The VISION on Sustainable Tourism Intensive Masterclass attracted a full house of top level delegates from all sustainable tourism industry segments to Kensington’s Royal Geographical Society last week. The conclusion of all participants? �" “A Great Success”. A video of the event is currently being edited and the whole will be available to VISION subscribers. The masterclass format is likely to be rolled out globally.

Masterclass delegates included executives from major tour operators (including both Virgin and TUI), speciality tour operators (including the Adventure Company and Discover), academic institutes (including DIT Ireland and University of Wales), tourist Boards (including VisitScotland) and development institutions including the World Bank and the Overseas Development Institute.

Presentations included “Carbon Management” by Ben Muir co-founder of Australia’s Cleaner Climate; “Tour Operators and Airlines Agenda for Change” by James Whittingham Environment manager of TUI Travel plc, “Destinations Development Opportunities” by Jonathan Mitchell head of tourism at the Overseas Development Institute; “Climate Change Adaptation & Mitigation �" the Future by Stefan Gossling professor at the West Norway Research Institute and co-author of the seminal “Climate Change and Tourism Adaptation & Mitigation”. Valere Tjolle, VISION Editor, chaired the event and presented on “Sustainable Tourism - “Total Defensive Advantage”

Said Linda Rivero of Peace Through Travel, Virginia US “ I'm very happy I made the trip and attended. The attendees were wonderful: experienced, committed, deeply thoughtful, and personally lovely”. Caroline Inglis of Visit Scotland “A fantastic balance of attendees, with a mix of those in the trade and those who have taken an academic approach to the subject of sustainability.” Sheena Carlisle-Gaye of UWIC “It was really good to hear the industry perspective and also to acknowledge the challenges that we face in implementing sustainable tourism” Jon Mitchell ODI �" “A great day �" the kind of event that I feel should happen more often but is really rare”

An exceptionally good supper was enjoyed after the event at the Daylesford Café on Harvey Nicholls’ 5th floor as part of the event’s networking opportunities.

The masterclass sessions were video’d and will be available as two sections:

“Sustainable Tourism Management �" Present & Future” £100/Euro140/US$200

(approximately 3 hours �" all presentations excluding the marketing segment)

And “Alternative Marketing for Sustainable Tourism” £100/Euro140/US$200

Both may be purchased pre-publication for a 50% discount.

Publication date will be 21 October.

Details from Valere@travelmole.com