Terry Stevens - Wish You Were Here: The Stories Behind 50 of the Worlds Great Destinations

Wish You Were Here

Great Tourism Destinations

A lack of prejudice and an inextinguishable curiosity makes one an instinctive traveller.

William Dampier (16511715), buccaneer, explorer and hydrographer born in East Coker who three times circumnavigated the globe and the first Englishman to explore and map Australia.

Wish You Were Here

Wish You Were Here Published in Great Britain in 2020 by Graffeg.

Written by Terry Stevens Copyright 2020. Designed and produced by Graffeg Limited copyright 2020.

Graffeg, Stradey Park Business Centre, Mwrwg Road, Llangennech, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire SA14 8YP Wales UK www. graffeg.com

Terry Stevens is hereby identified as the author of this work in accordance with section of the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

A CIP Catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Professional edition ISBN 9781913134969 Consumer edition ISBN 9781913134952

Professional edition eBook ISBN 9781913634276 Consumer edition eBook ISBN 9781913634261

Cover Photo: North Rim, Grand Canyon, iStock.

To Jac, Elis, Gruff, Owain a Moi

Be curious, enjoy travelling the world the Odyssey of the human spirit but always return home safe.

Wish You Were Here

Wish You Were Here

Destinations

Great Tourism Destinations

CONTENTS

Soc a Valley, Slovenia

Wish You Were Here

Perhaps the best part of Wish You Were Here is that unlike the obvious suggestion of its title this is not a typical language-driven, promotional, bucket list guidebook. Terry Stevens gives these destinations real world context. He doesnt just present a description of a destination be it a city or a region.

He tells us its personality, its mood, and not just its reason for being, but also its resilience, perseverance and ultimate success. Stevens real wish here is for us to approach the world with a mission that goes beyond mere attraction or desire, but to understand these places and how they came to be, and perhaps in the process to understand our never-ending need to experience them.

Peter Greenberg Travel Editor/CBS News

Welcome / Croeso Peter Greenberg

Right: Berlin Cathedral.

Great Tourism Destinations

Wish You Were Here

French poet Victor Hugo once wrote, wisely and poignantly: There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. How perfectly this statement applies to global travel and tourism!

Embedded within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, travel and tourism is now recognised and respected as an economic sector vital to sustainable, inclusive global development. With more than four million people crossing international boundaries every single day in 2019, travel and tourism currently accounts for over 10% of global gross domestic product and one in ten jobs worldwide. Uniquely, it has also become a means for shaping the future of nations, (re) strengthening national identity, competitiveness, and participation in the global community.

Importantly, the strength of the industrys heartbeat comes from its ability to unlock cross- border, cross-cultural and cross-generational understanding the human interactions created by tourism offering us all direct, invaluable sensitivity towards our shared worlds diversity

and differences in a way that inspires greater understanding, respect, and ultimately peace.

With this remarkable impact, destinations cities, regions and nations are working tirelessly to unfold welcome mats to travellers. Increased competition has meant that, sadly, the desire of destinations to quickly and aggressively stand out can, on occasion, result in strategically short-sighted product and/or promotion decision making that goes against the innate strengths and spirit of the destination. In so doing, tourism development can challenge the social, cultural and/ or environmental fabric of the destination, creating an underlying tension between visitors and locals. Duty of care has, as a result, become a part of the DNA of responsible tourism growth.