What would Responsible Cruising look like? What would be the characteristics of a Responsible Cruise?

Cruising is growing rapidly driven on by technological advances, the attractiveness of the moving, multi-activity, all inclusive, floating resort and the luxury, perceived safety and isolation of the cruise experience.  (more…)

We have so many conferences, why organise another one?

Well, because this range of speakers has not been brought together in a single event before in the UK, providing new cases and viewpoints. Here are some highlights to tempt you to download the slides and audio files- available in this blog next week.

There were two big picture presentations. The International Trade Centre spoke of how they strengthen local supply chains through market-led approaches to integrate communities and small firms in the value chain. Responsibletravel.com spoke about radical changes needed to scale up pro-poor tourism in the wake of Copenhagen, explaining how branding and consumer engagement of the environment and pro-poor tourism both have failed to engage because they don’t focus on putting the customer at the centre of the experience and where money can be made. (more…)

How does a destination use wisely its cultural resources for economic development?

ICRT runs a variety of tailor made courses to support destination management organisations to plan appropriate forms of tourism development, ranging from the management of built heritage such as historic cities and monuments to using tourism as a social development tool.

Our next course in Leeds is 26-28 February, and we can provide tailor made courses in your destination.

Xavier

ICRT provides tailor made training courses for companies and destinations on how to implement responsible tourism practices.

We use practical action planning methodologies to make the outcomes of training meaningful and to promote implementation. We have run these courses worldwide with a variety of clients and funding bodies.

Three of our staff run courses for the UNWTO and we take assignments from a variety of companies and funding bodies- email us to find out how we can work in your region, or which courses we have available near you that you can join

Xavier

23-24th January 2010- similar dates 2011, Leeds

This course helps you design your tourism product to attract customers, plan your impacts at the time of building and refurbishment, reduce operational costs in the daily management of your business, learn how your staff can be your greatest environmental asset.

The course covers the key environmental main impacts and the most recent applications of management solutions in the hospitality industry, focusing on energy management, water management, waste management, green procurement, environmental management systems, auditing and evaluation and environmental action planning within your business.

You get two days of training and our 160 page “how to” manual.

Email me to get a brochure of the course and prices.

About the trainers

Dr Paulina Bohdanowicz has a PhD in Sustainable Energy Engineering as well as in Social Sciences. She has worked in the hospitality industry since 2005, and published extensively. Initially she was the coordinator of environmental reporting and monitoring system at Scandic and currently she holds the position of Sustainability Manager for Hilton in Europe, and Visiting Fellow at the ICRT.

Dr Rebecca Hawkins has been involved in many of the projects that have formed the sustainable tourism debate, including: the development of a set of supplier guidelines for responsible tourism for the Federation of Tour Operators, the management and development of an association to provide the UK’s leading hotels with sustainable development advice (the Considerate Hoteliers Association), the development of a voluntary energy efficiency agreement between Government and the hospitality sector, the development of an on-line sustainability benchmarking tool for hotels; a major review of tourism ecolabelling programmes, development of proposals for national sustainable tourism certification programmes, helping to define the components of a sustainable society and drafting the UK Government consultation documents on sustainable tourism. Rebecca is a Visiting Professor at ICRT.

Xavier

What is green marketing and what greenwashing? How do you maximise the commercial opportunities out of the interest in sustainable tourism, without compromising your ethics?

This course teaches marketing to responsible entrepreneurs, and also how to genuinely change products to be responsible. Our intensive course and distance learning manual help you answer these questions. Our work with industry, associations and destinations looks at:

- how can all types of tourism companies develop more sustainable products as market opportunities

- how can firms use their responsible tourism practices for marketing advantages

Our intensive teaching is collaborative and participative. We have between 12 and 20 participants to have meaningful discussions and reflection. You aren’t talked at, the aim here is to develop a shared understanding that leads to change in practice. The quality of participants usually means collaborative learning continues well beyond the schedule- both during the teaching and well beyond our meeting in Leeds!

The printed learning manual is thorough, up to date and relevant. This is not the result of cutting and pasting definitions and old case studies from other books. We include here the contents page so you get a sense of what is covered and how much space we dedicate to each point.

The course is open to professionals either as part of our MSc responsible tourism management, or as a single intensive course.

To find out more about prices and what you can expect email us at x.font@leedsmet.ac.uk

Xavier