Presentation Title: “Green transformation in the Egyptian tourism industry prior to COP 27.”

I would like to highlight the steps of Green transformation in the city of Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt as well known touristic destination where the COP 27 will be organized in November 2022. the public-private sector cooperation to join efforts in complying with the sustainability requirements to go more green. the presentation will cover also the potential of certification in the private touristic destination in Egypt..

Presentation Title: “Adventure Travel: Sustainability by Default.”

How can adventure travel contribute to local economic growth in a destination while preserving its natural and cultural heritage? By presenting several case studies as well as ideas and opportunities, Gergana Nikolova will talk about successful destination development towards becoming sustainable by default. The Adventure Travel Trade Association is the largest global network of adventure travel leaders who share their belief in and commitment to sustainable tourism.

Presentation Title: “Exploring the significance of luo people’s heritage at the Got Ramogi Forest.”

Elizabeth Oduor is currently in charge of tourism, culture and arts in the County Government of Siaya, Kenya. Her presentation will shed light on culture and tradition, exploring the rich cultural heritage of Got Ramogi Forest and its significance to the Luo community of Nyanza, Kenya. The contribution particularly focuses on present challenges and threats to their customs, beliefs and practices.

Presentation Title: “Bringing collective action towards sustainable destinations : a successful example in Normandy.”

Recently, Matthieu Le Scanf accompanied nine tourist offices in Normandy regarding the development of their internal CSR as well as their journey towards sustainability. The working group co-constructed a CSR reference framework adapted to Tourist Offices, which was tested and adjusted throughout the consultancy period. Now that the Tourist Offices have worked on their CSR approach, a second project is being launched in Normandy to work on the sustainable transition of destinations. Eleven destinations are involved in this project and will use the Green Destination Standards to asses themselves and draw action plans.

Presentation Title: “Better destinations with the support of good tour operators.”

What steps can destinations and tour operators take to become better? Successful and sustainable at the same time – creating amazing travel experiences for their customers while protecting the destination and everyone who lives in it. In her presentation, Anne de Jong will highlight the impact of (good) tourism and how to make changes that create win-win situations for everyone. She will also provide practical guidelines and tricks for tour operators to take the first steps in becoming a better tour operator and for destinations to ensure a sustainable tourism offer.

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Non-governmental organizations promoting responsible tourism have steadily sustained their role in spearheading positive transformation within the tourism industry. The GreenTour Kenya project is implemented in Kenya to promote sustainability in the tourism supply chain with training and capacity building among other change-focused strategies for responsible tourism. Other strategies implemented within the project include voluntary tourism certification; development of tools and responsible tourism codes, guidelines and standards; policy-oriented. Mercy Onyango will share insights on replicating tourism industry sustainability best practices into the Kenyan and wider African tourism supply chain through an integrated business led approach.

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Peter Reelfs will talk about the benefits of sustainable event management. His presentation will answer the question of what effect an event has on the climate, on people and on the surroundings and how to mitigate this impact. He will further address and discuss all three sustainability aspects, give useful tips and tricks on how to plan sustainable events and present prime examples from Sweden. Northflash is a professional consulting firm that focuses is on sustainable tourism and event management. They help destinations, hotels, tour operators and other non-tourist companies to improve their sustainability work.

Presentation Title: “Tourism Greening in Mauritius through the Sustainable Island Mauritius project.”

In 2018, the tourism authorities in Mauritius launched an EU funded project aiming at enabling sustainable tourism in the destination with a focus on improving the value chains of tour operators. In his presentation, Daren Moodely will showcase how sustainable packages have been co-created through capacity building, training, and networking, involving all layers and people of the tourism value chain. Important lessons learned as well as further opportunities for knowledge sharing will be a part of this session.

Presentation Title: “Regenerative Travel in East Africa as a means of empowering communities in the face of Environmental change.”

Claudia Barongo aims to encourage regenerative travel to Africa and to connect travellers with enterprises whose operations fulfil and surpass their commitment to sustainability. As founder of Africa Untamed, a regenerative tours and travel company based in Kenya, she will share insights on responsible travel in East Africa and the role tour operators and guests play in restoring cultural identity to communities, ensuring the well-being of natural systems, and ultimately correcting the impacts of overtourism. Another field of activity of Africa Untamed is carbon neutral travel by adopting various measures such as carbon offsetting, decarbonization and climate change adaptation strategies. The company is currently working with scientific and tourism partners in Kenya to explore new ways of mobilizing carbon credits from African grasslands. In her second presentation, Claudia Barongo will shed light on this project and talk about how to convert ecotourism credentials into tangible impacts on climate change, biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods.

Presentation Title: “Cycling in Terres de l’Ebre.”

Building a cycling network is an important part of the sustainable development strategy of Terres de l’Ebre. The greenway of the Zafán Valley with segregated motor traffic segments has already great success. The problem, however, is that the Via Verde is not well connected with the Ebro Delta Natural Parc, with some other cycling paths already in use. Albert Folch Giró will talk about this project which consists of the construction of a new 30-kilometer section and contributes to the improvement of sustainable mobility in the destination and the connectivity of urban environments with the rural ones.

Presentation Title: “Sustainability as a path towards the revaluation of the identity and pride of tourist destinations.”

Sustainability is the path towards the revaluation of local identity and pride, unique to each destination, and makes
tourism the opportunity to create a REGENERATIVE AND PARTICIPATIVE cycle: socially, environmentally, and financially,
in compliance with international standards (ODS’s and GSTC), highlighting the UNIQUE MAGIC, which arises when we
LOVE OUR DESTINATION.

Presentation Title: “Reduce Food Waste for a more sustainable tourism industry.”

Food waste is responsible for an astonishing 8% of global carbon emissions. By 2030, food waste is expected to increase by 60%. Even though the lack of reliable data makes it difficult to quantify the magnitude of food waste in the tourism industry, some factors are quite clear to all of us. Since even more hotels and accommodations are paying more attention to address sustainability, the reduction of food waste as recorded in the food supplies procedure, the meal preparation and the consumption stage, remains a dream that can come true.

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At the conference, Bryony Beck will illustrate the journey of Visit Inverness Loch Ness with local partnerships, including tracking their carbon footprint monthly to become a carbon neutral organisation. She will share insights on the destination’s climate action plan rolled out in 2022, which is the the first tourism initiative in Scotland to implement specific sustainability goals. She will highlight the need for climate action in tourism within the destination to drive sustainable tourism in Scotland.

Presentation Title: “Mobility Solutions in Mountain Destinations.”

The unique mountain ecosystem that Vail, Colorado’s tourism-based economy relies on make it challenging to facilitate efficient mobility and transportation options. To tackle this issue, a holistic three pronged strategy was employed. The presentation will explore the transportation and mobility challenges present in the destination and elaborate on the strategy being implemented to reduce transportation emissions. Beth Markham and Kristen Bertuglia will share the status of these strategies, highlight the importance of partnerships and collaboration, funding and economics, regional planning efforts, behavior change campaigns and education to launch successful mobility initiatives as well as lessons learned through implementation.

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Visitors do not see geo-political boundaries when they travel to and in a destination. However, often these invisible lines inhibit sustainable tourism practices. In Sedona, Arizona and Big Sky, Montana, both gateway communities to some of America’s most treasured National Parks – Grand Canyon and Yellowstone – the DMO’s ability to forge relationships across political boundaries yielded success in community strategic planning, transportation, and resident engagement. Candance Strauss will give insights on how organizations can tackle this challenge on behalf of the industry and the community.

Presentation Title: “Evolving a destination focus from marketing to stewardship”

How can a county-wide destination marketing organization be changed into a destination stewardship organization? And how can the three key audiences – internal (staff, Board, partners), consumers, and residents – be won over? Claudia Vecchio successfully guided the destination of Sonoma County, California, through this process, creating a sustainable hospitality economy in the region, dedicated to promote overnight stays in the area. At the conference, she will review this approach.

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In her presentation, Anula Galewska will talk about the current state, challenges and opportunities of sustainable tourism in Central Asia and Caucasia. She will include an overview of the main initiatives of sustainable tourism in those regions by highlighting some of their best practices as well as discussing the challenges faced by them. As the co-founder of Travindy, a sustainable tourism consultancy, Anula Galewska has managed and helped improve sustainability among destinations, tourism and hospitality businesses from 80+ countries around the world.

Presentation Title: “”English – Good Travel Scan: a unique tool to develop more sustainable private companies or tourism destinations.”

Can a score card help a destination become more sustainable? Can this card accurately capture whether and how sustainable a company or a destination is? Can it lead us to new ways to be even more sustainable? And if so, what are the ten criteria of the Good Travel Scan score card? In her presentation, Maria Athanasopoulou will answer these questions and talk about the Good Travel Scan – a program that has the potential to improve private companies and destinations.

Presentation Title: “The Western Route – the most western mountain trail in Europe that connects the sea and the mountains.”

In Cascais, Portugal, the Western Route comprises a 40 km circular route around the Sintra mountain range. Covering wonderful landscapes, cultural heritages sites and different types of habitat, the three-day trail offers a wide range of experiences, linking nature based experiences with gastronomy and sustainability. In his presentation, João Cardoso de Melo will talk about this new tourism product which aims to develop nature tourism activity, diversify the offer based on sustainability as well as create employment and economic dynamics in the Cascais region.

Presentation Title: “AR Trails: ARevolutionizing travel experience.”

Trails are often equipped with various informative signs. However, they are quickly damaged and have high maintenance costs. Moreover, the textual format is usually not attractive for visitors. Sargis Aghayan and his team at AR Trails have developed a mobile app that uses augmented reality to solve this problem and to provide visitors with enhanced audio, video and photo information. Their mission is it to empower travelers to explore and experience travel from a new perspective, through the application of augmented reality.

Presentation Title: “DEL Turismo Program.”

The DEL Turismo program, which has already been implemented in more than 20 destinations, is based on fostering and enhancing the dialogue between local government, entrepreneurs and civil society. It further aims to develop local tourism based on a sustainable and long-term strategy, which strengthens the local economy and improves the quality of life of residents. As a sustainable tourism consultant Elisabeth Bauchwitz is working closely together with DEL Turismo and will provide insights into this project.

Presentation Title: “Soul Dreamers – A Journey onto Compassionate Leadership through Regenerative Practices.”

Soul Dreamers is an evolutionary regenerative ecotourism network connecting conscious travellers to original authentic local communities. By initiating this project, Teddy Florea is supporting the mental health of professionals by reconnecting them to nature, spirituality, and community through cultural immersive experiences in Latin America. In January, the first Soul Dreamers Mental Health and Compassionate Leadership Retreat was organized, integrating plant ceremonies, guided facilitation, and eco-sustainable rural community practices. Teddy Florea will review this event and give further insights into this project.

Presentation Title: “Greening East & Southeast Asia with the Good Travel Program.”

At this year’s conference, Susan Santos de Cardenas will share experiences on gradually re-starting tourism in Southeast Asia. Her focus will be on destinations that are engaging in sustainable practices and adopting Green Destination standards as well as enabling new training initiatives to empower women for sustainable tourism. The challenges faced by the destinations in re-opening after the pandemic and the struggle to control tourism during the “revenge travel” surge will also be part of the presentation.

Presentation Title: “Destination Curation of Local & Sustainable Travel: ecomadic’s Proof of Concept in Dubai and How We Plan to Replicate Across the World, Empowering Destination Stewardship.”

This year, Jaclyn Yost and her company ecomadic will launch a Dubai community hub in partnership with the Dubai Tourism board. Throughout the project launch, ecomadic adapts sustainability measures based on the local market conditions and laws with the tourism board, work with local consultants, universities, and sustainable travel influencers, do on-the-ground auditing and content creation, before launching community hubs and releasing green guides. Jaclyn Yost will present this destination strategy that contributes towards community development and provide ongoing opportunities.

Presentation Title: “Mitsis Hotels | Committed to our surroundings.”

The presentation by Apollonia Karampatsou will focus on the Mitsis Hotels Group’s commitment to their surroundings and extensive CSR program to support and empower the local communities of their destinations. Operational practices include local recruitment, supporting the local primary sector as well as sponsoring local events and support the local residents in case of a crisis. Furthermore they collaborate with distinguished NGOs and establish long-term partnerships with organizations such as HOPEgenesis, Make-A-Wish Greece and The Ark of the World.

Presentation Title: “Tourism Host-Guest Encounter in the Sultanate of Oman.”

Although substantial academic literature on tourism’s socio-cultural impacts exists, little attention has been directed towards its influence on economic benefits from tourism development in the local community, particularly within emerging tourist destinations with conservative Arab and Islamic values. Dr. Amina Al Balushi will present research that examines the socio-cultural impacts of tourism on conservative Arab Muslim communities in the Sultanate of Oman. It explores the specific cases of Bidiyah, a desert tourist destination, and Wadi Bani Khalid, a natural water-pool destination, analysing the host-guest relations.

Presentation Title: “Stay Wild Stay Green.”

Since 2017, Hikemaniak encourages Kenyans to explore their own landscapes. In the last 5 years, leisure sport has gained attraction and the common trails in the national parks near the capital Nairobi experienced overtourism, leading to erosion and degradation. As a solution, the team of Hikemaniak has encouraged Kenyans to explore other areas by mapping more than 20 new hiking trails. In Athens, Gitonga Wandai will present the efforts of his organisation.

Presentation Title: “Preserving authenticity and empowering local communities through tourism – Case Study Greece.”

Dimitris Palaiogiannis, a true local from Athens, will share experiences and key takeaways from his involvement with local communities and the creation process of networks for the preservation and regeneration of culture and authenticity. The presented best practice stories include insights in authentic experience value chains, highlighting the numerous opportunities tourism offers in order to achieve thriving, sustainable and resilient communities. Beyond, he will introduce the work of World Tourism Association for Culture & Heritage (WTACH).

Presentation Title: “Climate Action through Regeneration: Unlocking the Power of Communities and Nature through Tourism.“

Chloe King is presenting on a research effort that has been undertaken over the past year. As part of the study, 30 tourism operators around the globe were interviewed to understand how they are utilizing nature-based solutions. Further objectives of this research were what challenges and opportunities these solutions present for the future of regenerative tourism practices, more resilient sources of finance, and destination health as a whole. The presentation provides practical guidance for businesses and destinations.

Presentation Title: “THE GLOBAL LOW CARBON TRAVEL CHALLENGE – some steps from the EU ATRE project initiative –”

José María de Juan Alonso is dedicating his presentation to two projects, both examining and reviewing ecological sustainability in tourism. The first project is aiming at developing and fostering low carbon travel in Europe. Supported by the Spanish Biodiversity Foundation, the second project is conducting research about the impacts of tourism on climate change. The results show great potential to be of high importance for both destinations and tourism companies.