Together with Spotted by Locals, the WHL Group is a founding member of the Local Travel Movement – a website uniting people and organisations with a passion for Local Travel and commitment to Local Travel values. It’s a movement gathering momentum!

There’s apparently a lot to be said for and against what I’ll dub ‘semiformal home-accommodation networks,’ aka ‘couchsurfing.’ For example, there are valid concerns about how these networks are counterproductive (especially to local travel) since they “deprive the local accommodation providers of revenue.” Here’s an overview of a volley of comments.

Last week, the WHL Group and Spotted by Locals launched the Local Travel Movement, a platform promoting the local way of travel. The goal in unveiling the website is to rally Local Travel organisations, experts and practitioners with a passion for Local Travel and commitment to the values that underpin it.

A Local Travel movement is finding its legs. Strong legs. Last weekend, in a step to find good solid ground upon which to exercise those legs, I published two blog posts about it, one on the now-defunct Lonely Planet Travel Blog hosted by Yahoo!7 Travel in Australia and the other on The Brooklyn Nomad’s blog. It’s…