In light of Responsible Travel Week 2011, we at Gunyah – specialists in short-duration experiential packages for independent travellers eager to connect with local people – have selected our favourite local travel experiences… in Argentina, Vietnam, Nepal, Australia, Zambia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. We want to inspire travellers to seek out more meaningful travel experiences, the kinds that can only come through real contact with locals and genuine enjoyment of local culture and tradition.

If the third time’s a charm, then the annual Responsible Tourism Week, taking place online from February 14 to 18, will be even more inspiring than the last two. Billed as an unconventional, online unconference, it is a fun mash-up exploring down-to-earth applications of noble concepts including responsible tourism, the Local Travel Movement and ecotourism with practical and inexpensive Web 2.0 technologies.

On Thursday 4 June at 13:00 GMT, six leading global advocates of responsible tourism spoke and listened at a free public webinar (Web-based seminar) about the present and future of their fast-expanding industry. This inauguration of a regular series of online gatherings also served as a call for future discussion topics and guest speakers.