Working to support sustainable tourism development

Sustainable Travel International (STI) is a global leader in sustainable tourism development.

Sustainable Travel International (STI) is a global leader in sustainable tourism development. The 501(c)(3) non-profit organization’s mission is to promote sustainable development and responsible travel by providing programs that enable consumers, businesses and travel-related organizations to contribute to the environmental, socio-cultural and economic values of the places they visit, and the planet at large.

STI is dedicated to providing education and outreach services that will lessen the toll that travel and tourism takes on the environment and local cultures. By providing tangible, solutions-oriented programs, STI is taking a holistic approach to addressing global sustainable development within the travel and tourism industry.

STI SERVICES AND CAPABILITIES

Measurement and Verification Services
Providing a clear and accurate connection between measurement and verification of tourism-related impacts is critical to integrating sustainable business practices into the travel and tourism industry. STI works to incorporate sustainable business practices into travel and tourism providers’ operations and programming provides consumer protection services, and helps to safeguard the sustainable tourism market from false claims and fraud.

Sustainable Tourism Eco-certification Program™ (STEP)
STI’s eco-certification program is a voluntary initiative that helps travel companies to measure and manage their environmental, economic and socio-cultural impacts while demonstrating their commitment to sustainability, and performing in a manner that makes them more attractive to responsible travelers. STEP is the first non-profit international tourism eco-certification standard.

Technical Assistance and Sustainable Tourism Assessment
STI identifies travel and tourism-related opportunities that are economically viable as well as environmentally sustainable and culturally appropriate. STI provides sustainable tourism development technical support to Destination Management Organizations, Trade Associations, Tourism Bureaus, and private sector companies. The services are targeted to support strategic planning, sustainable tourism development, and implementation.

Education and Training
STI offers a myriad of custom education and training programs for travel companies, ranging from executive education programs focused on impact management to shorter courses focused on how to integrate sustainable business practices into your business operations. STI management teaches at universities and disseminates educational materials to students, travelers, businesses and organizations. STI also presents at conferences, green events, classes, seminars and tradeshows across the world.

Advisory Services
STI has over 30 years of experience in the travel and tourism industry, and we take on all types of non-competitive and competitive projects around the world. Since we work with leading consultants who speak most languages and specialize in virtually all eco- and sustainable tourism-related topics, we have great flexibility when forming any given consulting team

Travel Philanthropy
STI promotes, publicizes and informs the public about credible travel philanthropy programs in the global marketplace. We also educate travel companies on how to create successful travel philanthropy projects that support environmental conservation and community development and generate publicity.

Fair Trade in Travel
STI promotes fair trade programs and works with local producers in economically disadvantaged tourism dependent communities to gain fair prices for their goods. We then help local producers resell these goods to the tourism markets in Europe and North America.

Business and Promotional Services
STI works to empower companies, institutions and consumers with the knowledge and opportunity to support sustainable tourism options that protect the environment and preserve traditional heritage and culture while contributing to economic development. We cultivate best practices in marketing to maximize awareness and understanding of how to actively engage in sustainable tourism development, and increase access to products and services that have been verified as sustainable.

Membership
STI membership is open to individuals, companies, organizations and institutions that demonstrate support for and are committed to promoting environmental conservation, socio-cultural responsibility, and economic profitability within the travel and tourism industry. Members receive STI network benefits and discounts, and are listed in our well-trafficked on-line Eco-Directory.

Green Travel Market
The Green Travel Market is a matchmaking service that provides comprehensive, reliable, up-to-date information on sustainable tourism products that are currently available in the global marketplace so tour operators can more easily ‘green’ their supply chains.

Sustainable Tourism Implementation
STI identifies best practices and creates implementation tools that promote sustainable tourism development and ensures that consumers get what they pay for.

Greenhouse Gas Offsets
Through STI’s greenhouse gas offsets program, traveler’s, travel and tourism providers, and related organizations can invest in clean energy and support sustainable development and environmental conservation while helping to mitigate the greenhouse gas emissions that result from their own, as well as their clients’ and employees’ travel.

STI is regarded for its due diligence in selecting the ‘best of the best’ offset projects. All STI projects are inspected, verified and certified by independent, third parties. The Green Tags we offer are offered in partnership with the B-E-F and are certified by Green-e. Whereas, our Carbon Offset projects are supplied by MyClimate and are developed in accordance with the CDM of the Kyoto protocol and the criteria of The Gold Standard.

STI’s most recent notable offset efforts include Continental Airlines, AirPlus, the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Ben & Jerry’s, Coca-Cola, G.A.P. Adventures, HSBC, Whole Foods Market, World Wildlife Fund, the World Travel & Tourism Council, the Adventure Travel Trade Association, The Leading Hotels of the World, and many others.

MANAGEMENT

STI’s leadership has extensive experience within the travel and tourism industry, as well as sustainable development, and is supported by a group of highly experienced professionals that are leading figures in their respective areas of expertise.

Brian Thomas Mullis, President
Brian T. Mullis co-founded Sustainable Travel International (STI) in 2002 with the mission of promoting responsible travel and facilitating the travel and tourism industry’s move toward sustainability.

Mullis has over 20 years of experience in the travel and tourism industry. He began his career spending summers during college working in national parks throughout the western U.S. More recently, Mullis was the President and owner of an international adventure travel company specializing in active and eco-travel. During his career, he has assisted numerous travel companies in the areas of business and program development, sales and marketing, finance and budgeting, and management and operations.

Mullis has a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology with a focus on Business from Auburn University and holds a Master’s Degree in Recreation Management from Springfield College.

Peter Davis Krahenbuhl, Vice President
Peter D. Krahenbuhl, who co-founded STI, has over 10 years of experience in the travel and tourism industry. He completed his B.A. in Economics and Environmental Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara. A global interest led to a Master of Public Affairs from Indiana University, concentrating in International Affairs and Environmental Policy. During this time his Latin American conservation and sustainable development “projects” began.

Later, Krahenbuhl developed and owned an ecotourism company and has focused his efforts on supporting sustainability in the travel industry ever since. He joined The World Outdoors (then Roads Less Traveled) in 1997, while completing his first ecotourism and Adventure Guide to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands (Hunter Publishing, 2003). Krahenbuhl co-founded Sustainable Travel International and is now involved in managing its greenhouse gas offsets program and fund development.

Board of Directors
• Dr. Jan Hamrin, STI Chair and President of the Center for Resource Solutions
• Duncan Beardsley, Director of Generosity in Action
• Beth Beloff, Founder and President of BRIDGES to Sustainability
• Mark Campbell, President, TCS Expeditions
• Costas Christ, President of the Adventure Council, Chairman of the Adventures in Travel Expo Conferences and writer for National Geographic Adventure magazine
• Kathy Moyer-Dragon, former Marketing Director for Whole Foods Market-Boulder and owner of The Dragon’s Path and ActiveWomen.com
• Francis X. Farrell, Publisher, National Geographic Adventure
• Jamie Sweeting, Conservation International, Director of the Travel & Leisure program at The Center for Environmental Leadership in Business (CELB)
• Keith Sproule, Independent Consultant and former Chair at The International Ecotourism Society
• Julie Klein, Director of Environmental Affairs for RockResorts/Vail Resorts Hospitality
• Patrick Long, Director of the University of Colorado Leeds School of Business’ Center for Sustainable Tourism and President of the American Leisure Academy
• Dr. Mary Pearl, President of Wildlife Trust
• Chris Seek, Founder of Solimar International
• Richard Weiss, former Vice President of Operations for The Walt Disney Company, Adventures by Disney
• Angela West, Director of Tourism for the Department of the Interior – Bureau of Land Management
• Brian T. Mullis
• Peter D. Krahenbuhl

PARTNERSHIPS

STI was founded on the belief that by collaborating with like-minded organizations to help consumers and tourism providers protect the places they visit, and the planet at large, we can leverage our synergies and strengthen our individual and collective initiatives. Established partnerships include but are not limited to the following:

• Adventure Travel Trade Association
• African Propoor Tourism Development Centre
• Bonneville Environmental Foundation
• Conservation International
• Ecotourism Society of Nigeria
• European Centre for Eco and Agro Tourism
• French Ecotourism Society
• Fundación Plan21
• George Washington University
• Global Giving
• International Galapagos Tour Operators Association
• Japan Ecolodge Association
• Jaringan Ekowisata Desa – Village Ecotourism Network
• Leave No Trace
• Mesoamerican Ecotourism Alliance
• myclimate
• Nepal Tourism Board, Sustainable Tourism Network
• NSF International
• Rainforest Alliance
• Solimar International
• Sustainable Tourism Certification Network of the Americas
• The Leading Hotels of the World
• The Travel Institute
• University of Colorado Leeds Business School’s Center for Sustainable Tourism
• USDA Forest Service
• USDI Bureau of Land Management
• Virtuoso

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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