Professor joins Prime Minister in tourism book collaboration

Harold Goodwin, Professor of Responsible Tourism Management at Leeds Met, was one of 30 government, industry and civil society thought leaders, whose views are shared in Green Growth and Travelism: Letters from Leaders - launched at the United Nations sustainable development summit in Rio de Janeiro this week.

Other contributors include Lyonchhen Jigmi Y Thinley, Prime Minister of Bhutan, Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of the Virgin Group, Akbar Al Baker CEO of Qatar Airways and Marthinus Van Schalkwyk, Minister of Tourism South Africa.

The publication is a collection of essays which explore why the tourism industry is misperceived and how it can take its rightful place in the transformation to the new green economy.

Prof Goodwin said the publication had been launched at the Rio+20 three-day critical earth summit by the United Nations World Tourism. He commented: "I am delighted to be one of the contributors to this important publication which contains a collection of thought pieces each addressing the challenge of using tourism for sustainable development. My inclusion in the book is evidence of the importance attached to our programme on Responsible Tourism Management at Leeds Metropolitan University."

The authors explore Green Growth as the new geopolitical paradigm to respond to the big social, economic, environment and climate challenges of today and the population driven resource challenges of tomorrow.