Rashid's Blog: A Place for Inquisitive Souls

An urban forest encompasses the trees and shrubs in an urban area, including trees in yards, along streets and utility corridors, in protected areas, and in watersheds.This includes individual trees, street trees, green spaces with trees, and even the associated vegetation and the soil beneath the trees.Urban forest help to maintain Urban Biodiversity and that is vital to maintain City Resilience.

In many regions, urban forests are the most extensive, functional, and visible form of green infrastructure in cities. Green infrastructure is the natural and semi-natural infrastructure within a city that provides ecosystem services like stormwater management or air pollution abatement. Geen Infrastructure is a must in cities of countries like India.Many cities have forests in the heart of the city like Chennai.There are Green Belts in many cities and sometime they interact with rural urban fringe. There are many open spaces in cities like Aligarh.

What Challenges Do Urban Forests Face?

1. Difficult growing conditions. Urban environments create challenging conditions for tree growth. Exposure to pollutants, high temperatures, extreme drought and inundation, and limited space above- and below-ground inhibit proper root and crown formation and increase susceptibility to insects and disease.
2. Insufficient resources for proper care. Proper maintenance is critical to a thriving urban forest, but it demands time, resources, and coordination from municipal governments. It may also be difficult to prioritize for financially constrained private property owners. Limited resources also hinder efforts to inventory public and private green space. In some cases, the maintenance responsibility of trees and forests may be unclear due to limited details of land ownership or tenure.
3. Encroachment from development. Pressure from development—either as expansion or infill—often results in loss of urban forest canopy and other green spaces.
4. Incomplete public understanding of the benefits provided by the urban forest. Urban trees are often viewed as a financial burden or risk, but the benefits they provide may be poorly understood and undervalued by the public and by decision-makers.

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Social tourism is a growing trend that prioritizes building positive relationships between visitors and host communities and developing “programs, events, and activities that allow all population groups to enjoy tourism”.  It is redefining he relationship between hosts and tourists.

There is always a relationship between culture and tourism and it plays an important role in Social Tourism.

Social tourism is a broad concept that encompasses a wide range events and activities. Different holiday types, such as working holidays, for instance, can fall under the category of social tourism. Activities one engages in at the destination, the type of destination you choose, and even the type of accommodation you book or some unique client group a tourism organization works with could all be labeled as social tourism. 

According to ISTO, benefits of Social Tourism Includes:

The ISTO presents the benefits of social tourism within four main axes:

• Social tourism is “a shaper of society” 
• Social tourism is a promoter of economic growth:
• Social tourism participates to the regional and local development
• Social tourism is a partner in global development 

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Branding is the act of connecting a product (or business) with a particular name, symbol, or features and ideas to make it recognizable. (Cambridge Dictionary)

Tourism is a social, cultural, and economic phenomenon that entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes.

These people are called visitors and tourism has to do with their activities, some of which involve tourism expenditure. As a marketing tactic, branding personifies your tourism business. it define and creates demand. It gives you a voice, looks, personality, and values — which makes you more relatable to your guests and other travelers. Ultimately, a well-defined brand helps you appeal to the right audience, as well as leave a lasting impression.

A product is anything that can be offered to a market that might satisfy a want or need. A tourism product is the bundle of the physical and psychological satisfaction it provides to tourists during their traveling to the destination. The tourist product focuses on facilities and services designed to meet the needs and wants of the visitor. It is considered a composite product, as the total of a country’s tourist attractions, transport, and accommodation, and of entertainment which results in customer satisfaction. 

The Tourism Product in intangible in nature but has an element of tangibility which is to be increased for branding.There is mix of tangibility and intangibility.

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Remind yourself that you are loved, unique, chosen and set apart. Your story is what makes you unique and sets you apart from everyone else! Don’t set yourself aside, set yourself apart! Live your life and enjoy it! The post Set Yourself Apart appeared first on Orlando Espinosa.

Set Yourself Apart — Orlando Espinosa