What have accountability and cooperation got to do with sustainability and resilience in tourism? After 17 years of living and working in this beloved region, I am happy to share some experience to this and further questions in our panel at ITB Berlin. As background, welcome to read this interview by Sustainability Leaders United in 2019.
Amazing enough – the word “sustainability” was nowhere near popular in 1992, when I was for the first time in Berlin as a student; our meetings around “sanfter Tourismus” were held in some rather conspiratorial-feeling backyard flats, and information was shared on hand-copied flyers…(soon after, we joined the builders of the World Wide Web). However, not to forget: The earliest instance with the current connotations of sustainability was in The Limits to Growth in1972.
What has changed, are we any wiser and what will we all DO after the buzz and whirl of the fair and conference?
I´m looking forward to meeting many friends and colleagues to take further decisions and make them happen. Here a small selection and hints for what, when & where:
- Board Meeting of GEN – at an interesting location – 6th March
- “Sustainable Western Balkans – Balancing Promotion and Protection of Europe´s Rising Destinations” – 7th March
- Sustainability Certification for Tourism Businesses – SUSTOUR stage event & Travelife Award Ceremony – 7th March
- Co-moderating the exchange event, exclusively for the SUSTOUR participating SMEs from various European countries – 8th March
- …followed by this after-work meetup
- That keynote not to miss – “Tourism: Can we preserve the world while enjoying it?” – 9th March
- Basically, that whole day in this track – see you also in the Home of Business Travel.
- Responsible Tourism Networking – 9th March
Warm welcome to drop me message if you feel we should talk; I´ll be there the whole week and then, back to Montenegro – to soon run the Roadshow with #BalkanGreen colleagues across our successful pilot places of Green Destinations – and to continue work on solutions with my dear 5 mentoring villages of the UNWTO Best Tourism Villages Upgrade Programme.
