Elisa Spampinato.


Elisa Spampinato is a travel writer and a Community Storyteller who has lived and worked in Italy, Brazil, and the UK where she is currently located. Practitioner, researcher, speaker, and consultant for sustainable tourism with years of experience in local development and social projects, and a passionate advocate for ethical and responsible tourism. As a writer, she has collaborated with Tourism Concern, Equality in Tourism, Gender Responsible Tourism – GRT, Travindy and Tourism Watch. She has published a book on Slum Tourism in Rio de Janeiro and she continues telling the stories of tourism encounters in local communities, especially the traditional, rural and indigenous ones. Among other things, she is the Community-Based Tourism specialist and Ambassador for the Transformational Travel Council (TTC) Elisa can be followed on her Blog, Facebook, LinkedIN and Instagram.

16 March 2023

Local communities on stage at ITB Berlin 2023

After four years, ITB Berlin returned in person and on the Green Stage, for the Sustainable Destination Track, it did it by going back to the […]
1 July 2022

The strategic connection between Community-Based Tourism and Sustainable Development Goals

1. Beyond preserving culture and wildlife When talking about experiencing the lifestyle of local communities through Community-Based Tourism (CBT) initiatives, the association that automatically arises is […]
11 October 2021

Lessons from A World for Travel

“We are here to work not to chat” – with these encouraging words Christian Delom opened the doors of A World for Travel, in Évora on […]
28 September 2021

Slum Tourism: an ethical choice? Ethical tourism starts at home

To round off and truly complete the answer to our initial question, there is something else that we need to include on the list.If we want […]
22 September 2021

Slum Tourism: an ethical choice? The role of the tourist

Tourists do not need to remain in doubt until the moment of the actual experience to gain an understanding of their tour’s inner nature. To discover […]
14 September 2021

Slum Tourism: an ethical choice? Element of change

1. Changes over time Although the initial offerings of Slum Tourism were on the whole extremely negative, over time significant changes initiated a chain of positive […]
8 September 2021

Slum Tourism: an ethical choice? A complex dilemma

Slums are complex realities that present hugely varying scenarios, even within the same city. In a similar way, the term ‘Slum Tourism’ does not refer to […]
8 February 2021

The Relationship Between Food & Community-based Tourism: Central America III

Read Part 2 of “The Relationship between Food & Community-based Tourism: Central America” The people behind the food To conclude our journey through Central America and […]
2 February 2021

The Relationship between Food & Community-based Tourism: Central America II

Read Part 1 of “The Relationship between Food & Community-based Tourism: Central America” here During this second part of our journey through Central America, we soon […]
25 January 2021

The Relationship between Food & Community-based Tourism: Central America

Community-Based Tourism (CBT) is a type of tourism where the local communities are the protagonist of the experience offered. It usually happens in rural and traditional communities, but […]
21 December 2020

The Relationship between Food & Community-based Tourism: South America

Read Part 1 of “The Relationship between Food & Community-based Tourism: South America” here. 1. More than just a product Of course, in the context of […]
15 December 2020

The Relationship between Food & Community-based Tourism: South America

The pairing of food and community-based tourism (CBT) is a visceral relationship, and one which might assume a variety of nuances and shapes; the way the two themes […]