Latest News
October 8, 2010: Do
Chains Help (or Hurt)
the Travel Experience
In the age of Anywhere,
USA, the strip mall,
hotel chains and
box-store-induced
phenomena that make one
town nearly
indistinguishable from
the next make it seem as
if the authentic travel
experience is going the
way of the dinosaurs.
More and more, hitting
the road for a vacation
in a distant location
means being faced with
the same hotel chains
and familiar restaurants
that you find in your
own backyard half a
country -- even half a
world -- away.
More
October 6, 2010: Going
Green: ASTA Joins Global
Sustainable Tourism
Council
ASTA reports it has
joined The Global
Sustainable Tourism
Council (GSTC), an
international
partnership dedicated to
promoting sustainable
tourism practices around
the world. Founded in
partnership by the World
Tourism Organization,
the United Nations
Environment Programme,
UN Foundation,
Rainforest Alliance,
Sabre/Travelocity and
others, the GSTC is open
to any member of the
travel and tourism
industries.
More
October 4, 2010: The
World Centre of
Excellence for
Destination joins GSTC
(Travel Daily News)
The World Centre of
Excellence for
Destinations (CED)
announced that it has
joined The Global
Sustainable Tourism
Council (GSTC), an
international
partnership dedicated to
promoting sustainable
tourism practices around
the world. Founded in
partnership by the World
Tourism Organization,
the United Nations
Environment Programme,
UN Foundation,
Rainforest Alliance,
Sabre/Travelocity and
others, the GSTC is open
to any member of the
travel and tourism
industries.
More
Arista Award Winners
Worcester Canal District
Wagon Tours – Evaluation
was the winner.
Download Info
September 29, 2010: The
Mexico Tourism Board
Joins Global Sustainable
Tourism Council
The Mexico Tourism Board
announced today it has
joined The Global
Sustainable Tourism
Council (GSTC), an
international
partnership dedicated to
promoting sustainable
tourism practices around
the world. Founded in
partnership by the World
Tourism Organization,
the United Nations
Environment Programme,
UN Foundation,
Rainforest Alliance,
Sabre/Travelocity and
others, the GSTC is open
to any member of the
travel and tourism
industries.
More
September 23, 2010: New
England EPA chief urges
including rainwater
runoff in road
construction design
(Providence Journal)
PAWTUCKET —
The cliché image of an
environmentalist may be
some tree hugger out in
the woods, but New
England’s top federal
environmental official,
former Save The Bay
chief H. Curtis
Spalding, said these
days, the real action
may be in the region’s
cities. Speaking at the
Blackstone River Users
Conference Wednesday,
Spalding said coming up
with new ways of
building roads and
parking lots to protect
rivers from
contamination by runoff
and improving
watersheds’ ability to
absorb rains such as
those last spring were
becoming an increasingly
high priority for the
U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
More
June 3, 2010:
Sustainable Tourism
Editorial (Providence
Journal) There are some things
about Rhode Island that
Rhode Islanders might
love but that outsiders
might crinkle their
noses at. Take, for
example, Haven Bros.
Diner outside Providence
City Hall. People love
old-fashioned diners —
what some might call a
“greasy spoon.” Imagine
a national or global
publicity video to bring
tourists to Rhode
Island: There’s a wide
shot of City Hall on a
blustery winter night
and the camera zooms in
on the line of chilly
and diverse characters,
waiting for hot wieners
“all the way.”
(Apologies to New York
System, another
mysterious Rhode Island
institution.) How many
tourists would that
image reel in?
“Sustainable tourism is
not only about
protecting our land and
our environment,” says
the Blackstone Valley
Tourism Council’s
president, Robert
Billington, “but our
lifestyle and our
cultures. [It is] about
helping tourism grow,
but not at the expense
of a community or its
residents.”
More
Sustainable Tourism
Planning and Development
Laboratory offers cash
prize for Sustainable
Tourism efforts
The
Sustainable Tourism
Planning and Development
Laboratory presents the
ARISTA for notable
achievement in
Sustainable Tourism. The
ARISTA will be presented
once again to one
organization in each of
three geographic areas:
Rhode Island, New
England and USA. This
prize will be awarded in
September of 2010 to an
agency, non-governmental
organization or business
for its project or
program demonstrating
the implementation of
sustainable tourism
practices.
See 2011 info |
Download Winner Info
Future of Sustainable Tourism in Rhode Island Final
Conference Report
More
World Travel and Tourism Council Blueprint for
New Tourism
More
World
Travel and Tourism: Leading the Challenge on Climate
Change
More
A supporting document to the September 2009 Resilient Futures
Network Report on the October 2005 Blackstone River
Flood
Word |
PDF
Blackstone Alert 2009 Final
Report
More
July 10 - New York
Times - Escapes American Journeys - Where
‘Made in America’ Made Its Debut
More
Newport Collaborative
Architects and Fort Adams Trust Receive Sustainable
Tourism (Arista) Award
Providence Business News
Nov. 11, 2009: Cape Cod Times:
Cape ranked in the middle
More
The practical
application of sustainable tourism development
principles: A case study of creating innovative
place-making tourism strategies - Robert D
Billington, Natalie Carter and Lilly Kayamba -
More
Educational Travel
Community: The
Sustainable Tourism Lab
Volunteer with the Broad
Street Heritage Project
Wed., Feb. 3, 2010, 7:30
a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
More
Feb. 2, 2010: Geotourism
2009 Challenge Awards
Announced
More
2009 World Travel
Award Profiles
- Bob Billington
More
Jan. 28, 2010:
Providence Business
News: Sustainability
gets boost at conference
-- State officials
looking to expand
tourism with new focus
The new
mantra in the world of
tourism is
sustainability.
Sustainable tourism is
not a trend, but an
economic imperative –
and it’s a profitable
business strategy,
according to a tourism
expert...
More |
Channel 10 Info
Jan 7, 2010: Providence
Journal: Workshop to
focus on building
‘sustainable’ tourism
A convention,
concert or other special
event might attract
tourists to Rhode
Island, but what they
end up remembering most
about their visit is
likely to be something
humbly local.
More
Nov. 11, 2009: Cape Cod
Times: Cape ranked in
the middle
Lackluster public
transportation,
declining environmental
quality and overwhelming
summer crowds were among
the factors that landed
Cape Cod in the middle
of the pack in a new
ranking of 133 iconic
travel destinations by
National Geographic
Traveler magazine. But
local tourism officials
are not onboard with the
magazine's conclusions.
More
Newport Collaborative
Architects (NCA) and the
Fort Adams Trust
received the 2009
Achievement in Rhode
Island Sustainable
Tourism Award last week
from the Sustainable
Tourism Planning and
Development Laboratory
of the Blackstone Valley
Tourism Council.
More
|
Providence Business News
The practical
application of
sustainable tourism
development principles:
A case study of creating
innovative place-making
tourism strategies
- Robert D
Billington, Natalie
Carter and Lilly Kayamba
- Abstract: The
Blackstone Valley is
working to create a
sustainable, resilient,
visitor destination
using whole place-making
techniques. The
Blackstone Valley
Tourism Council applies
leadership and
commitment to innovative
sustainable geotourism
principles. The Tourism
Council fulfills the
vision of sustainable
tourism through its
Sustainable Tourism
Planning and Development
Laboratory (STPDL). The
Laboratory's purpose is
to share the Tourism
Council's experience in
developing planned
sustainable tourism with
tourism leaders and
community stakeholders
seeking to develop
viable destinations. The
STPDL presents a
learning initiative that
prepares decision makers
and shapers to
thoughtfully develop and
regenerate their
communities using
sustainable tourism
principles. In the
formation of the
Laboratory mission,
certain sustainable
tourism development
issues stood out as
significant and needing
prompt attention by
practitioners. In
response, the Laboratory
has developed and
continues to develop a
series of robust
symposiums, conferences,
and programmes to link
the Laboratory's work to
the thirst for sound
tourism development
knowledge.
More
September 28, 2009
Blackstone Alert Final
Report
presented to the
Blackstone Valley
Tourism Council by the
Resilient Futures
Network
More
Pawtucket Times-July
17, 2009
KeepSpace aims to
foster a stronger
community PAWTUCKET —
With its focus on
looking at Pawtucket and
Central Falls as one big
neighborhood that can
benefit from
improvements, the first
meeting of a new think
tank group known as
KeepSpace was held at
the Blackstone Valley
Visitors Center on
Wednesday morning.
Founded by Rhode Island
Housing, the KeepSpace
initiative seeks to
foster broad-based,
respectful partnerships
among residents, local
businesses, non-profit
organizations and
municipal and state
agencies for the
betterment and
preservation of
neighborhoods.
Pawtucket/Central Falls
is one of four such
KeepSpace communities
that have been chosen to
be part of the
initiative in Rhode
Island. The other three
are Cranston, Olneyville
and downtown Westerly.
Rhode Island Housing has
allocated up to $10
million to help fund the
development of the first
KeepSpace communities.
More
Grants Effectiveness:
Rhode Island
Twenty
of Rhode Island’s 39
cities and towns have
been designated as
Preserve America
Communities, and more
than half of those have
received the benefits of
Preserve America Grants.
More
July, 2009 - Tourism
for Tomorrow
2009 Awards Announced
More
June 15, 2009 -
GreenBiz
U.S. Mayors to Support
Global Guidelines for
Sustainable Tourism
PROVIDENCE,
R.I. -- The U.S.
Conference of Mayors has
agreed to support global
guidelines for
sustainable tourism and
will urge its member
cities to adopt the
criteria developed by a
coalition of
organizations that
includes the United
Nations Environment
Programme, the United
Nations Foundation and
the United Nations World
Tourism Organization.
More
May 15, 2009 -
Providence Journal
Blackstone Valley looks
at ways to lure tourists
PAWTUCKET — When people
think of Rhode Island as
a destination, the
cities of Providence and
Newport definitely come
to mind, but how many
people think about
visiting the Blackstone
Valley? The area north
of Providence includes
Cumberland, Central
Falls, Smithfield,
Woonsocket and Pawtucket
— considered the
birthplace of the
industrial revolution,
where Old Slater Mill,
the first water-powered
cotton-spinning mill in
America, was built in
1793.
More
WINNER:
September, 2008
Billington wins award.
Evening Times article
|
Woonsocket Call |
More
Tourism Chief
Nominated for World
Travel Award
Dr. Robert Billington,
President of the
Blackstone Valley
Tourism Council has been
nominated as a finalist
for the World Travel
Awards - North American
Travel Personality of
the Year. Billington was
chosen as one of three
finalists for his
achievements in the
travel and tourism
industry. He is
competing for the award
with two other finalists
who are: Jay Rasulo,
Chairman of Walt Disney
Parks & Resorts; and
Cheryl Hudak, President
of the 20,000 member
American Society of
Travel Agencies (ASTA).
May 6, 2008
Speaker says Cedar
Rapids riverfront should
focus on local interests
By Rick Smith The
Gazette
CEDAR RAPIDS — Local
elected officials got
some coaching Monday
about their ambitious
hopes for the Cedar
River, a RiverWalk and
riverfront development
along it. Lesson one:
Make the river and the
area around it into a
special place for those
who live in Cedar Rapids
and Linn County first,
and worry about turning
it into a destination
spot for tourists later,
Robert Billington,
president of the
Blackstone Valley
Tourism Council,
Pawtucket, R.I., told a
joint meeting on Monday
of the Cedar Rapids City
Council and the Linn
County Board of
Supervisors.
May 5, 2008
Tourism Cares Awards
$10,000 Grant to
Blackstone Valley
Tourism Cares, a
non-profit group
dedicated to promoting
responsible tourism
within the tourism
industry, awarded
$10,000 to the
Blackstone Valley
Tourism Council's
Sustainable Tourism
Planning and Development
Laboratory to help fund
its second civic tourism
conference.
More
April
22 - 29, 2008 Council
wins Tourism for
Tomorrow Destination
Award
Think 'tourism
destination' and the
image that comes to mind
is not likely to be a
place known for its
polluted rivers,
abandoned businesses,
high unemployment and
disenfranchised local
communities. Yet, that
is exactly what the
Blackstone River Valley
was when local community
members launched the
Blackstone Valley
Tourism Council (BVTC)
in 1985. Their goal was
to revitalize the nine
communities along the
Blackstone River Valley
in Rhode Island that
formed the birthplace of
the American Industrial
Revolution and then
ultimately became a
victim of it when the
Blackstone became the
first polluted river in
the Western Hemisphere
and its industrial
economy collapsed.
Working with a wide
range of
multi-stakeholders, BVTC
has shown that tourism
can play a key role in
helping to revitalize a
downtrodden economy and
bring back a river once
declared "dead" to the
benefit of local people,
business, and nature.
Through a destination
stewardship approach to
tourism development,
including the
preservation of the
area's natural, cultural
and historical heritage,
BVTC has succeeded in
uniting a community and
awakening it to its new
economic potential. With
innovative projects like
the Sustainable Tourism
Development and Planning
Laboratory, the Council
continues to grow and
enhance its many
offerings, while sharing
the lessons it has
learned with other
tourism destinations.
More |
Providence Business News
Story |
Travel Mole Interview
with Bob Billington
|
Tourism for Tomorrow
Website
01/25/2008
(Providence Journal)
New Concept of
Tourism Presented
by Peter Lord - Consider
two extremes of tourism:
In Tombstone, Ariz.,
1,100 residents host
some 600,000 visitors a
year who stay an average
of two hours and spend
just $8 each.
More
National Geographic
-
Billington featured
as part of National
Geographic Geotourism
Challenge
Bob Billington has lived
most of his life in the
Blackstone River Valley
of Rhode Island, where
his family owned a
manufacturing business
on the banks of the
Blackstone River. In the
1980s, facing a
recession and the need
to save the family
business, Billington
organized 14 other
manufacturers in the
Blackstone Valley to
cooperate and sell their
products directly to the
public.
Billington Profile |
Challenge Info
10/17/2007 (Forbes)
Rhode Island No. 8 in
Greenest States
10/22/2007
(Providence Business
News)
Creating ‘places,’
not tourist traps
By William
Hamilton
As a tourism industry
leader, Robert
Billington should be
concerned about
attracting visitors and
their dollars to his
region in northern Rhode
Island. But right now,
he’s not worried about
it too
More
10/26/2007 (Providence
Journal) Place-making’
forum focuses on local
flavor
- Policymakers, city
planners and tourism
officials from Rhode
Island and neighboring
Connecticut and
Massachusetts gathered
downtown yesterday for a
forum on “place-making”
sponsored by the
Blackstone Valley
Tourism Council.
More
Geotourism Initiative
Puts the Focus on
Sustainable Tourism
-
It was only
fitting that Governor
Carcieri signed the
state's Geotourism
Charter May 16, right in
the middle of 2007
National Tourism Week
More
July 4, 2007 (ehotelier.com)
Int'l Think Tank on
Sustainable Tourism
hosted by School of
Hotel & Restaurant
Management -
This summer, at NAU's
School of Hotel &
Restaurant Management,
three dozen tourism
scholars and
practitioners assembled
to explore the dynamics
of sustainability and
tourism and develop a
cutting edge research
agenda. The BEST
Education Network's
(BEST EN) seventh annual
Think Tank convened from
June 21-24.
More
UNWTO.ULYSSES
Conference and Prize
Ceremony
Blackstone Valley
Tourism Council - USA
Honored "In recognition
of their pioneer
activities in using
tourism as a tool for
development and for
their contribution to a
positive change with
regards to community
values in Rhode Island
over the past 20 years".
(Innovation in Tourism
Destination Management)
More
Spring 2007 (Cultural
Tourism Heritage News)
Blackstone River
Valley Shares Success
with Others:
Twenty-two years ago,
the Blackstone Valley in
Massachusetts and Rhode
Island suffered from
poverty, pollution and
neglect and would hardly
have been considered a
tourism destination.
Thanks to the dedicated
efforts of talented
local visionaries, today
this region is one of
the nation’s most
successful National
Heritage Areas
showcasing America’s
first industrial
landscape. Building on
more than two decades of
hard-earned experience,
the Blackstone Valley
Tourism Council has
recently developed a
5-day Sustainable
Tourism Development
Laboratory to help other
communities design
thoughtful tourism
planning and development
strategies.
More
05/21/2007
(Providence Business
News)
Geotourism’ pledge puts
R.I. people, heritage
first by
Marion Davis, PBN
Managing Editor -
Jonathan Tourtellot
drove home the meaning
of “geotourism” with a
slideshow. Accompanied
by a voiceover of a
woman saying how much
she’d loved a recent
trip to Rhode Island,
the pictures showed
More
05/07/2007
(Providence Business
News)
Event highlights
benefits of ‘green’
tourism efforts
by David Ortiz - A CRANE
drops the Blackstone
Valley Explorer in the
water in Central Falls.
The boat is used for
tours highlighting the
region's history and
natural beauty.
More
4/27/2007 (Providence
Journal)
Symposium takes tourism
for a turn toward green
- How can the tourism
industry be
environmentally friendly
when it promotes
destinations reachable
only by greenhouse-gas
emitting cars and
airplanes?
More
04/25/2007 (Evening
Times)
Expert panelists to
tackle 'green' tourism
- Al Gore and
friends may have won the
Oscar, but when it comes
to leadership in the
"green" tourism
movement, you don't have
to look farther than
your back yard and the
decades of dedicated
efforts by the
Blackstone Valley
Tourism Council.
More
Could the Blackstone
River Once Again Fuel
the Valley's Economy? --
Sustainable Tourism
Summit Examines
Improving the Blackstone
Valley Regional Economy
While Preserving the
Area's Natural and
Historic Attractions
Summit Suggests Rhode
Island Could Create a
National Economic Model
by Tapping its Natural,
Historic and Cultural
Resources
"The Blackstone Valley
Tourism Council brought
in leading thinkers on
tourism development for
the conference and spent
the day brainstorming
ways to find long-term
success in improving the
regional economy while
preserving the area's
natural and historic
attractions. Bob
Billington, Council
Executive Director,
explained the goal was
to get the participants
thinking about "how do
we develop tourism in
the Blackstone Valley
and make it grow wisely,
how do we develop it in
a way residents will
appreciate and how do we
develop it in ways that
will make business want
to locate here." To
Billington, creating
sustainable tourism in
the area means
preserving the natural
and historic features of
the Blackstone Valley so
those resources will
continue to be enjoyed
by the people who live
here for generations to
come. 'Tourism should be
about the quality of
life in a livable
community,' he said."
Sustainable Tourism
Summit Examines
Improving the Blackstone
Valley Regional Economy
While Preserving the
Area's Natural and
Historic Attractions -
Woonsocket Call
UNWTO Ulysses Prizes to
Innovation in Tourism
will be granted to
Professor David Airey
(UK), Blackstone Valley
Tourism Council (USA)
and Accor (Sofitel,
Novotel…)
More
|
Acceptance Speech |
UNWTO News
BEST Education
Network Think Tank VI:
Corporate Social
Responsibility for
Sustainable Tourism -
University of Girona,
Spain, 2006 Press
Releases
More
|
Read Full Paper
|
Download PDF Format
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