Sustainable Tourism Leaders to Meet in Canada’s Vancouver in October
Leaders in sustainable tourism from across North America and beyond will be gathering in Vancouver, British Columbia, from October 27 to 29, 2008 at the Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference (ESTC 2008), The International Ecotourism Society (TIES).
Hosted by the British Columbia Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts and the Council of Tourism Associations of British Columbia, the conference will provide opportunities for business leaders, travel and tourism professionals and community members to gain knowledge of the latest trends in ecotourism and sustainable tourism, learn practical skills, and participate in invaluable networking and knowledge sharing.
The ESTC 2008 will be held at the legendary Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, and will also include pre-conference trips to both Whistler and Victoria, B.C.’s capital city.
“We are pleased to be hosting the Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference in 2008,”said Stan Hagen, B.C. Minister of Tourism, Sport and the Arts. “As a key economic driver for the province, tourism, and more importantly sustainable tourism, will play an influential role in how we reach our recently mandated goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 33 percent by 2020.”
This is the third conference by TIES focusing on sustainability in travel and tourism in North America. In 2005, TIES hosted the first Ecotourism in the U.S. Conference, which was followed by this year’s North American Ecotourism Conference (NAEC) in Madison, Wisconsin, which brought together sustainable tourism professionals and businesses from across the U.S. and Canada.
Through the development of these two historic conferences, TIES has witnessed significant growth of the sustainable tourism community in the U.S. and Canada.
Recognizing the importance of this movement for the region’s tourism industry as a whole, TIES is holding the ESTC yearly to expand the network of industry practitioners and experts and to encourage greater awareness and implementation of the principles of ecotourism and sustainability practices in the U.S. and Canada.
