It’s back! And it is expected to be better than ever. The fourth annual Responsible Tourism Week is scheduled to run from February 13 to 19, 2012. Hosted by Planeta.com, it is touted as “a free unconference exploring down-to-earth applications of noble concepts including responsible tourism, conscious travel, the local travel movement and ecotourism with effective and inexpensive social media and local events.”

The One Day on Earth project began in 2008, with the vision of uniting the entire world in a single film-related project. The potential for collaboration offered by the internet is something that continues to be explored to this day, but the group behind One Day on Earth set out to achieve something that had never been seen before: a collection of moments, experiences and events from all corners of the globe with a single unifying experience – they all took place on the same day.

Confused about yesterday’s blog post? To be clear: It’s not true. It’s an April Fools’ Day prank blog post. That said, while the specifics of what was written are a fabrication, the underlying concern is genuine: How can the tourism industry as a whole (and the alternative niche in particular) work to draw mainstream tourists and travellers away form unsustainable and painfully disrespectful types of travel?