• Special session on July 6 to explore approaches to sustainable urban tourism management
• Existing tourism discourses to be reinterpreted at the city level to refine the concept and its core dimensions
• Good Tourism to become a new TPO vision guiding policies and collaborative initiatives for member cities

The Tourism Promotion Organization for Global Cities (TPO) will present “Good Tourism” as a new vision for sustainable urban tourism during a special TPO session at the 31st Annual Conference of the Asia Pacific Tourism Association (APTA), to be held in Fukuoka, Japan, on July 6, 2026.

As a Business Sponsor of the conference, TPO will host the special session, titled “Good Tourism: Initiatives for Sustainable City Tourism Management,” from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on the opening day of the conference.

The term “Good Tourism” has appeared in prior discourse on the positive value of tourism and responsible tourism practices. TPO is reinterpreting and further developing the concept from an urban tourism perspective, encompassing not only economic performance but also resident well-being, environmental responsibility, cultural vitality, and the long-term sustainability of local economies.

TPO introduced the concept of Good Tourism for discussion at the inaugural Global City Tourism Summit, held last year. The discussion underscored the need to move beyond metrics of visitor numbers and revenue, and to focus instead on the enduring value that tourism should generate for cities and local communities.

Building on those discussions, the upcoming special session aims to further articulate the rationale for Good Tourism, along with its conceptual scope, principal stakeholders, and core dimensions, from both academic and policy perspectives.

The session will examine existing frameworks—including sustainable tourism and responsible tourism—and assess their limitations in the context of urban tourism policy. Based on this review, participants will discuss the definition and ultimate objectives of Good Tourism, as well as the role of city governments in advancing the concept.

The discussion will also address the roles and relationships of diverse stakeholders, as well as how the benefits and burdens of tourism development should be shared equitably. In addition, participants will examine key dimensions—including economic prosperity, resident well-being, environmental responsibility, and cultural vitality—and explore how these dimensions might be translated into practical criteria for policy implementation and evaluation.

The session will be moderated by Dr. Myungkeun Song of Dong-A University in the Republic of Korea. The panelists will include Dr. WooMi Jo of the University of Guelph in Canada, Dr. Yulan Yuan of Tunghai University in Taiwan, and Dr. Pairach Piboonrungroj of Chiang Mai University in Thailand.

TPO plans to continue refining the concept and core dimensions of Good Tourism based on the expert perspectives and insights drawn from the session. It will also expand discussions with its member cities, academia, and tourism-related organizations, with the aim of developing Good Tourism into a practical framework applicable to member-city tourism policies and international collaborative initiatives.

“Good Tourism is an urban tourism concept designed to pursue not only quantitative growth, but also resident well-being, environmental responsibility, cultural vitality, and the sustainability of local economies,” said Kang Da-eun, Secretary General of TPO. “Through this special session, we will broaden discussions with international academics and our member cities and to establish Good Tourism as a guiding vision for TPO’s sustainable urban tourism policies and collaborative initiatives with member cities.”