Often also used in conjunction with today's International Day of the World's Indigenous People, this is officially the logo of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFII), an advisory body with a mandate to discuss indigenous issues

When is International Day of the World’s Indigenous People? Today! Proclaimed by the United Nations, it’s a day  on which, as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said, to “celebrate and recognise the stories, cultures and unique identities of indigenous peoples around the world.”

This year the focus is on indigenous designs – celebrating stories and cultures, crafting our own future. According to the UN, it “highlights the need for preservation and revitalisation of indigenous cultures, including their art and intellectual property…. It is also a reminder of the responsibility of individuals as consumers, to understand that there is a story and a personal experience behind every piece of cloth, textile or artwork from an indigenous individual or community.”

In Support of Indigenous Culture

On this special day an in keeping with this year’s particular focus, The Travel Word is very proud to join the world in saluting the cultural roots from which we have all sprung, roots that remain robust but require our admiration, care and protection.

To this end, and given the broad reach of the WHL Group community, of which The Travel Word is a part, we have concentrated for the last two weeks on sharing word from the indigenous people and native communities in our network. Our posts have examined indigenous culture and travel as it relates to:

• an Aboriginal tour guide in Cooktown, Australia
• the indigenous shea-butter-producing communities on the fringe of Mole National Park in northern Ghana
• an arts and ethnography museum in Laos that provides important information about the country’s ethnic groups
• the indigenous Rungus tribes of northern Borneo, Malaysia
• the Tzotzil indigenous people of Chamula, Mexico
• the Maori on the North Island of New Zealand
• the Embera indigenous community of Panama
• the Sámi indigenous people of northern Scandinavia
• the Bassari villages of rural Senegal
• the hill tribes of northern Thailand
• in Vanuatu, a Yakel village on the island of Tanna and the Namba population of Malekula Island
• the aboriginal Pemon people of Canaima National Park in Venezuela

We also have older articles about indigenous culture that explore Bhutan, Colombia, Georgia, Malawi, Mexico, Pakistan and Peru.

Poster announcing Indigenous People's Week, August 8-12, 2011. By planeta.com

There’s More: Indigenous People’s Week

In extended appreciation of indigenous people, The Travel Word is also throwing its weight behind Indigenous People’s Week, which takes place from August 8 to 12, 2011.

According to Ron Mader of Planeta.com, one of the week’s co-organisers, Indigenous People’s Week is “an innovative and fun ‘unconference’ ” that calls for recommendations of educational and engaging videos, podcasts, websites and online resources as part of “a wonderful mixing of cultures – indigenous and non-indigenous – as well as cyber-savvy and friends who simply don’t want a smartphone. We don’t all have to do the same thing or have the same background to contribute to a win-win effort.”

Please start adding links or questions now to the Indigenous People’s Week event pages on Facebook and LinkedIn. When tweeting about this topic, please include the hashtags #indigenous and #ipw.

Billed as an unconventional, online unconference, it is a fun mash-up exploring down-to-earth applications of noble concepts including responsible tourism, the Local Travel Movement and ecotourism with practical and inexpensive Web 2.0 technologies. (Take a look at what was accomplished in 2010.)

“Simply put, this online event is an excellent way to broaden and deepen our dialogue about sustainable practice and tourism,” writes Ron Mader, Founder of Planeta and the driving force behind Responsible Tourism Week. “It encourages participants to articulate their core values and the way they put noble ideas into practice. We spotlight living, breathing examples of responsible tourism. RT Week provides an opportunity to introduce new events, tours and research projects as well as an opportunity to summarize recent events.”

“Frankly, I don’t think SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) enjoy a level playing field,” continued Mader, in a separate exchange about the role of Responsible Tourism week. “It’s difficult to find the mom-and-pop hotels and restaurants or individual guides on official tourism portals. These local players are infrequent attendees at the major trade shows. Yet the SMEs are the powerhouse of products and services espoused by local tourism movements. Are city and national governments responding to their voices? I rarely see this.” And so there is an alternative for them: Responsible Tourism Week.

Engracia Perez Castro, from Oaxaca, Mexico, has compiled an indigenous food book. Sadly, it is voices like hers that often go unheard in the debate about responsible travel. Photo courtesy of Flickr/planeta

Key Objectives

Responsible Tourism Week attempts to cover a lot of ground in a short time, but nevertheless has several key objectives.

Of special interest in 2011 is the role of responsible tourism in urban settings. “Only one city appears to take responsible travel seriously in its tourism promotion and that’s Cape Town, South Africa,” commented Mader. “It would be good to see how other cities are walking the talk of responsible travel.”

Another interest is to create incentives for continuity. The hope is that participants will share updates on recent tourism conferences and events, as well as previews of upcoming events that touch upon the core values of responsible tourism.

Next, “one of the understated components of Responsible Tourism Week is a focus on the five traditional senses,” commented Mader. “In the RT Week Slideshare presentation (see above) we ask participants to reflect on sensory-related verbs: listen, touch, see and smell, as well as drink and eat. If we wish to broaden the appeal for responsible travel, just as Len Cordiner called for in his presentation during the 2009 webinar, we ought to emphasize the sensual aspects of travel. If responsible tourism is real, we should be able to taste it!”

As an example of this, Mader reflected on how years ago in a conversation at a state tourism office, the officials ardently denied that there was any crossover between ‘adventure travel’ and ‘heritage and folk art travel.’ Curious to put that to a test, Mader asked Pedro Martinez, the founder of the oldest biking tour shop in Oaxaca (“and an incredible inspiration, who would later be awarded Planeta.com’s Colibri Ecotourism Award,” added Mader), who created the Si Mas Bicicletas Flickr Group.

Mader recently met with Pedro Martinez, owner of Bicicletas Pedro Martinez, at a local indigenous-owned and -run restaurant called Caldo de Piedra in Oaxaca, Mexico, and enjoyed a millennial dish called 'Stone Soup.' Photo courtesy of Flickr/planeta

“The answer Pedro gave then has not changed,” said Mader. “Many visitors who want to explore Oaxaca on clean energy, like two-wheeled transportation, also are keen on local food and crafts. It’s not just the visitors; Pedro doesn’t just walk the talk, he rides and eats it.

A final powerful thread tying together all aspects of Responsible Tourism Week is that it’s a great opportunity to learn about new initiatives and an even better venue for networking – collaborating with old friends and colleagues and making new contacts.

The Unconference Challenge

The response to the 2009 and 2010 Responsible Tourism Weeks was, according to Mader “a mixture of Web-nerd delight and old-fogey consternation.” Online dialogues are invariably a bit of a challenge to tourism professionals used to face-to-face discussions and a fixed program.

While most of Responsible Tourism Week activity occurs online, local face-to-face get-togethers are encouraged, like this cheese and mescal tasting at the Casa Bugambilias in Oaxaca, Mexico. Photo courtesy of Flickr/planeta

“The format of RT Week is different: there is no agenda,” said Mader. “This is an unconference. Yes, there are suggested focal points, but no specific timeline of what happens when. Participants set the agenda and interact with each other during the week. If there is face-to-face communication online it will be through recorded skype chats (or similar). Instead of a single information centre, we invite participants to use a bevy of Web 2.0 channels including blogs, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube and Wikis.”

The genuine hope is to see some excellent case studies of responsible tourism, but “Responsible Tourism Week’s success lies in how well we motivate participants to write their own essays, take their own photos, shoot their own videos and share them with the world,” concluded Mader. “I believe we are ready for a broad, deep, healthy discussion and to paraphrase Transitions Abroad, it’s all about how to make travel better for a better world.”

Foamboards are another non-digital way of sharing news about Responsible Tourism Week and local responsible tourism practices. Photo courtesy of Flickr/planeta

How to Participate

The event is free, but contributions are essential. Start now by preparing the messages and stories you’d like to share starting on the 14th. Particular emphasis will be given to
* photos on Flickr
* introductions and posts on the event’s Facebook and LinkedIn pages
* tweets on Twitter – follow the #rtweek2011 hashtag
* videos on YouTube
* recommended blogs and wikis.

For anyone overwhelmed by how high-tech it all sounds, there are still good old fashioned efforts, including foamboards and social events like green drinks and photosafaris.

“The European Ecotourism Conference brings together great experts and speakers on different aspects of ecotourism, including certification, web-marketing, climate change, innovative product development and green travel,” commented Aivar Ruukel, representing the Estonian Ecotourism Association, one of the event organisers, along with The International Ecotourism Society and the Pärnu Convention Bureau, with support from the Estonian Tourist Board, Estonian University of Life Sciences and Estonian Ecotourism Cluster.

“While there will be great presentations to listen to,” continued Ruukel, “the conference will also give EVERY participant a voice to give voice to his/her hottest topic and discuss it with like-minded colleagues through Open Space and World Cafe workshops.”

Following two days of pre-conference ecotourism experiences, discussions over two days will cover multiple themes from the global perspective on ecotourism in Europe and green travel marketing to biodiversity conservation, community-based initiatives, certification programs and new communications innovations that help spread the word. Considerable time has been made available for open-forum discussions during which all participants are free to interact.

WHL Group Represented

The WHL Group will be represented, among others, by Luke H. Ford, CEO of Gunyah, who is also on the event’s advisory committee. Ford will speak on Tuesday 28 September at 2:30pm about the momentum growing behind the notion of local travel, as exemplified by WHL Group companies and the Local Travel Movement.

“We as a group have realised that a traveller’s experience (for the most part) isn’t just about the bed he or she is booking; it’s all about the things around the hotel – the meals, the transport, the conversations with the locals, the chance to experience everyday life as it should be in the destination, the local travel experience,” shared Ford. “We are bringing the responsible and local tourism concept to the mass market.”

A Wide Circle of Participation

Other presentations by WHL Group friends and partners include “How to Market to Green Traveller?” by Richard Hammond, the “Parks Tourism Model as a tool to protect Europe’s Wilderness” by a representative from the PAN Parks Foundation and “How to integrate Web 2.0 tools in promoting Ecotourism” by Ron Mader of Planeta.com, who has issued a call for photos of ecotourism and responsible travel in Europe.

“We would like to see photos of national parks, city parks, recycling, environmental education, good signage, local wildlife and quality guiding in Europe,” said Ron Mader. “Ecotourism Europe is a great ‘show and tell’ that connects visitors and locals.”

For anyone unable to attend, but interested in both the topic and what will be shared at the conference, there are several online platforms for discussions, images and reactions. These include LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube and Facebook.

In addition, in anticipation of the conference, a free Ecotourism in Europe webinar has been planned for Thursday 23 September from 1-2pm GMT with Ruukel as lead speaker and other guests including Zoltan Kun (Executive Director of PAN Parks) and Ben Colclough (Co-founder of Tourdust.com).

“For me the success of conference can be only measured by the satisfaction of participants,” concluded Ruukel. “I hope that the methods that we chose and the way we have organised this event will help to achieve it.”

As one of the initiators of the Local Travel Movement, Gelber shared his thoughts about it and how it helps rally anyone interested in fostering the idea of ‘local travel’ as a means of helping travellers engage with the planet in a more meaningful way – one that enhances their travel experiences and provides substantial benefits to the locals welcoming travellers to their destinations.

The WHL Group, the world’s largest local-travel company, incorporates these ideas into its business model: the network helps travelers escape the constraints mainstream tourism by connecting them with responsible local travel experts.

“We want to encourage people to be more mindful of, for example, people local to destinations in which they travel, to the environment local to destinations in which they travel, to the culture that gives so much meaning to the destinations they travel to and of course to the economies in which they travel and where they spend their money,” Gelber explains. Here is the full interview:

This online get-together was in anticipation of two real-world workshops scheduled in conjunction with The International Ecotourism Society’s (TIES) upcoming Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism Conference (ESTC).

A “Global Perspective Workshop” on Biodiversity and Our Lives is slated for Wednesday, September 8th, 2010, from 12:30-2:00pm at Hilton Portland (Galleria South). The event will celebrate the roles of biodiversity in our lives during 2010, a year which the United Nations has dubbed the International Year of Biodiversity. The free workshop is open to the public and will highlight important initiatives of wildlife conservation and environmental education.

A separate one-day ‘Biodiversity Workshop’ highlighting New Information and Web-based Technologies takes place September 11 from 9am-5pm at the Hilton Portland, Cabinet Suite. Facilitated by Ron Mader, the workshop will help participants gain hands-on experience in using Web 2.0 channels for immediate and inexpensive communication for small- and medium-sized operators in the markets of ecotourism, indigenous tourism, responsible tourism and the growing Local Travel Movement.

Created first in 2009 when the Belize Responsible Tourism Conference was cancelled due to the swine flu outbreak, RT Week, scheduled just a few weeks before World Environment Day, is “a free demonstration of Web 2.0 as a means of documenting the challenges of developing (and maintaining!) responsible tourism.”

While it takes place online and uses the latest Web-based information-sharing tools as the medium of exchange – participants will use Delicious, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube and Slideshare to document their practices – the news transmitted will always be about down-to-earth good tourism reported from around the world.

Shout the Good

Although the primary objective is of course to encourage the practice of responsible tourism and then broadcast word of it to as broad a community (online and off) as possible, another key outcome is the creation of incentives for continuity between tourism conferences, especially those that address responsible tourism issues and practices. RT Week is a perfect opportunity to share updates on recent events and cultivate interest for future ones, as well as renew and strengthen collaborative bonds within the industry… and create new ones.

In other words, this is the week where you get to shout out to the world the good things you see around you, so be honest and be public. Support a local event. Create a local event. Lead the way or follow the topics for which you have a passion. Talk food, volunteering, slow travel, local travel – and create a foamboard to help get your message across!

Some RT Week Tips

• Walk the talk – Practice responsible tourism wherever you are.
• Be generous – Compliment someone via twitter, fave a photo or write a testimonial on Flickr, give a thumbs up to a video on YouTube.
• Play nice – Enough said.
• Be creative – Can you make your own poster or graphic for RT Week 2010?
• Have your say – What is responsible tourism? Please take a moment to answer the responsible tourism survey.
• Show your twitter savvy – Use the hashtag: #rtweek2010 on any relevant tweets.
• Have fun! Organize a marshmallow challenge to test your creative muscle!

According to Ron Mader, founder of Planeta.com and organiser of the event, responsible tourism is treating others the way they wish to be treated. The Responsible Tourism Fair therefore responds to the “growing number of travellers [who] want their journeys to be less invasive and more beneficial to the local community,” he said. “They want to better understand the culture of the people they meet in the places they visit. Those who enjoy a trip will look back fondly on it for the rest of their lives.”

In keeping with this ethic, the Oaxaca fair returns for its 10th year with a full program of popular activities like treasure hunts, culinary tours and food tastings. For envious would-be participants who can’t make the trip all the way to Mexico, the fair’s organisers also tap into the popularity of the latest online social media tools to extend its reach worldwide.

All’s Fair in Oaxaca

“This year’s event expanded on what we’ve learned the past few years,” said Mader. Originally launched in 2001 as a lively and engaging way of connecting locals and visitors, the Oaxaca fair today still remains true to its core attention to local flair.

“Since 2006 things have been chaotic for Oaxaca businesses, so the fair serves as a way to learn what’s open,” Mader said. “The event itself has been created on a shoestring budget and in these times of financial belt-tightening, it’s a great example of how friends can collaborate and organise events with a minimal budget. Frugal can be fun.”

Notably, the fair has evolved from a one-day market to a dozen or so micro-events held in multiple locations in Oaxaca City and surrounding towns over a period of two weeks, a quality also very much in keeping with its celebration of slow travel.

Visitors can choose weaver-guided walks in Teotitlán del Valle, morning photo safaris in public parks and feasts of famous authentic local specialties like Caldo de Piedra (a Chinanteco dish), Maatsy (of Mixe make) and Zapotec-style tamales. Self-guided treasure hunts bring independent-minded foodies face to face with local cheeses, chocolates and mezcal.

Taking Local Global

Although the emphasis on local is paramount, the Responsible Tourism Fair uses modern technology and Web 2.0 communication tools to bring the fair to the world and the world to the fair. “The Web provides the most affordable way for locals to share what’s available and what’s new with potential visitors. We’re showing the resources for independent travel so that others can follow the footsteps,” Mader said.

As a primary means of integrating Web 2.0 capabilities, the Oaxaca fair can be followed via Facebook, Flickr, Twitter (use #rtf2010) and YouTube. “Photographers are invited to share photos in relevant Flickr Groups with prizes to be awarded at the end of the fair,” reported Mader, and “our responsible tourism buddies [are invited] to create your own event during this time and share the news via Web 2.0. Show us what ‘responsible tourism’ looks like in your corner of the world!”

In addition, many of the local artists, craftspeople and tour providers have developed their own websites and online photo galleries.

For a full and updated festival program, see the Responsible Tourism Fair page.

For further information and links, visit the updated Oaxaca travel guides on Planeta.com or the Oaxaca Wikispace, which, in addition to directories of artisans, features dictionaries of local indigenous languages (Mixe, Mixtec, Zapotec).

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On Thursday 4 June, four leading global advocates of responsible tourism spoke and listened at a free public webinar (Web-based seminar) about the present and future of their fast-expanding industry. It was the first in a series of regular online gatherings that will tackle the crosscutting issues and universal appeal of responsible tourism as it applies to a broad range of constituencies in all sectors. Beginning at the next session, local advocates and practitioners of travel and tourism who share a belief in a responsible way forward will be invited to share their thoughts and respond to listener questions.

Cosponsored by Your Safe Planet, Make Travel Fair and whl.travel, with the vital participation of Planeta, the webinar series was initiated to capture and add energy to the momentum from Responsible Tourism Week 2009 – an online discussion launched by Planeta and held the week of May 18-22 that focussed on responsible tourism around the world.

Featured Speakers

At this first webinar, Ron Mader, Founder of Planeta, dicussed how social media can engage the global community in responsible tourism, especially communications tools like Twitter.

Len Cordiner, CEO of whl.travel, looked at how we should to change our approach to responsible tourism. He voiced particular concern that responsible tourism is basically the industry talking to itself, that that main stakeholders – people like travellers and even accommodation/tour providers themselves – have been left out of the equation.

Valere Tjolle, Editor of VISON on Sustainable Tourism examined what else should change, in particular the need to have a political background to tourism and the sustainability agenda. “It’s not about telling travellers how good we are,” he said, “it’s about telling travellers what we can do for them and I think that’s where we’ve missed a trick sometimes in responsible tourism.”

Lessons Learned

All in all, as identified by Mader, “One of the common threads in the discussion was the disconnect between top-down and bottom-up strategies. … This type of silo thinking is a primary obstacle for engaging the travellers and locals. My question – are there ways to connect the dots, bring the ‘experts’ and the ‘clients’ together? … Most donors, academics, officials don’t want to participate in public events. Reflecting on this, it seems to be a matter of control. The experts don’t want to give it up! But if we manage to view responsible tourism in a more holistic manner, then giving up control generates strength. It’s a matter of looking at one another at team players, not as competitors.”

Stephen Chapman, Founder of Make Travel Fair, agreed: “The desire to retain control of a movement and knowledge is a real inhibitor to any sort of progress. This is why diverse groups coming together through these webinars, beginning to exchange ideas and thinking is so crucial.”

Next Session

Doing just what it should – using new media to reach out to new stakeholders and new markets – the webinar series next brings together speakers from Wanderlust magazine, Lonely Planet and Bradt Guides to discuss responsible tourism in publishing. Scheduled for 18 June at 1pm GMT, please register to join us at the next session.

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To listen to and share the proceedings of the completed webinar, a full recording, a chat transcript and written summary are all available online.

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After your listen, please share with us:

•    your thoughts (constructive and deconstructuve)

•    the topics/themes you would like us to address in coming sessions

•    the names and/or qualifications of guest presenters you would like us to invite to coming sessions.

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The hosting sextet began discussing and illustrating some of the thoughts and ideas propounded during Responsible Tourism Week 2009 – an online discussion held the week of May 18-22 that focussed on responsible tourism around the world. Using examples pulled from their extensive store of experiences or promoted through their organisations, the speakers’ primary objective was to demonstrate the universal appeal of responsible tourism to a broad range of constituencies in all sectors.

If you wish to listen to and then share the proceedings of this completed webinar, a full recording, a chat transcript and written summary are all available online.

After your listen, please share with us:

• your thoughts (constructive and deconstructuve) about this first webinar
• the topics/themes you would like us to address in coming sessions
• the names and/or kinds of qualifications of guest presenters you would like us to invite to coming sessions.

We hope to see you at our next webinar: 1pm GMT on 18 June. Mark it in your calendars and share the news with others.

The six featured presenters on 4 June were:

HOSTS
* Sally Broom, CEO of Your Safe Planet & Fringe Network
* Stephen Chapman, Founder of Make Travel Fair

SPEAKERS
* Len Cordiner, CEO of whl.travel
* Ron Mader, Founder of Planeta
* Kenrick Theus, Director of the International Centre for Responsible Tourism-Belize
* Valere Tjolle, Editor of Vision on Sustainable Tourism for TravelMole.

Brief biographies of the speakers can be found below.

For more information, contact:
* Shaun Gilchrist, Chief Operations Officer, whl.travel, +61 431 020 173; shaun@whl.travel
* Ethan Gelber, Media Liaison, whl.travel, ethan@whl.travel

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SALLY BROOM – CEO, Your Safe Planet & Fringe Network
Sally Broom is founder of the unique travel website YourSafePlanet.com, the global network of trusted local experts. YSP connects travellers with experts at the grassroots who advise on trip planning using their up-to-date local knowledge. The goal of YSP is support slower and more rewarding travel.

‘Fringe’ network was a name given by media to a group of grassroots tourism organisations and individuals who feel that there is an opportunity to collaborate with more people on the important issues around local tourism, sustainable travel etc. What started as nothing more than a few drinks between friends around WTM has developed into a global network of hundreds of members. Their simple aims are to bring attention and energy to grassroots projects and, through collaboration, facilitate more local/sustainable travel.

STEPHEN CHAPMAN – Founder, Make Travel Fair
Stephen Chapman has travelled extensively and spent time living in both Australia and USA. After graduating from Edinburgh University in 2005 he spent a short period working offshore as a geologist in the oil & gas industry before changing direction completely to follow his passion for travel and established Make Travel Fair. The website won a TravelMole Web Award in its first year for ‘Best Online Education Site’, and more recently he was selected as ‘One-to-Watch’ in Travel & Leisure as part of The Courvoisier Future 500. This year he began working as part of the whl.travel team.

LEN CORDINER – CEO of whl.travel
In incubating and running numerous companies over 35 years in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and Oceania, Len Cordiner has developed a passion for win-win outcomes. He was active early in the move to triple-bottom-line reporting and the development of certification programmes for the environment and sustainable travel. More recently, he has made harnessing the power of the Internet and new communications tools central to his mission to change paradigms in travel, making it more accessible to all. In this vein, founding whl.travel is Len’s latest and most ambitious global business initiative.

whl.travel is a global grassroots network of travel websites catering to independent travelers journeying off the beaten track and tired of the limited travel options offered by most online service providers. whl.travel emphasises responsible travel and keeping things local by focusing on smaller hotels, guesthouses and tour operators, particularly, but not exclusively, in developing countries where it can really make a difference. As of late May, whl.travel spans 170 destinations in 76 countries, with further expansion into more than 100 destinations (including 23 new countries) in the next six months.

RON MADER – Founder, Planeta
Ron Mader is a professional journalist and the founder of Planeta.com, the web’s first site dedicated to ecotourism. Ron’s work catalyzes action and conservation about environmental conservation, responsible travel and peacemaking. Ron’s work includes facilitating online and natural-world seminars and workshops, the most popular of which is the Web Seminar that shows professionals how to make effective use of Planeta.com and improve their own web presence.

Planeta.com has won many awards, including recognition from the Mexican government for exemplary coverage of Mexico. Presidents Fox and Zedillo presented Ron with the Lente de Plata Award in 1999 and 2002. Outside magazine called Planeta.com, the virtual vanguard. Ron is also the ecotourism and Latin America contributing editor for the U.S. magazine Transitions Abroad.

KENRICK THEUS – Director, International Centre for Responsible Tourism-Belize
Kenrick Theus, a native of Belize, has worked in the hospitality industry for the past 18 years as an operations manager, chef, food and beverage manager, general manager and trainer. He is presently employed as the Food and Beverage Management Lecturer at the University of Belize for the Bachelor Degree Students. In April 2008, he joined Mr. Yashin Dujon, Technical Officer in the Ministry of Tourism in Belize, and started the International Centre for Responsible Tourism-Belize (ICRT-Belize). They are both presently working at getting International certification bodies for hotels into the country such as Green Globe and Green Deal by the end of 2009. Mr. Theus has been President of the Belize Hotel Association since 2007 and currently serves as a Director on the   Board of Directors of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association.

VALERE TJOLLE – Editor, Vision on Sustainable Tourism, TravelMole
TravelMole is the most highly acclaimed and largest global online community for the travel and tourism industry with over 450,000 registered newswire subscribers – travel and tourism professionals worldwide.