Greetings Everyone,

FYI, my paper submitted to various international conferences focusing on cultural-natural heritage, tourism, sociology, sustainable organic agriculture and traditional cuisine. To me, all of these topics are interrelated and comprise our work in Crete.

As those of us actually working in the field of ecotourism/sustainable tourism already know, it's impossible for us to travel the globe to speak about our work at conferences. Time and money is a major barrier to get the word out about small-scale projects. The media is in the dark if they don't know our projects exist. And we are at the mercy of people that present case studies they have not personally implemented or even experienced. Usually those case studies are about very large-scale projects that are heavily funded. That leaves the majority of crucial and worthy projects out of the media loop and the traveler's radar.

So this paper was one solution -- when I could not attend conferences, I at least submitted it in the hopes that it would be included. And it was most of the time, thankfully. I suggest that all small-scale ecotourism practitioners consider doing the same. Your voices should be heard at conferences about your work, whether you are able to attend or not. I also submit a slide presentation with the print material. Visuals are just as important, but not to the point where they overshadow your real and important message.

http://www.cookingincrete.com/files/IFOAM_Final_Paper_PDF.pdf

For other presentations and links, see this link as well. It will always be a work in progress.

http://www.cookingincrete.com/About_Us-.html

All the best,

Nikki