Sustainable Tourism | Ecotourism | Destinations & Communities
Providing market-based solutions to sustainable tourism, preserving invaluable social and environmental capital for the well being of local people worldwide. LEARN MORE
THE INVISIBLE BURDEN:
Groundbreaking Reports
& Analysis
ECOTOURISM:
Business Development
& Field Engagements
SPEAKING:
Speaking & Strategic
Destination Evaluation
KEY AFFILIATIONS:
Harvard University, Cornell University, The Travel Foundation
FEATURED PROJECTS
The Gems of Brazil’s Nature Tourism along the Estrada Real
Building a Resilient Puerto Rican Ecotourism Industry Post Hurricane Maria
Tunisian Tourism and Environmental Health in a Changing Climate
Social and Environmentally Responsible Tourism in Sierra Leone
Developing a Sustainable Tourism Economy in El Salvador
Sri Lankan Model Rainforest Ecolodge
Latin American Tour Operators Plan for Sustainable Tourism
Community-Based Tourism in Bangladesh’s Protected Areas
What’s New?
May 19, 2020
O’Shannon is a sustainability consultant who has developed and managed sustainability, conservation, and tourism initiatives in both the business and nonprofit sectors. She spent almost a decade at National Geographic— first administering grant programs for explorers, scientists, and storytellers at the Society, and then overseeing a number of programs and partnerships for the company’s Travel business, operating exploratory educational travel experiences on all seven continents. O’Shannon created and was appointed to National Geographic Partners’ first full-time sustainability position overseeing sustainability for the company’s travel business and serving as an internal sustainability leader and expert.
For her graduate degree capstone project, she partnered with Eplerwood International to develop a feasibility study for Symbiosis Resorts. Find out more on O’Shannon and her career on our Meet the Team Page
A firm platform for the travel and tourism recovery process is required which will ensure that finance reaches more beneficiaries and protects our earth’s most valued assets. In EplerWood International’s new White Paper, A Marshall Plan for Tourism: Can it be Built?, Megan Epler Wood calls out for a coordinated effort to finance the recovery of destinations.
“The primary purpose of this white paper is to point out that an investment fund or a variety of funds, which we will call the Sustainable Tourism Marshall Plan Fund could become key mechanisms in managing destination recovery. First and foremost, it is destinations that are the most impacted and most vulnerable to the drastic die-back of tourism. It is the inhabitants of destinations who will be forced into poverty without it. And even the wealthier, entrepreneurial class who rely on tourism will be hard hit because they are less diversified than multi-national corporations and much more dependent on visitor flows.”
Mark your calendars - Registration for @MeganEplerWood's course "Environmental Management of International Tourism Development" at @HarvardExt begins July 20th. More information here: https://t.co/3ODQ38dDHu
Michael, yes indeed. It is urgent. I have fostered a set of ideas to attract finance to destinations. That needs to include #SMEs
@MeganEplerWood Very sobering article, my fear is where will the necessary economic aid come from and will political administration's see that supporting tourism entrepreneurs is key to economic recovery. There needs to be a concerted effort to make the economic case for supporting tourism.
Essential Videos
“The earth’s greatest treasures are cracking under the weight of the soaring tourism economy. New data-driven systems to identify the cost of managing tourism’s most valued assets are required to stem a growing crisis in global tourism management. With the right leadership, finance and analysis in place, a whole new generation of tourism professionals can move forward and erase the invisible burden while benefiting millions around the globe.”
Megan Epler Wood, Principal