Balancing Tourism
The podcast
Conversations with the people working on seasonality: destination leaders, operators, airlines, policymakers and academics. Hosted by Ged Brown, Founder of Low Season Traveller and The Tourism Seasonality Summit.
The argument, between summits
The Summit happens once a year. The problem does not. Balancing Tourism keeps the conversation going in between, one guest at a time, on what seasonality actually costs and what has been made to work.
Episodes run to a simple rule: someone who has done the work, talking about what they tried, what it cost and what they would do differently. Many of the people who appear here go on to speak at the Summit, and several of the sessions in the Antalya programme started as a conversation on this podcast.
Latest episode
Seasonality is a Workforce Issue
Carmen Bold asked dozens of tourism professionals why they were leaving their jobs. Not one of them said money. An episode that reframes seasonality as a workforce strategy rather than a marketing problem.
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Previous episodes
The back catalogue
Each episode is one person on one problem they have actually worked on. Several of them go on to speak at the Summit.
1 May 20261hr 11min
Quality Isn't Yield
Leslie VellaDeputy CEO and Chief Officer Strategic Development, Malta Tourism Authority
Forty three years of turning a summer-only island into one of the Mediterranean's most diversified year-round destinations, and why high yield and quality are not the same thing.
29 Apr 202635min
Defending Barcelona
Saverio BertolucciTourism researcher
A defence of Barcelona against the overtourism narrative, and the argument that almost nobody is measuring destination capacity properly.
27 Apr 202640min
High Season Sells Itself
Tom JenkinsCEO, ETOA
Where European tourism actually stands, and why tour operators add more value when a destination is quiet than when everywhere is full.
16 Apr 202639min
Grenada's 12 Month Play
Stacey LiburdCEO, Grenada Tourism Authority
Whether a Caribbean island can be a twelve month destination, and why success has to be measured on the roadside as well as in occupancy rates.
15 Apr 202632min
We Don't Promote Summer Any More
Natalia BovedaInternational promotion, Visit Costa del Sol
One of Europe's best known summer destinations stopped promoting summer altogether. What that did to winter occupancy, and to hotels that used to close in December.
13 Apr 202645min
High Season Is Not The Problem
Alessandra PriantePresident, ENIT
Overtourism as a polite word for mismanagement, and why a destination that does not appear in AI tools risks becoming invisible to the next generation of travellers.
6 Mar 202644min
Scale Vs Soul
Dado Van PeteghemKeynote speaker and author
What AI actually changes for tourism, why the middle ground is the most dangerous place to stand, and how smaller destinations may be better placed than large ones.
29 Jan 202643min
Less Crowds, More Connection
Richard LindbergFounder, One Planet Journey
A slow five month winter journey that changed how he travels, and what it revealed about what people are actually looking for when they book.
22 Jan 202639min
The Pre-Journey Journey
Emma ValahuInbox Journeys
Travel brands obsess over the moment of booking. This is about everything before it: the research, the doubts, the anticipation and the endless open tabs.
13 Jan 202638min
Stop Pretending This Is Sustainable
Professor Harold GoodwinResponsible Tourism Partnership
What happens when an industry built on sustainability talk has to face its own impacts. A hard conversation about myths, contradictions and complacency.
26 Nov 202543min
Overtourism: Pushback, New Markets and the Airline Response
PanelRecorded at the CAPA Airline Leaders Forum, Athens
A panel on grassroots protest, surging arrivals and how airlines are responding, moderated by Ged Brown in front of an airline leadership audience.
6 Oct 202542min
Experience Over Everything
Michael MoriartyManaging Director, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort
Recorded at Routes World in Hong Kong. The past, present and future of one of the world's best known theme parks, and what it takes to hold attention year round.
17 Jun 20251hr 4min
Solving Overtourism, In Ten Years Time
Tricia DuffyFounder, In Ten Years Time
What changes when a destination plans a decade out rather than a season ahead. Practical rather than theoretical, and uncomfortable in places.
6 Jun 20251hr
The Psychology of Travel
Rajan DatarBroadcaster, BBC
Decades of travel journalism, the psychology behind wanderlust, and the pressing questions facing tourism now. From a gap year in Jamaica to Mongolian athletics.
25 Apr 202555min
The Art of Less Bad Travel
Stuart McDonaldFounder, Travelfish
Twenty years building a trusted guide for independent travellers in Southeast Asia, and what responsible tourism looks like from the inside of that.
21 Mar 202530min
What's Missing in the Travel Experience?
Andrea GrisdaleFounder and CEO, IC Bellagio
Personalised travel in Italy, the unseen work behind it, and why small and medium operators carry more of the cultural heritage argument than they get credit for.
14 Mar 202545min
A New Era of Sustainability
Ben LynamHead of Communications and Research, The Travel Foundation
The relationship between seasonality and sustainability, unpacked properly. Where tourism growth is heading and what steady global expansion actually costs.
8 Mar 202552min
Getting Sh*t Done
Claus RaastedDirector, College of Extraordinary Experiences
How to move from endless planning to decisive action, from someone who has written more than forty books on the subject and runs experiences for a living.
11 Feb 202531min
Tourism At A Crossroads
Chris FlynnFounder and Chair, WTACH
The intersection of tourism growth and cultural preservation, from PATA to founding WTACH, and why carrying capacity studies matter more than they are used.
30 Jan 202548min
Rethinking Tourism
Bastian HillerCo-founder, Teejit
Community-driven travel and a rethink of seasonality, from someone arguing the industry should shift away from purely profit-driven models.
22 Jan 202558min
Local Impact, Global Responsibility
Chalana PereraFounder, Retrace Hospitality
Regenerative tourism in Sri Lanka, and a candid view of what rapid growth costs socially and environmentally when set against the economic gains.
16 Jan 202541min
Oulu's Year-Round Magic
YT AndersonCEO, Visit Oulu
How a compact Finnish city became European Capital of Culture 2026 and tackled its own seasonality with creative programming rather than discounting.
2 Jan 202536min
Harnessing Sustainable Tourism
Bronwen AuretChief Quality Assurance Officer, South African Tourism
Twenty years in brand and digital marketing brought to bear on two linked problems: seasonality, and the airlift that either enables or blocks it.
28 Nov 202421min
Why Balance Tourism?
Ged BrownFounder, Low Season Traveller
The opening episode. What the industry got wrong, what it is doing now, and what balance actually means for destinations, communities and travellers.
Twenty five episodes, published fortnightly. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and new ones arrive automatically.
Are you actively working on the seasonality challenge?
You do not need to have solved it. Some of the most useful episodes come from people part way through: trying something, watching what happens, changing their mind. Half-finished work, honestly described, is worth more to the rest of the industry than a case study with the difficult parts edited out.
So if you are working on your own low season, whether the numbers are in yet or not, we would like to hear from you. The same goes for the Summit in Antalya, where speakers attend free of charge for all three days. Contact Ged Brown at ged@seasonalitysummit.com.