Planned Changes at Ecotourism Australia – CEO Pahl to Resign

In a letter to the Green Travel Network, Stephen Pahl indicated that he is to resign from the organisation as CEO when ongoing arrangements are in place. He said he was to remain in the mainstream tourism industry.

Letter follows:

“Dear Tourism Industry Colleagues

Over the past nine years, I have had the great pleasure of bringing forward the varied tourism industry experiences gained over my career into Ecotourism Australia. I initially served a term of three years on the EA Board prior to being appointed Chief Executive six years ago. Ecotourism Australia has grown significantly over this time to become Australia’s lead industry organization, and more recently, an innovative leader in the broader area of Sustainable Tourism.

Ecotourism Australia now has over 1,000 ECO Certified products nationally and has become recognized as a Global leader in the provision and management of certification programs. Resulting from this overseas interest, Ecotourism Australia will shortly be offering a variant of the highly successful ECO Certification Program to overseas countries, to be known as ECO International.

Ecotourism Australia is also in the final stages of the development of an innovative Climate Change solution for Australia’s Tourism industry. The new Climate Action Australia program is currently being piloted in Queensland and South Australia and will be launched at the inaugural Conference on Green Travel, Climate Change and Ecotourism in November. A new subsidiary of Ecotourism Australia, to be known as
Sustainable Tourism Australia, is currently being finalized to roll out the Climate Action Australia program to the broader Tourism industry nationally.

Much has been achieved, with your loyal and ongoing support, and I am feeling this is an appropriate time for me to `hand over the baton’ to a new champion to continue to build on these achievements. Accordingly, I have been working productively with the EA Chairman, and Board for some weeks in order to plan a transition for me to
retire out of my position as CEO of Ecotourism Australia in late October, or when suitable ongoing arrangements are in place.

The EA Board will be shortly calling for applications for my replacement, and an advertisement will appear on www.seek.com.au Any enquiries can be directed to [email protected]

The past six years has been a fantastic journey, and although it has been a journey that has commanded and consumed most of my waking hours, the satisfaction of being able to directly contribute to the sustainability of our industry, and to make a difference, has been extremely rewarding.

I sincerely thank all of those persons who have supported, guided, mentored, and inspired me through the six years of my term with EA, and I express my sincere gratitude to my fantastic staff – Kristie, Amy, Tiffany, Henrik and Lottie, the Chairman and Board of EA, EA members, ECO certified products, stakeholders, sponsors and partners all of who have been the `true believers’ in tourism sustainability and have `walked the talk’.

My future directions beyond EA are as yet uncharted, however after a short break I will be aiming to remain in the mainstream Tourism industry and I am sure our paths will cross in the future.

Thanks again and Kind Regards

Stephen Pahl”