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Balancing Tourism Podcast

Insights, strategies, and expert discussions on managing tourism seasonality for sustainable destination development.

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Industry Experts

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Tune in to expert conversations about tourism seasonality, destination management,
and sustainable tourism practices.

Balancing Tourism Podcast
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Recent Episodes

Explore our archive of conversations with tourism industry leaders, researchers, and innovators discussing the challenges and opportunities of seasonal tourism patterns.

Quality Isn’t Yield

May 1, 2026 Leslie Vella
With Leslie Vella
When Leslie Vella joined what's now the Malta Tourism Authority in 1982, his business card had a Telex address and a Telegram address on it. Faxes were still science fiction. Malta had half a million tourists a year, 80% of them British, almost all of them arriving in summer. 43 years later, Leslie is Chief Officer of Strategic Development and Deputy CEO of the Malta Tourism Authority, the architect of Malta's national tourism strategy, and the person responsible for the airline conversations that turned a summer-only island into one of the most diversified year-round destinations in the Mediterranean. In this episode, Ged sits down with Leslie to talk about how Malta actually pulled it off. The conversation moves through the early 1980s collapse that forced Malta to diversify, the siege mentality of being an island nation with no mainland to fall back on, and the practical mechanics of getting airlines to fly year-round rather than seasonal. Leslie also shares his animal analogy for what real seasonal repositioning requires, and explains why Malta now positions itself as an island with a city in summer, and a city on an island in winter. There's a frank section on the gap between high-yield tourists and quality tourists, with Leslie making the case that they're not the same thing. He talks about the work of the Malta Tourism Observatory, the 37 sustainability indicators it tracks, and how satellite data is being used to measure the impact of climate on tourism, not just the other way round. The conversation closes with a preview of where Malta's 2035 tourism strategy is heading, and what carrying capacity actually looks like in practice when 14,000 people show up at the Blue Lagoon on a single day.
Key Topics:
Destination Strategy Seasonality Sustainable Tourism
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Defending Barcelona

April 29, 2026 Saverio Bertolucci
With Saverio Bertolucci
What if the problem with tourism isn't that there are too many tourists, but that almost nobody is measuring capacity properly? In this episode, Ged is joined by Saverio Bertolucci, an Italian tourism researcher whose work has taken him from the subsea tunnels of the Faroe Islands to a half-empty terminal in North Iceland, and now to Barcelona, where he lives, works, and has been pushing back hard against the city's anti-tourism narrative. Saverio walks through what went wrong with the Faroese tunnel network — built for the fisheries, priced out of reach for tourists, and avoided even by locals. He explains why a startup airline trying to open up North Iceland collapsed inside a year, and what that says about the fragility of off-peak connectivity. And he introduces the concept at the heart of his upcoming keynote at the Tourism Seasonality Summit in Rimini: extended capacity, a way of thinking about destination planning that goes well beyond visitor numbers and into infrastructure, facilities, knowledge and strategic intent. The conversation gets sharper when it turns to Barcelona. Saverio defends the city against the over tourism narrative, takes issue with the abolition of more than ten thousand short-term rental licences, and argues that the new rules will hurt the local economy more than they help it. Ged pushes back, and the result is a properly nuanced exchange about who actually benefits when destinations clamp down on visitor accommodation. Whether you run a DMO, work in aviation, manage a hotel, or just care about where this industry is heading, this is a conversation worth your time.
Key Topics:
Capacity Management Off-Peak Connectivity Destination Strategy Tourism Politics
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High Season Sells Itself

April 27, 2026 Tom Jenkins
With Tom Jenkins
Tom Jenkins has been CEO of the European Tourism Association (ETOA) for over twenty years. Before that, he was a tour guide. And in 1991, he sat in Venice and tried to tell the industry it had an overcrowding problem coming. He was laughed out of the room. Thirty-five years later, we're finally having the conversation properly. In this episode we talk about where European tourism genuinely stands right now. The North American boom that's run out of steam, what's happening in Asia, and why the situation in the Gulf is creating headwinds that nobody quite knows how to plan around. Tom doesn't dress any of it up. We also get into why the demographic shift in long-haul travel — older, more affluent, more flexible visitors from the US, Japan, Korea and China — is quietly creating the conditions for low season travel to grow in a way it hasn't before. And why tour operators are actually better placed to add value when it's quiet than when everywhere is full and selling itself. Plus: ETOA's shoulder and off-peak marketplace event SHOP 2026, the Tourism Seasonality Summit in Rimini, and Tom's personal off-peak recommendation which, in true form, turns out to be Wales.
Key Topics:
European Tourism Outlook Aviation & Tourism Disconnect Low Season Commercial Logic Overtourism & Overcrowding
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Grenada’s 12 Month Play – Bridging The Perception Gap

April 16, 2026 Stacey Liburd
With Stacey Liburd
In this episode of The Balancing Tourism Podcast, Ged speaks with Stacey Liburd, CEO of the Grenada Tourism Authority and Vice Chair of the Caribbean Tourism Organization. Stacey joined the GTA in June 2025 having previously led the Anguilla Tourist Board through the pandemic to record visitor arrivals. She explains why Grenada's position below the hurricane belt gives the tri-island state a structural advantage as a 12-month destination, and why perception, not product, is the real barrier holding mature destinations back. She describes how Spicemas, the new Lobster and Lambie Festival in Carriacou, and a forthcoming Flower and Garden Festival fit into a deliberate strategy to spread demand across the calendar, how the GTA is working with airline partners to maintain year-round lift, and why true success in tourism has to be measured at community level, from hotel occupancy right down to the fruit vendor at the side of the road. Stacey will be joining us at the Tourism Seasonality Summit in Rimini on a panel exploring how destinations are rebalancing demand across the year.
Key Topics:
Festival Led Seasonality The Perception Gap Destination Marketing
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“We Don’t Promote Summer Anymore” — Costa Del Sol’s Seasonal Shift

April 15, 2026 Natalia Boveda
With Natalia Boveda
In this episode of The Balancing Tourism Podcast, Ged speaks with Natalia Boveda from Costa Del Sol Tourism, the official DMO for the province of Malaga and one of Europe's most established sun-and-beach destinations. Natalia explains why the organisation has taken the deliberate decision to stop promoting summer altogether, redirecting its full marketing effort towards the low and shoulder seasons. She describes the perception challenge of repositioning a destination whose biggest source market thinks it already knows what's on offer, how a bimonthly stakeholder committee aligns the DMO, airport, airlines and national tourism agency around year-round connectivity, and what the early evidence shows about flattening the seasonal curve. Natalia will be joining us at the Tourism Seasonality Summit in Rimini on a panel exploring how established destinations are building new reasons to visit beyond peak.
Key Topics:
Deseasonalisation Strategy Destination Brand Repositioning Air Connectivity & Stakeholder Collaboration
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High Season Is Not the Problem: Why We Need to Rethink Tourism Demand

April 13, 2026 Alessandra Priante
with Alessandra Priante
In this episode of The Balancing Tourism Podcast, Ged speaks with Alessandra Priante, President of ENIT, Italy's national tourism board, and former Director for Europe at UN Tourism, where she oversaw 43 member states and more than half of the world's entire tourism market. Alessandra challenges the way the industry frames seasonality, arguing that labels like "high season" and "low season" are really just pricing indicators that no longer reflect how people plan and book travel. She makes the case that the system the industry has relied on for decades is no longer fit for purpose, and that managing demand requires structural redesign rather than simply telling tourists to come in a different month. Alessandra will be delivering the opening keynote at the Tourism Seasonality Summit in Rimini, expanding on exactly this argument.
Key Topics:
Tourism Demand Management Rethinking Seasonality National Tourism Strategy
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Scale Vs Soul – AI’s Real Impact on Tourism

March 9, 2026 Dado Van Peteghem
With Dado Van Peteghem
In this episode of The Balancing Tourism Podcast, Ged speaks with Dado, keynote speaker, author and technology strategist, ahead of his appearance at the Tourism Seasonality Summit in Rimini. Dado breaks down where the tourism industry genuinely sits on the AI adoption curve, why most organisations are further behind than they realise, and what separates those who will thrive from those who won't. Together, they explore his scale and soul framework — the argument that the future belongs to businesses that commit fully to both technology and human experience, rather than settling for a comfortable halfway position. From AI's impact on search and website strategy, to the growing value of authentic connection in an increasingly automated world, this is a practical and clear-eyed conversation about what tourism professionals need to do differently, starting now.
Key Topics:
AI Adoption in Tourism Scale Vs Soul in AI Search, Soul & Strategy
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Less Crowds, More Connection

January 29, 2026 Richard Lindberg
With Richard Lindberg
In this episode of The Balancing Tourism Podcast, Ged speaks with Richard Lindberg, founder of ⁠One Planet Journey⁠ and keynote speaker at the upcoming ⁠Tourism Seasonality Summit⁠ in Rimini. Richard shares how a slow, five‑month winter journey transformed his own approach to travel and inspired his work exploring what travellers truly seek: meaning, connection, and a sense of belonging. Together, they unpack the philosophy of deep travel — a mindset that prioritises intention over itinerary and personal relevance over social‑media‑driven bucket lists. Richard explains why deep travel is naturally aligned with low‑season tourism, offering richer experiences, more authentic interactions, and a calmer rhythm that benefits both visitors and residents.
Key Topics:
Philosophy of Deep Travel High Value Travellers From Volume to Value
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The Pre-Journey Journey

January 22, 2026 Emma Valahu
With Emma Valahu
Most travel brands obsess over the moment someone books. But what about everything that happens before that moment — the research, the anticipation, the doubts, the excitement, the endless tabs open on a browser? In this episode, Ged speaks with Emma Valahu, who specialises in what she calls the pre‑journey journey — the long, emotional decision‑making phase that determines whether a traveller ever chooses your experience, your destination, or your low‑season offer.
Key Topics:
The Psychology of the Planning Phase Turning Websites into Nurture Systems Advanced Digital Marketing Shaping Low Season Demand
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Stop Pretending This Is Sustainable

January 13, 2026 Professor Harold Goodwin
With Professor Harold Goodwin
A powerful, uncompromising conversation with Professor Harold Goodwin that cuts through greenwash, confronts tourism’s hardest truths, and lays out what destinations must do now to stay resilient, responsible, and genuinely future‑ready.
Key Topics:
Destination Governance Reshaping Seasonality Tragedy Of The Commons Sustainability Talk Vs Action
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Want to explore more episodes?
Visit our Spotify page for the complete archive.

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About the Podcast

Balancing Tourism explores how to align the needs of the environment, local communities, travelers and economic goals in the face of tourism’s challenges. Featuring industry leaders and pioneers, the podcast examines strategies like low-season travel, niche markets and innovative solutions to create balanced, sustainable tourism.
Whether you’re a destination manager, tourism professional, or researcher, this podcast provides valuable insights to help you navigate the complexities of tourism seasonality and build more resilient destinations.
  • Expert interviews and case studies
  • Practical strategies and tools
  • Global perspectives on seasonality
  • Research insights and data analysis

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