Travel is a tool for validation, a way to say "I see you, I hear you, and your story matters." Today's guest, Muna Haddad, has built her long career in tourism around this principle.

Muna is a powerful maker of change in the world of travel and someone I admire deeply. She is the founder of Baraka Destinations, an organization creating tourism experiences in Jordan’s secondary, forgotten locations that center local narratives and give power back to where it belongs: local communities.

Muna spent nearly two decades working in sustainable tourism. She founded the Jordan Trail Association, which promotes the 400-mile hiking trail that runs across the country, and helped create the Meaningful Travel Map of Jordan.

This season, we want to hear from you!

Send us a short note with your name, where you’re calling in from, and an answer to two questions:

What gives YOU hope in this moment in time
Which place you are going to next

We’ll run your answers at the end of the season in our Community Voices episode! To participate, fill out this form OR send us a short audio clip (an iPhone voice recording is just fine!) to hello@goingplacesmedia.com by Monday, April 27.

Going Places is an audience-supported platform. Today, I want to invite you to become a paid member, so that we can continue doing this work in the months to come.

Join us for as little as $6 a month and get access to our membership perks. We just added a new one: now everyone, even at our lowest membership level, can tune into regular, quarterly Zoom check-ins with me. Our first one is in April.

Visit us at goingplacesmedia.com to learn more.

Thanks to our Founding Members:

RISE Travel Institute, a nonprofit with a mission to create a more just and equitable world through travel education
Radostina Boseva, a film wedding photographer with an editorial flair based in San Francisco

What you’ll learn in this episode:

How a trip to Cambodia led Muna down this path
Asking 'who benefits?' and 'who gets to tell the story of a place?'
How Baraka's work transformed the village of Umm Qais in northern Jordan
Why the model Muna started is a revolution needed everywhere in travel
What makes Baraka's new tour in Amman extraordinary
Words matter: why terms 'Middle East' and 'Levant' are a colonial legacy
Unpacking Orientalism

Featured on the show:

Follow Muna on Instagram: @munahaddad
Follow Baraka Destinations on Instagram: @barakadestinations
Learn more about Baraka Destinations
Check out the newly-launched Amman City Tour by Baraka
Read about Muna in the 2026 Power List by Condé Nast Traveler
Learn more about Edward Said and his seminal work, Orientalism

Going Places is a reader-supported platform. Get membership perks like a monthly group call with Yulia at goingplacesmedia.com!

For more BTS of this podcast follow @goingplacesmedia on Instagram and check out our videos on YouTube!

Please head over to Apple Podcasts and SUBSCRIBE to the show. If you enjoy this conversation, please share it with others on social and don’t forget to tag us @goingplacesmedia!

And show us some love, if you have a minute, by rating Going Places or leaving us a review wherever you listen. You’ll be helping us to bend the arc of algorithms towards our community — thank you!

Going Places with Yulia Denisyuk is a show that sparks a better understanding of people and places near and far by fostering a space for real conversations to occur. Each week, we sit down with travelers, journalists, creators, and people living and working in destinations around the world. Hosted by Yulia Denisyuk, an award-winning travel journalist, photographer, and writer who's worked with National Geographic, The New York Times, BBC Travel, and more.

Learn more about our show at goingplacesmedia.com.

Can Tourism Be a Blessing? Muna Haddad Thinks So