Meaningful dialogues with inspiring eco practitioners & academics!
NB. Most recent interviews appear first. Would you like to be interviewed or nominate someone? Contact us!
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![]() “We wanted something different from a run-of-the-mill or traditional building...we wanted to make a minimum impact on the environment and to create a more sustainable lifestyle, a business that would be small enough to be run entirely by two people but big enough to be able to live a simple life but a good life” |
![]() “A true Ecolodge is a business that puts environmental values into practice on various levels and at the same time allows its owners to make a reasonable living.” |
![]() "Tourism can either be something that is "done" to a destination by outside forces – a colonial and extractive industry. Or it can be something driven by the destination: stimulating investment, entrepreneurship and small business development" |
![]() "Tourism can be a door opener and can help to break down prejudices. The boycotting of certain destinations will harm the affected people living in the destinations. We believe in dialogue instead." |
![]() "...there is so much focus at the moment on the environmental aspects of sustainability, whereby the rest seems to be forgotten" |
![]() "Tourism industry, in every community, will always gather promoters and opponents. It is very important to understand the reasons that move some people to refuse tourism, clarify misunderstandings and plan how to include them into the destination." |
![]() "Guidelines need to be specific and adapted not only to cetaceans but also to specific species and/or areas. A fin whale will not react the same way to a boat as a group of pilot whales or a Ganges river dolphin...The more precise a guideline is, the better." |
![]() "When we initially talk to small accommodation owners about incorporating environmental and also universal access standards, they usually agree conceptually but also tend to get nervous...So we explain that most of the measures can actually help them save money and that we’ll support them....the vast majority of small accommodations end up embracing the sustainability standards." |
![]() "The number one step to work with small and micro-entrepreneurs is demystifying what sustainability is all about, try to avoid complicated lexicon and words that only technical people can understand, and boil down best practices to common sense" |
![]() "The average Egyptian measures the health of the tourism sector by the numbers announced about tourists’ arrivals. While the link between these numbers and the well-being of the sector is there, this indicator needs to be further developed to include the economic, environmental and social impacts in order for it to properly address the true impact on the country" |
![]() "At present, Sri Lanka Tourism is going after ‘Volume’ rather than ‘Value’; they are only interested in the ‘Headcount’. In the process, the Authorities have entirely forgotten projects and programmes on sustainable tourism and ecotourism" |
![]() "Most travel writing is really just PR... If a tourism board flies a newspaper journalist out to a destination, puts them up in a couple of hotels, shows them the sights, they expect a favourable piece in return." |
![]() "I believe social innovation is the most promising element in ecotourism and sustainable tourism management" |
![]() "We need public involvement to sustain a destination forever. If it is only an agreement between private sides it will not succeed." |
![]() "What communities need is a good quality of life and usually, this involves small projects" |
![]() "We have seen places where enforcement seems to be working fairly well, such as in Belize and parts of Costa Rica, and other places where there doesn’t seem to be any enforcement like in Nicaragua especially" |
![]() "The real change in the next years regarding tourism sustainability is going to happen at the destination level." |
![]() "Certification is required to ensure that greenwashing does not occur and Tour Operators like ourselves are held accountable to processes and procedures" |
![]() "...Tourist flows lead to the successful renewal of ties among countries that emerged from the former Yugoslavia..." |
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![]() "Development agencies do tend to be quite defensive in terms of post project evaluations at present in my experience, and few agencies widely publish or publicise evaluations. This means that negative evaluations are rare, although intervention failures can be many" |
![]() "To go fast we walk alone, but to go far, we walk together!" |
![]() "What matters most in learning are people" |
![]() "Voluntourism, if managed correctly, can be a very good way to fund genuine projects." |
![]() "Little steps can be made to lead us together into a happier and more sustainable world" |
![]() "Ecotourism can open the door to a genuine contact with locals and their culture, which is practically impossible in a more conventional touristic package" |
![]() "I personally do not think that you can have sustainability without equality" |
![]() "The economic crisis has been the perfect time to improve the economic results of big businesses on the backs of salaries and working conditions of workers. This cannot be sustainable tourism" |
![]() "My key message to those developing community-based sustainable tourism enterprises anywhere is to maintain strong focus on tourist demand" |
![]() "I often think of Belize as, as much of a rainbow nation as one is likely to find!" |
![]() "Vet, vet and vet again. Tour companies need to vet any and all organisations they work with or support with tourist dollars. Tourists need to vet tour companies they use. Ask tough questions. Ask for references!" |
![]() "Each community requires a customised approach if is to be successful ....a cookie-cutter approach just won't do!" |
![]() "....international development is increasingly being used as an investment tool by donor countries' governments and is implemented in exchange for favourable deals" |
![]() "Tourism planning cannot be left to the industry to decide, it is sad even to consider such a move. " |
![]() "Walking separately and often kept apart, trekkers would have no idea of.... just how ill they might be when paid off if unable to carry further." |
![]() "I think there needs to be a paradigm shift ...to a view of tourism as a social force that can bring radical transformation of things" |
![]() "In my view, the ‘emotional’, ‘romantic’, ‘idealistic’ aspects are crucial. However, if they are not combined with pragmatic economic/commercial viability, they remain just that." |
![]() "...people today seem to want instant answers, I find that when I get in the car to go call them, they have already booked elsewhere..." |
![]() "It is fair to say that travel book publishers are having a tough time at the moment and in some quarters people are raising the spectre of 'the death of the guidebook'. I think it is far too soon to predict that..." |
![]() "We should not be housing the increasing numbers of environmental refugees in what are essentially boy scout tents when we could make portable homes from recycled materials that could be moved from one disaster area to the next" |
![]() "For years we have talked about when ecolabelling reaches the economies of scale to make a difference, but it has not. The business models for current certification programmes do not add up because the costs of continuously being assessed outweigh the benefits of membership - therefore requiring very low prices or subsidies" |
![]() "...we can clearly see the economic benefits that tourism has brought to the local community thus reducing activities like poaching and logging plus giving a prospect for some community members to create micro businesses..." |
![]() "Tourism must be founded upon a respect for fundamental human rights, sustainability, equity and social justice" |
![]() "I think we are long past the days of colonialism and many tourism-related entities are owned and well-managed by locals." |
![]() "Social tourism, if it is done well, is certainly socially progressive...On the other hand, the term 'social tourism' is sometimes used too liberally, to justify initiatives that are mainly concerned with the profits and employment levels in the tourism industry" |
![]() "Workers cooperatives and alternative models are a part of the diverse options we need to create better and more sustainable futures." |
![]() "Trouble is so many institutions from the World Tourism Organization down have adopted neoliberal positions and policies without even adequate considering what their implications might be at various levels, including knowledge generation and diffusion." |
![]() ...our tour model is quite radical / non-hierarchical, the [homeless] guides take most of the money, as opposed to the coordinators/directors taking a salary, and our tours reveal some fairly controversial elements of city life that could go against the grain... |
![]() "Tourism was never allowed to play its role in this region" |
![]() "Unfortunately, for a majority of destinations, environmental, human rights and other social considerations are an afterthought. They may even have it on paper, but they do not put those policies into practice." |
![]() "The 2008 financial crisis and ensuing sovereign debt crisis, which has engulfed leading tourism economies such as Spain, Portugal and of course Greece, demonstrates both the precariousness of an economic model built on the shifting sands of speculative real estate and tourism industries, as well as the degree to which different economies have become enmeshed within increasingly integrated circuits of capital worldwide." |
![]() "Community ownership, control and democratic decision-making are extremely important in my view. On the other hand, the private sector is equipped with the knowledge, resources and network to market the communities". |
![]() "I'd like to see a broader approach to tourism development in Laos that can involve anything from handicraft development, more sophisticated cultural interpretation, environmental initiatives in urban areas, to more creative restaurants and accommodation enterprises". |
![]() "...sometimes 'green NGOs' endorse corporate behaviour which should be opposed but generally I don't think that's the major problem. I think a bigger problem is poor campaign design and management which means most NGO campaigns are unlikely to succeed, and governments failing to regulate to protect public goods and the public interest" |
![]() "Given that aid funded projects are conceived of and implemented by western entities, the pro-market point of view generally is inherent in them. My point of view is that the projects must be market responsive" |
![]() "I think we'll see the emergence of many thousands of relocalized manufacturing economies that will weather the coming collapse of the old mass production economies and centralised states, much like the rural villas became the building blocks of a new society after the fall of the Western Roman Empire." |
![]() "I've never been interested in politics. The whole government looks like a Dr Seuss invention to me: way more parts than necessary to achieve such a lacklustre product. " |
![]() "Survival is calling for tourists to boycott Botswana due to the Botswana government's persistent failure to respect the rights of the Bushmen of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve." |
![]() "Those of us who are privileged to travel in the world should use these opportunities to make and maintain person to person connections with people and organisations in host countries in order to spread information and create links of solidarity." |
![]() "I would suggest that we have as many national governments as possible fully realise the power (and do something about it) of sustainable tourism to contribute to peace, harmony, respect and tolerance between people and for their own national economic, environmental and social/cultural objectives." |
![]() "All strong - successful social movements have been developed from civil, strongly motivated, visionary people's intentions, activities and devotion. When money and funding start to be the dominating-motivating prior tool - there starts the problem." |
![]() "Greek tourism should move from central administration models to local or regional decentralised administration systems & policies" |
![]() "The French government has been very disappointing ... To put it simply, there are very few specific government policies on tourism and the environment " |
![]() "Ecotourism would be ideal for job generation under a Green New Deal." |
![]() "The region, which was once overshadowed by conflict, is now one of the most peaceful places in Ireland and eleven years on from the Belfast Agreement the destination is in an ideal position to welcome tourists to visit " |
![]() "The fundamental problem with tourism today is that it transforms communities and important natural areas toward serving the desires and perceived needs of more affluent people who come to visit from other parts of the world " |
Older Ecoclub Interviews
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01/2009: Mr. Yannis Vardakastanis, Proprietor, Ionian Eco Villagers & Earth, Sea & Sky, Greece
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11/2008: Mr. Brian Mullis, Co-founder & President, Sustainable Travel International, United States
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09/2008: Dr. Graham Miller, Senior Lecturer, Surrey University, United Kingdom
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09/2008: Dr. Martha Honey, Co-Director, Center on Ecotourism & Sustainable Development, United States
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07/2008: Mr. Angus Begg, Photojournalist & Broadcaster, South Africa
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07/2008: Dr. Vic Nair, President, APacCHRIE, Malaysia
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05/2008: Prof. Kelly Bricker, Director, The International Ecotourism Society, United States
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05/2008: Mr. Babu Varghese, Director, Tourindia, Kerala, India
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03/2008: Mr. Shams Uddin, Manager, Chitral Association for Mountain Area Tourism, Pakistan
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03/2008: Prof. Habis Samawi, Jordan University, Jordan
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01/2008: Mr Aivar Ruukel, Chairman, Estonian Ecotourism Society, Estonia
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01/2008: Mr. Mart Reimann, Proprietor, Reimann Retked, Estonia
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11/2007: Mr. Gopinath Parayil, Founder, The Blue Yonder, Kerala, India
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11/2007: Dr. Rachel Dodds, Assistant Professor, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
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09/2007: Ms. Nikki Rose, Principal, Cooking in Crete, Greece
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09/2007: Mr. Costas Christ, Judging Chairman, Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, USA
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08/2007: Prof. Harold Goodwin, International Centre for Responsible Tourism, Leeds, UK
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08/2007: Ms. Stella Bell, Business Development Manager, Climate Care, UK
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06/2007: Ms. Carol Patterson, Principal, Kalahari Management, Canada
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05/2007: Mr. David Sollitt, The International Ecotourism Society, USA
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04/2007: Mr. Albert Teo, Director, Sukau Rainforest Lodge, Malaysia
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03/2007: Ms. Jane Crouch, Responsible Travel Manager, Intrepid Travel, AU
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01/2007: Prof. Harris Coccossis, Ministry of Tourism Development, Greece
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11/2006: Prof. Michael Romanos, University of Cincinatti, USA
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10/2006: Arq. Héctor Ceballos-Lascuráin, Mexico
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09/2006: Ms. Miriam Ross, Survival International, UK
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08/2006: Mr. Eugenio Yunis, United Nations World Tourism Organisation
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07/2006: Mr. Peter Raines MBE, Coral Cay Conservation, UK
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06/2006: Mr. Douglas Hainsworth, SNV, Vietnam
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05/2006: Prof. Jim Macbeth, Murdoch University, Australia
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04/2006: Ariane Janér, Brazil Sustainable Tourism Program
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02/2006: Prof. Trevor Sofield, University of Queensland, Australia
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01/2006: Potjana Suansri & Peter Richards, REST, Thailand
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12/2005: Agha Iqrar Haroon, President, Ecotourism Society Pakistan
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09/2005: Mr. Elliot Helman, San Francisco Green Hotel & Hospitality Initiative
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08/2005: Mr. Bodhi Garrett, North Andaman Tsunami Relief, Thailand
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07/2005: Mr. Jan Telensky, Environmental Industrialist, Czech Republic
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05/2005: Mr. Burkhard Herbote, WorldTourismDirectory.com, Germany
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04/2005: Prof. Sarah Graham Mann, Sustainable Tourism Awards 2005, USA
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03/2005: Mr. Sami Grover, Editor, Channel View Publications, UK
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02/2005: Mr. Bill Tuffin, The Boat Landing Guesthouse, Laos
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01/2005: Mr. Louis D'Amore, Founder & President, IIPT
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12/2004: Andres Hammerman & Michelle Kirby, Black Sheep Inn, Ecuador
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11/2004: Mr. Vassilis Kouroutos, MEDASSET
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10/2004: Prof. Ralf Buckley, Int. Cent. for Ecotourism Res, Griffith U, Australia
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09/2004: Prof. Kreg Lindberg, Oregon State University, USA
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08/2004: Mr. Todd Barber, Reef Ball Foundation, USA
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05/2004: Mr. Sotiris Kitrilakis, Zante Feast, Greece
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04/2004: Mr. Xavier Font, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK
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03/2004: Mr. Ben Box, Editor, Footprint South American Guide, UK
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02/2004: Ms. Cathy Parsons, Green Globe 21, Australia
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01/2004: Mr. Andrew Dean Nystrom, Guidebook writer, USA
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12/2003: 15 Ecolodge Owners report on 2003
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11/2003: Ms. Megan Epler Wood, Director, Epler Wood International, USA
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10/2003: Ms. Eleni Svoronou, WWF Greece
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09/2003: Sir Patrick Fairweather, Director, The Butrint Foundation, UK-Albania
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08/2003: Mr. Frans Stroebel, Director, Peace Parks Foundation
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07/2003: Mr. Zoltán Kun, Director, Pan Parks Foundation
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05/2003: Prof. Richard Welford, Env. Mgmt Centre, University of Hong Kong
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04/2003: Mr. Edward Cameron, EU Commission Env. Governance Initiative
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03/2003: Glenn & Trish Warner, Proprietors, Bathurst Inlet Lodge, Canada
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02/2003: Prof. Aimilia Drougas, Director, Arion & Delphis, Greece
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01/2003: Mr. Jeremy Garrett, Director, NaTour Communications, USA
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10/2002: Mr. Chandra De Silva, Director, Ecotourism Society of Sri Lanka
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08/2002: Ms. Pam A. Wight, Principal, Pam Wight & Associates, Canada
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07/2002: Mr. Vinzenz A. Schmack, Proprietor, La Laguna del Lagarto, Costa Rica
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06/2002: Mr. Artemios Hatziathanassiou, CRES, Greece
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05/2002: Dr. Stefanos Fotiou, EKBY, Greece
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02/2002: Mr. Ron Mader, Editor, Planeta.com, Mexico