The Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) and The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), which for years have together explored common interests in promoting responsible tourism and sustainable practices, are co-developing and will co-lead the Meeting of the Minds and Collaborative Learning interactive forums at this year’s ATTA 2009 Adventure Travel World Summit. The summit is set for October 19-22 in Charlevoix, Quรฉbec Province, Canada.
“Tackling matters such as sustainable tourism requires the best minds,โ said ATTA president Shannon Stowell. โThe summit offers a timely and high-quality setting to join minds, debate openly, share resources, bring common visions together, and to ensure these discussions continue long after [the] conference. With the ATTA and TIES collaborating, we’ve got an incredible opportunity to create the perfect forum for the subject.”
ATTA and TIES guided, the two-part Meeting of the Minds “Sustainability” forums will address key challenges and opportunities concerning a variety of topics (e.g., carbon offsets, voluntourism, education, outreach, training, etc.) brought forth by the global adventure travel industry for collective brainstorming, dialogue, and debate. Whereas the Meeting of the Minds โthink-tankโ forums will focus on broad industry matters, the two Collaborative Learning “Sustainable Tourism in Emerging Destinations” forums will provide delegates the chance to share and explore their own real-world case studies to build understanding and to gain practical tools, insights, and action plans for organizational implementation.
“Participating in the ATTA’s Adventure Travel World Summit is a great opportunity for our two organizations to visibly convey our shared interests in sustainability initiatives,” said TIES chair Dr. Kelly Bricker. “We’re thrilled to represent TIES global network at the summit, where sustainability is at the forefront of innovative and interactive discussions. TIES will be able to contribute to and help strengthen the industry-wide efforts to mainstream sustainability through education, collaboration, and proactive outreach.”
Others actively contributing sustainability expertise to these forums include:
โข Dr. Rachel Dodds – Icarus Foundation
โข Richard Edwards – Planeterra
โข Megan Epler Wood โ EplerWood International
โข Sarah Fazendin – The Fazendin Portfolio
โข Christina Heyniger – Xola Consulting
โข Nadia LeBon – Mountain Lodges of Peru
โข Brad Nahill – SEE Turtles
โข Wallace J Nichols – OceanRevolution.org
โข Daniella Ruby Papi – PepyRide
โข Valere Tjolle – VISION on Sustainable Tourism
Adventure Travel World Summit sponsors include: Host Destination Tourisme Quรฉbec and Aventure Ecotourisme Quรฉbec; Major Sponsors ExOfficio and Menโs Journal; and Key Sponsors Alpine Tourist Commission, Archaeology Magazine, Best of the Alps, Brazil, Tourism Promotion Corporation of Chile, Eddie Bauer, Innovation Norway, and National Geographic Adventure. Summit registration and program information is available on the summit website at www.adventuretravelworldsummit.com.