours, cooking classes, food stories, and sustainability-themed culinary events.
Her course will introduce the foundations of food tourism, its benefits for communities and local economies, and practical considerations for designing food-based experiences that meet traveller expectations while respecting local identity.
The week will close on Thursday, June 4, with Introduction to Responsible Tourism Development, which I will facilitate from Bangkok.
My session will focus on how responsible tourism can move from good intentions to practical choices. Participants will explore tourism’s social, cultural, economic, and environmental impacts, along with the triple bottom line of People, Planet, and Profit.
As one of Thailand’s first certified facilitators of the 2030 SDGs Game, I have seen how powerful it can be when sustainability becomes practical, human, and even enjoyable. Responsible tourism should not feel like a lecture. It should feel like a better way to design travel, support communities, and create experiences that matter.
Turning Responsible Tourism into Action
Responsible tourism is often discussed as a big idea, but in practice it comes down to daily decisions.How is a story told? Who benefits from a visitor experience? How are communities involved? How are cultural assets protected? How can tourism create income without eroding identity? How can businesses remain commercially viable while still doing right by people and place?
These are not abstract questions. They are the questions shaping the next chapter of tourism.
For guides, the program may offer new ways to interpret culture and heritage. For small businesses, it may inspire stronger products and guest experiences. For destinations, it may support better planning and community engagement. For educators and students, it provides a practical window into the real challenges and opportunities facing tourism today.
And for the wider industry, it is a reminder that responsible tourism is not a slogan. It is a skill set, a mindset, and a conversation worth having again and again.
Course Details
Organizer: Responsible Tourism Development Academy
Initiative of: World Tourism Association for Culture and Heritage
Format: Live online
Duration: Two hours per course
Cost: Free
Dates: June 1–4, 2026
Time: 09:00 UK time
Recommended For: Tourism SMEs, destination professionals, educators, guides, hospitality teams, NGOs, community-based tourism enterprises, government agencies, students, and tourism professionals.
About RTDA
The Responsible Tourism Development Academy (RTDA) is a capacity-building initiative of the World Tourism Association for Culture and Heritage (WTACH). RTDA provides training modules, courses, coaching, consultancy, and knowledge-sharing programs designed to help destinations, tourism businesses, government ministries, NGOs, donor agencies, educators, and industry stakeholders develop tourism more responsibly, sustainably, and equitably.
Its programs support practical decision-making, cultural heritage protection, community benefit, responsible business development, and long-term tourism resilience.
Media Contact
Responsible Tourism Development Academy
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.rtd.academy
World Tourism Association for Culture and Heritage
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.wtach.org
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