The Global Sustainable Tourism Council is only as strong as its stakeholders and members. An early participant in the GSTC, Jonathan Tourtellot has worked with the GSTC on sustainable destinations, serves on the Destinations Working Group and has worked on the criteria what makes a destination sustainable, which include not only the environmental issues, but also include culture, history and general distinctiveness. 

We sat with Jonathan to discuss his thoughts on destination stewardship, storytelling, sustainability and the visitor experience. Listen to what he has to say about these topics and more—you might learn something!

A National Geographic veteran, Jonathan is the geotourism editor for National Geographic Traveler magazine and the portal editor for destinationcenter.org, a new website devoted to sustainable destinations, the geotourism concept and sustainable travel in general. Jonathan has been working as a journalist in the travel space since 1990 and is passionate about destination stewardship and pioneered the concept of geotourism.

Click here to watch the interview with Jonathan Tourtellot

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About the Author

Talia Salem works on global communications and sustainable tourism in Washington, DC. She has a passion for the tourism industry, and its intersections with sustainability, storytelling, social media and technology. Talia has just finished her Masters in Sustainable Tourism Destination Management at the George Washington University, and prior to this she graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles. Before completing her masters, she worked as a journalist for seven years specializing in the group travel industry, as well as culinary and sustainable tourism. Talia is trilingual and has spent extensive time abroad in the France and Jordan–and plans to expand that list ASAP. Connect with her on Twitter @theurbanomad or at [email protected].