More on the 2009 Geotourism Challenge - The Power of Place

This year the organizers of the Geotourism Challenge have asked me to help them demonstrate their support for entrants who have worked specifically to improve access for all. I am there to assist the entrants discover an alignment between their efforts and the specific criteria of the Challenge.

Judges will evaluate how entrants innovate or apply the geotourism definition in their work. In that definition geotourism is:

    "tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of place -
    its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of
    its residents."

Recently I was in South Africa researching inclusion in tourism among some rather experienced practitioners. Talk often touched on the convergence between green and inclusive priorities. Discussion on best practices:

•         Using bio-diesel rather than pure petrochemical fuel in their lift-equipped vans
•         Integrating Universal Design into the manufacture of traditional buildings, musical instruments, or crafts
•         Incorporating natural materials, recycling, water conservation, and local aesthetcs in the design and construction of their accessible facilities
•         Taking advantage of the presence of visitors with disabilities as an impetus to improve local attitudes and practices toward residents with disabilities
•         Highlighting residents with disabilities as essential contributors to the sustenance of local arts, culture, and heritage - while noting the unique contributions engendered by their experience of disability

As socially sustainable Universal Design and ecologically sustainable green design converge toward a new consensus on "good design" we look forward to more innovators like those in the 2009 Geotourism Challenge.