Crisis as the Now Normal
Dear reader,
this editorial was planned to be written during the ITB Berlin and to talk about the new trends and discussions about sustainable tourism development, featuring more and more voices criticising the lack of success, the formalism of many certification processes, and the need for practical tools to achieve benefits and satisfaction for all stakeholders, as is the central pillar of the Meaningful Tourism paradigm.
However, history has taken a nasty turn again last week, with what started as an attack on Iran turning within days into a conflict which involves burning oil tanker and cargo ships and the first torpedo attack on a warship since 1945 on the sea and civilian deaths in more and more countries.
Tourism is in danger of sliding back into the paralysis of the CoViD-19 years with the return of terrorist attacks and a global financial crisis added on top. According to the superstition connected to the Chinese traditional calendar, on February 17, we saw the beginning of the dangerous Yang Fire Horse year. Who would have thought that these dangers of aggressiveness would become reality within days of the new year starting, and that embassies, harbours, airports, and hotels would be in flames not only in Iran but across GCC and many other Muslim countries?
In August 1939, the Nazi government in Germany, facing immediate state bankruptcy, had to forward the occupation of Poland to September 1st, 1939. Despite the urgency, the Nazi government felt obliged to stage a fake attack by German soldiers in Polish uniforms on a German radio station close to the border to construct a reason for “shooting back”, creating the appearance of honouring the principles of the Peace Treaties of Westphalia in 1648.
Fast forward to February 2022 and Russia’s attack on the Ukraine, named a Special Military Operation, and globally condemned as going against all principles of international law. Jump four more years to February 2026 and, lo and behold, Israel and the USA starting another military offensive, again refusing to call it a war - another Special Military Operation aptly named by many as “Epstein Fury”.
The assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei took place in the same way as Imam Ali, the first Imam of Shiism, died: at the hands of an assassin during the holy month of Ramadan. The fact that Khamenei was killed together with some members of his family immediately mirrors the Martyrdom of Husayn at Karbala not only for Shia around the world but even for Sunnis, now joining Shias in street protests in a rare demonstration of a unified Ummah, probably indicating the start of a divinely-inspired global insurgency.
This week, the biggest tourism fair and conference in the world, the ITB Berlin, took place in the hometown of your humble editor. Many Asian would-be visitors to ITB Berlin never made it to Berlin and those who went there early enough now face the question of how to return after the end of the fair. Chinese airlines using the Russian airspace are almost the only option left, unless you want to fly from Europe for instance to India via Addis Abeba as colleagues of our new MTC Certified Trainer for Kerala had to do to reach Berlin for the collection of a Green Destinations award.
In exactly one month, your humble editor is invited to man a booth at the PTM Pakistan Travel Mart together with our new MTC Certified Trainer for Pakistan and to speak at the accompanying SDF Sustainable Destinations Forum in Karachi about Meaningful Tourism. However, despite optimistic press releases from the organisers, it is not clear if the PTM will be able to open its gates next month.
The current conflicts are harmful for the global economy, as every day the GCC airports and the Strait of Hormuz are not in operation and will probably accelerate the bursting of the debt bubble of the USA and consequently the end of the US Dollar as the leading global currency. Security checks at the airports, which appeared for years as an outdated nuisance, will become more necessary again with the increasing likelihood of terrorist attacks.
In 2018, the philosopher Jürgen Link published the book Normalismus und Antagonimus in der Post-moderne. Krise, New Normal, Populismus (Normalism and Antagonism in postmodern times. Crisis, New Normal, Populism; an extensive summary and discussion in English can be found here. Especially since the CoViD-19 pandemic, and further accelerated by Climate Change and the recent wars, his analysis of the perception of “Crisis as the New Normal” has been taken up by many other analysts, often in the simplified form of “Crisis is the New Normal”.
Peace, we all have been reminded by the events of the last days and by the former Foreign Minister of Germany, Joschka Fischer, in his keynote speech at ITB Berlin, depends on peace. Tourism depends on peace not only with regard to the provision of open travel routes and a global economy enabling large parts of the world’s population to afford travel for leisure, business, education and health. Tourism also needs trust in the safety of the journey. Burning hotels and the return of the threat of terrorist attacks will scare away many would-be travellers, who had already been discomfited by the increase in extreme weather conditions.
Meaningful Tourism is a paradigm built on a positive approach to development. We will therefore not be stopped by the dark clouds in the sky from further intensifying the work for a Meaningful Tourism Economy. We are proud to start together with our partner AIROI the service of providing especially hotels with the triple benefits of Carbon Credit Trading (see MTC News below).
We are also happy to welcome a new staff member in the MTC headquarter in Kathmandu, who will strengthen our research department and help to update the content of our materials and to increase our training and implementation support capacities.
As the MTC headquarter is located in Kathmandu, the elections in this country are also relevant and indeed a source of optimism for us. See an update in the MTC News section.
“May you live in interesting times” is a curse in the Chinese tradition. Any remaining ideas that we are moving towards “normality” and will live in boring times, as Francis Fukuyama famously predicted in 1992 in his book The End of History, are by now truly shattered. Let’s hope that we will collectively be able to move from mindless destruction, as we witness today, to Creative Destruction in this sense of Schumpeter. The Meaningful Tourism movement will play its part in this process, helping destinations and companies on a small scale and the global economy a little bit on a larger scale as well.
As always, all best wishes from the Meaningful Tourism Weekly team in Kathmandu and Manila and from the whole Meaningful Tourism community to all our readers!
Meaningful Tourism in three fairs in Asia – Weekly update
MTC, including its section COTRI, is supporting three major tourism fairs and conferences taking place in April, May and June 2026 in Pakistan and China. For all three fairs, special MTC RECOMMENDED EXHIBITOR and COTRI RECOMMENDED EXHIBITOR packages are available for exhibitors using MTC and COTRI to book their booth at no additional cost.
We have added further videos highlighting the background and advantages of participating in one or several of the fairs. They can be found on the MTC YouTube channel and on Instagram.
The organisers of the Pakistan Travel Mart have confirmed that they are planning to go ahead with the fair as planned, despite military conflicts in Iran and the Middle East and the border fights between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
COTRI, part of MTC, will organise together with the Ecotourism Kenya organisation a webinar providing information about the RECOMMENDED EXHIBITOR program for the members of Ecotourism Kenya. The webinar is free and open to all interested persons, companies, and organisations. The webinar will take place on March 26th, at 11 am Kenya time. Please see the information for registration in the Events section below and here:
ecotourismkenya
More detailed information about the fairs is available on the MTC website and in the January 22, 2026 edition of this publication, Meaningful Tourism Weekly.
MTC introduces the first of three new MTC Certified Trainers
As reported last week, MTC welcomed three experts from Pakistan and India in February as new Meaningful Tourism trainers and as part of the Meaningful Tourism movement.
In today’s edition, you will find the first introduction of our trainer from Pakistan, Mr. Umar Khan. He is a leading stakeholder in sustainable tourism in Pakistan, and, by the way, one of the most successful former students of your humble editor.
Global program for hotels to profit from Carbon Credit Trading started
The cooperation with AIROI Inc. has started as planned. MTC, together with its trainers and other distribution partners, is offering a global program to provide hotels, hotel groups, and other tourism and hospitality service providers with the chance to profit in a triple way from sustainable behaviour:
- Reducing the consumption and cost of electricity and water as well as reducing waste production
- Earning carbon credit income without any effort
- Elevating the image and perception of guests as responsible green service providers within the Meaningful Tourism economy.
Information videos on the MTC YouTube channel and on our website are constantly added. A brief introduction describing the advantages and the simple steps necessary to profit from the cooperation with MTC and the premier provider of Carbon Credit trading services, can be downloaded here.
Nepal elects a new future
The Meaningful Tourism Centre headquarter is located since 2023 in Kathmandu/Nepal. Half a year after the fall of the previous government, elections were held on March 5th, 2026, to return to a freely elected government in line with the constitution after half a year of rule by a caretaker government.
At the time of writing this text, early results indicate a landslide win for the RSP, the party associated with the GenZ movement, which led to the downfall of the government, 77 dead and hundreds of burned-down government buildings, shopping malls and hotels last September.
In more than 75% of the constituencies that have already reported intermediate results, the RSP candidates are leading. In the battle for a direct mandate between Balendra Shah (commonly called "Balen"), a former rapper and until recently the mayor of Kathmandu, and the toppled former Prime Minister Oli, "Balen" leads after about half the votes counted, with about 10,000 to 4,000 votes.
In the last almost 20 years, the parties that succeeded in ending the monarchy ran the country into the ground despite many positive conditions, reducing it basically to a labour-exporting economy. Nepal is still the third-poorest country in the world outside Africa, and Kathmandu has become one of the most polluted cities in the world.
In tourism, Nepal has not made the most of the many opportunities and resources available. For a detailed discussion, a recent podcast gave your humble editor the chance to share his views and insights:
The elections fortunately took place without major disturbances or bloodshed. If the RSP can form a new government, it will face many problems. In the last 20 years, basic developments in infrastructure, health care, banking, education, tourism, etc., were neglected; many plans and laws were made, but they were never implemented or only with major delays.
The new government can look forward to continued support from its neighbours India and China, as well as from Western countries, all trying to secure influence in this geopolitically important region. However, the current wars in the Middle East are threatening the most important share of GDP, remittances from the almost two million Nepali working in GCC countries.
Rising oil and gas prices will, in addition, fuel inflation in a country which can exploit an abundance of hydropower, but is still cooking with LPG cylinders.
To stop the brain drain from the villages to Kathmandu and from Nepal to other countries by creating jobs and infrastructure will be the most important task for the new government.
The creation of a Meaningful Tourism Economy in Nepal can be a major tool to facilitate such a development.
Meaningful Tourism Community: The Meaningful Tourism Transformational Game Workshop Trainer
Umar Khan - Certified Trainer for Pakistan
Umar Khan is a Pakistan-based tourism entrepreneur and Founder/CEO of Born Xplorer, a destination management company established in 2016.
With a Master’s in International Tourism Management from Germany and an MBA from Pakistan, he has experience across travel consulting, hospitality, and market research in both Europe and Pakistan. He specializes in designing and managing travel itineraries, tour packages, MICE arrangements, and visa assistance, and actively promotes Pakistan as a tourism destination. Umar is multilingual (Urdu, English, German), has published on tourism in Pakistan, and frequently engages in industry events and environmental volunteering.
Current Tourism situation in Pakistan and how the Meaningful Tourism paradigm can contribute to its development
Pakistan’s post-pandemic tourism recovery presents a structural paradox: strong domestic growth alongside underperforming inbound tourism. Its revival after the pandemic broke the barriers and tourists flocked particularly to its northern regions. According to the Statista Travel and Tourism Pakistan report, the sector contributed approximately 2.8% to GDP in FY 2024-25 and was projected to generate over USD 4billion in revenue by 2025, with an estimated annual growth rate of 6.7% from 2025 to 2029.
Pakistan offers UNESCO Heritage sites to old civilization like ‘Mohenjo Daro’ & Taxila, adventure and more tourism opportunities. Yet the inbound tourism remains below its full potential due to perception challenges, limited strategic branding, and uneven destination management capacity. The rapid revival highlights both opportunity and systematic pressure on destination governance systems, particularly in environmentally sensitive areas where congestion during peak seasons highlights carrying capacity challenges and waste management systems.
Long-term strategic tourism planning is essential to guide resource allocation and infrastructure development. Strong institutional alignment from federal to provincial tourism bodies, combined with effective public-private partnerships, can strengthen sector resilience and ensure inclusive growth. Community empowerment remains central to tourism development, as local participation directly influences sustainability and long-term competitiveness.
To shift from growth-driven expansion to resilience-driven tourism, Pakistan requires structured sustainability frameworks supported by measurable KPIs and stakeholder accountability. The meaningful tourism paradigm provides a practical approach by integrating economic viability, environmental responsibility, and social inclusion. Through participatory planning models and measurable sustainability tools, destinations can develop actionable strategies that benefit communities, enterprisess and tourists alike.
By embedding structured methodologies and youth training aligned with meaningful tourism principles into policy and destination management systems, Pakistan can define higher tourism standards and translate national ambition into practical implementation.
MTC Certified Trainers
Please find below an overview of all our Certified Trainers for the Meaningful Tourism Transformational Game Workshop, along with the World Map showing the countries currently covered directly or indirectly.
The network of MTC Certified Trainers is constantly growing. As shown on the map, many countries and regions worldwide are already served by dedicated experts. However, MTC is continuously looking for professionals with experience in training or lecturing and a passion for sustainable tourism to join the network and fill the blanks on the map.
[AST Webinar] Building Impact-Led Tourism: Develop, Recruit, and Empower Next-Gen Talent
📅 Thursday, 19 March 2026
⏰ 4:00–5:00 PM (UTC+8)
As tourism and hospitality shift from volume-driven growth to value-driven resilience, the real edge is no longer location or design. It’s people.
With climate risk rising, guest expectations shifting, and ESG scrutiny intensifying, turnover, skills gaps, and siloed sustainability efforts are slowing even bold strategies.
How do you deliver decarbonization, regenerative design, or AI-powered guest experiences without a mission-driven workforce to make them real?
Smiling Gecko (Cambodia) and Sumba Hospitality Foundation (Indonesia) are building education-to-employment pipelines that bridge purpose and performance, while Viceroy Bali shows independent luxury can win through culture and people-first leadership, not scale.
Takeaway: your impact strategy is only as strong as your people — and workforce fragility remains the hidden bottleneck holding back sustainable tourism.
- Learn from Inge De Lathauwer, Founder of Sumba Hospitality Foundation, how building education-to-employment ecosystems can transform local youth into long-term drivers of destination resilience.
- Hear from Shyn Yee Ho-Strangas 何勋谊, Board Member of Smiling Gecko, how integrated business models can align commercial performance with measurable social impact at scale.
- Discover from Patrick Farrell, General Manager of Viceroy Bali, why people-first leadership is the competitive edge luxury hospitality needs to deliver purpose without sacrificing profit.
Secure your spot and receive a Zoom link to join live.
Exploring the China Tourism Market Webinar
📅 Thursday, 26 March 2026
⏰ 11:00 AM EAT
Pakistan Travel Mart (PTM) 2026
April 3–5, 2026: Karachi
April 7–8, 2026: Lahore
Guangzhou International Travel Fair (GITF) 2026
May 21–23, 2026
Beijing International Travel & Lifestyle Fair (BITLF)
June 12–14, 2026
About Meaningful Tourism Weekly
Meaningful Tourism Weekly is published every Thursday by Meaningful Tourism Centre (MTC) - London and Kathmandu in collaboration with Travel Asia Now, led by Rhea Vitto Tabora.
Each issue features an Editorial, updates on MTC activities, a Best Practice Example, a profile of an MTC-certified trainer, news about upcoming events, and, occasionally, additional op-ed pieces from guest authors. Carefully selected news items, including videos and podcasts, are also included, with links to their original sources in the Meaningful Tourism News section.
Subscription to Meaningful Tourism Weekly is free, with the addition of a paid content section that includes a library of surveys, exclusive articles, conference presentations, and statistical data, offering subscribers invaluable resources.
Sponsorship opportunities are available for those interested in supporting this initiative.
For more information about MTC's training programs, market research, product adaptation, consulting services, conferences, strategy development, and marketing, visit our website or email us at info@meaningfultourismcentre.org.
