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Responsible Tourism is about using tourism to make better places for people to live and better places for people to visit. How can we “do tourism better”?
7th November 14:00 - 14:30 Why does Responsible Tourism make business sense?
There is no single business case for Responsible Tourism because there are many. The business cases are multiple. If you are sceptical about the value of Responsible Tourism to your business, come and hear about why RT makes business sense for them. If you are already using Responsible Tourism as part of your business – are there other elements that you could add? Are you making the most of Responsible Tourism?
Moderator: Harold Goodwin, WTM Responsible Tourism Adviser
Shannon Guihan, Chief Sustainability Officer & Head of TreadRight for The Travel Corporation,
Garry Wilson, Chief Executive Officer at easyJet Holidays
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7th November 14:30 - 15:10 Countering Green Washing, Positive-Impact Tourism
There is increasing demand for experiential tourism and evidence that travellers and holidaymakers are concerned about their negative impacts. We need to accentuate the positive and communicate the good that tourism does for local communities and their natural and cultural heritage. Greenwashing undermines our sector in the eyes of travellers and destination communities. It damages all of us. How can tour operators, accommodation providers and the many small businesses which are the tourism industry communicate the good they do and honestly report their declining, negative impacts?
Moderator: Harold Goodwin, WTM Responsible Tourism Adviser
Julie Cheetham, Founding Member and Managing Director at Weeva
Shannon Guihan, Chief Sustainability Officer & Head of TreadRight for The Travel Corporation,
Inge Huijbrechts, Global Sustainability Security Senior Executive, Radisson Hotel Group
Rochelle Turner, Head of Sustainability at Exodus Travels
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7th November 15:10-15:45 Engaging Communities in the Business of Tourism
In this panel, we shall contrast two different, but highly successful, ways of engaging local communities as partners in the business of tourism, creating shared value, diversifying local economies and raising living standards. In South Africa, communities were gifted lodges as part of land reparations post-apartheid. In Kerala, villages initially rebelled against tourism development but by developing producer cooperatives and Village Life Experiences the state has shown how tourism can bring sustainable development by adding an additional market opportunity for local producers, artists and performers.
Moderator: Harold Goodwin, WTM Responsible Tourism Adviser
Glynn O’Leary, Chief Executive, Transfrontier Parks Destinations
Hendrik Mathys from the Mier Community co-owners of !Xaus Lodge with the Khomani San Community, a director of the !Xaus Lodge Development Trust
Principal Traditional Leader Morena Montoeli Mota of Batlokoa ba Mota Traditional Community
Sri. Rupeshkumar K, State Responsible Tourism Mission Coordinator, Government of Kerala
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7th November 15:45 – 16:15 Managing Destinations: Overcoming Overtourism
We live in a finite world. Our world looks infinite on Earth as we look across the sea, a forest, or a rolling landscape. From space, we see the Blue Marble, our planet, first photographed fifty years ago. Destinations are not infinite. Over the last decade, concern about overtourism has grown, and communities, politicians and commentators in the media have highlighted the issue. How can destinations manage and reduce the negative impacts and enhance the positive?
Moderator: Harold Goodwin, WTM Responsible Tourism Adviser
Emanuele Moggia, Mayor of Monterosso and VP Cinque Terre National Park
Silvia Moggia, Data Storyteller & Strategist, The Data Appeal Company
Miquel Rodriguez Planas, Manager of the Economic Promotion Area. Barcelona City Council
Vincent Nijs, Chief Strategist, Visit Flanders
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7th November 16:15 – 16:50 Decarbonising Aviation - Is hydrogen part of the Solution?
The problem is not flying; the problem is the greenhouse gas emitted from burning fossil fuels. There are many destinations with no prospect of domestic tourism and few if any, alternative ways of earning foreign exchange. They are aviation-dependent. The aviation industry forecasts rapid growth and promotes SAF from waste, biofuels and power-to-liquid, but what part will hydrogen play?
Moderator: Harold Goodwin, WTM Responsible Tourism Adviser
Jane Ashton, Sustainability Director, easyJet PLC
Jenny Kavanagh, Chief Strategy Officer, Cranfield Aerospace Solutions Ltd
Andy Reynolds Head of ZEROe Hydrogen Storage and Distribution Systems, Airbus
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7th November 16:50 - 17:00 Technology for Responsible Tourism
This session dives into the importance of technology in Responsible Tourism and enables businesses and destinations to make better-informed decisions to promote sustainability and minimise negative impacts on the environment. Harold Goodwin will unveil the launch of a new website designed to provide curated and reliable advice on traditional and advanced technologies that minimise negative impacts and maximise social, economic and environmental ones.
Moderator: Harold Goodwin, WTM Responsible Tourism Adviser
Glenn Mandziuk, CEO, Sustainable Hospitality Alliance
Joseph Sebastian Faizal Shabana Foundation
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7th November 17:00 - 18:00 Celebrating 21 Years of Responsible Tourism
When we take responsibility, we can make tourism better for our clients, local communities, their natural and cultural heritage and our businesses. The Cape Town Declaration on Responsible Tourism in Destinations was launched at a side event of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002. Last year the 2022 Charter on Responsible Tourism was signed on Magna Carta Island, consolidating twenty years of tried and tested ways of using tourism to “create better places for people to live in and for people to visit.” It’s our 21st birthday, and it is time to celebrate.
Moderator: Harold Goodwin, WTM Responsible Tourism Adviser
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8th November 11:05-11:45 Breaking barriers: Travellers are demanding better, more sustainable holidays, how do we deliver?
Sustainability is still facing many barriers in the travel industry. Discover how education, socio-economic benefits, and effective funding can drive positive change and encourage the adoption of sustainable practices throughout the sector. Mainstream media is covering the negative impacts of tourism, from greenhouse gas emissions to second homes and holiday lets displacing local people from affordable housing and overtourism. How do we counter the negative coverage and remind people about the positive benefits of tourism? Whose responsibility is it?
Moderator: Harold Goodwin, WTM Responsible Tourism Adviser
Carlos Abade, Chairman, VisitPortugal
Martin Brackenbury, formerly President of the International Federation of Tour Operators and Advisor to UNWTO
Sacha Dench, CEO & Ambassador for the UN’s Convention on Migratory Species
Patricia de Lille, Minister of Tourism, South Africa
Vincent Nijs, Chief Strategist, Visit Flanders
