Three more presenters announced for sustainable tourism masterclass

Jennie raises £500,000 a year for homeless charities running StreetSmart and SleepSmart

John Firrell director of Considerate Hoteliers: Jennifer Blouet of Sleep Smart and Rachel McCaffery of Green Case Consulting all to take hot seats.

Subjects include: certification, voluntourism and other destination opportunities, mainstreaming and sustainable growth, authenticity and value added, global warming and increased profits.

The latest presenters/interviewees to be announced for March’s masterclass include John Firrell, the much-liked head of Considerate Hoteliers, Jennifer Blouet (she raises £500,000 for homeless charities each Christmas by running StreetSmart. Do-gooding, fine dining and visiting luxurious hotels suits her!) and Rachel McCaffery (just ex Virgin Holidays head of Responsible Business) now representing her own views and consultancy – Green Case!

There may be just one more presenter/interviewee to be announced – think of a major User Generated Content travel website and sustainable tourism combo! – subjects include voluntourism/destination opportunity, mainstreaming/sustainable growth, authenticity/value added, global warming/profits.

The masterclass hotel – 2011/2012 AA Eco-Hotel of the year London’s   Lancaster claims a long list of eco-initiatives. In 2009, the hotel became the first in London to install half a million honey bees on its roof as a response to the decline in the numbers of British honey bees.

The latest presentation team members announced for the 16 March sustainable tourism masterclass are:

• Professor Stefan Gossling – contributing author to the 4AR of the IPCC and world authority on tourism and climate change
• Richard Hammond – the UK Guardian’s former eco travel correspondent. He is the editor of Great Escapes (Rough Guides 2010), Clean Breaks  and the founder of online green travel holiday website http://greentraveller.co.uk.
• Mark Watson – new director of global tourism campaigning organisation Tourism Concern
• Manda Brookman – director of the multi award-winning CoaST One Planet initiative
• John Firrell – director of Considerate Hoteliers
• Jennifer Blouet – of Street Smart and Sleep Smart
• Racel McCaffery – of Green Case Consultancy

The total presentation team now numbers 6 presenters/interviewees, other names may be announced shortly

Subjects so far announced are:

• Certification (of sustainable tourism, emissions and eco-friendliness)
• Voluntourism (how much does the practice benefit intermediaries and how little, destinations)
• Mainstreaming (of sustainable tourism for destinations to gain more benefits and more value-added for both destinations and visitors)
• Authenticity (clients are demanding higher levels of both authenticity and differentiation in destinations)
• Global warming (mitigation of effects, adaptation to effects, cost/benefit of emissions-related taxes and carbon-minimal destinations)
• Other issues that will certainly be discussed are: all-inclusives ("how can they be sustainable by nature?") social media for sustainable tourism ("are they natural partners?") can big shareholder-owned organisations really be sustainable (can smaller companies be more ethical?) and there will certainly be some wild cards.

So that all the important subjects packed into the day can be dealt with fully and satisfactorily and leave time for discussions and networking, the 12 hour intensive masterclass will include lunch, supper, and pre and post event information.

The masterclass is kept to a maximum of 25 participants to provide in depth understanding and discussions of this complex and substantial opportunity. The package cost includes full information pack, networking luncheon and supper: £500 per attendee.

Last few seats left – BOOK HERE

Sustainable Tourism Masterclasses have been held for the last four years and have attracted full houses of attendees and top speakers of global repute.

A full synthesis report is circulated to all attendees and all attendees are both invited to join the masterclass network and the closed online group.

The Sustainable Tourism Report Suite 2012 is supported by: ABTA – The Travel Association, ITB Berlin, Discover Ltd.,Club Med, Innovation Norway, Thomas Cook Ltd., FourBGB, Cape Town Tourism, Bord Failte, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Green Tourism Business Scheme, MCI Business School Innsbruck