LATA Sustainable Travel Webinar Programme

The LATA Sustainability Programme – Success So Far

12th September 2023

The LATA Sustainability Programme launched in November 2022 with the LATA Strategic Sustainability Training in partnership with the Long Run – Preferred by Nature. A three month online course that enables travel businesses to create a sustainability strategy and embed it in the day to day running of their business. So far 29 members have completed the course and many more are scheduled to participate in the coming months.

The feedback from the course has been overwhelmingly positive. We will be joined by The Long Run and members who have completed the course to discuss the success of the programme and how they have implemented their learning into their businesses.

We will also discuss how this growing group of like-minded peers will use the LATA Sustainable Travel Network to future enhance their sustainability journey going forward.

SPEAKERS:

Anne-Kathrin Zschiegner - The Long Run

Anne supports the members of The Long Run on their journey towards continuous improvement through on-site and remote tailor-made technical assistance; co-leads the creation, development and management of tools to increase accessibility of knowledge and expertise about sustainable management practices and leads on the creation and implementation of monitoring and evaluation systems to assess progress, effectiveness and impact of projects and activities for greater sustainability. In her initial role at The Long Run, she also led on the overall coordination, management and engagement of over 100 members and destinations globally, was responsible for developing, maintaining and enhancing the organisation’s services and programmes in line its strategic goals and cutting-edge sustainability thinking and provided guidance and strategic input in the development and refinement of the Global Ecosphere Retreats standard and certification system for tourism related businesses globally.

Jascivan Carvalho - Tropic DMC

Jasci has pioneered socially and environmentally responsible tourism, developed tourism enterprises in remote areas of the Amazon rainforest and Community-Based Tourism programmes throughout the Galapagos Islands and in the high Andes of Ecuador most recently with Chilcabamba Mountain Lodge as well as taking Tropic into Peru and Chile.

Joe Johnson - Sunvil

Joe has visited 53 countries (and counting), including Argentina, Chile and Costa Rica, and he loves nothing more than discovering the unknown and trying new experiences.

Not one for a straightforward beach holiday his main passion whilst abroad is scuba diving but any adventure activity or getting out into the great outdoors is what truly appeals to him.

Paul Cripps - Amazonas Explorer

A graduate of South American Studies, Paul first travelled to Peru in 1988 on a university grant. Work as a tour guide, rafter, safety kayaker and trek leader took him to Austria, Nepal, New Zealand, Zambia, Costa Rica, Panama and just about every country in South America but his love for Peru remained and in 1996, he joined Amazonas Explorer becoming full partner in 1998 and running the whole business since then.

In 2007, Paul decided it was time to put climate change at the forefront of Amazonas Explorers’ operational policies, signing up to donate 1% of turnover to a tree planting project that has now helped plant over 1 million trees in the high Andes.

In 2017, he made Amazonas Explorer the first B-Corp travel company in Peru, putting People and Planet before profit and also offsetting all carbon emissions into a carbon sink in Manu National park.

In 2020, he decided to plant 2 trees per person per day whilst on holiday with Amazonas Explorers, making then possibly the first “Carbon Positive” company in Peru, if not the world.

Megan Parkinson, Moderator - LATA

With over 20 years of experience in the LATAM travel industry, Megan has deep regional knowledge and expertise and has been a driving force in establishing and promoting sustainable tourism practices across the continent.

Megan worked for a number of specialist tour operators including Journey Latin America and Chimu Adventures before joining LATA in 2014. At LATA, Megan has grown the membership significantly to represent over 350 travel and tourism businesses operating to and around Latin America.

In 2018 Megan spearheaded LATA’s Sustainability charter; a milestone initiative establishing a guiding set of sustainability principles for the network. This laid the groundwork for LATA’s sustainability strategy and the implementation of a strategic training programme in collaboration with the Long Run. This transformative three-month training programme empowers businesses to embed sustainability into their day-to-day operations.

Megan was a founding member and is a trustee of the LATA Foundation; LATA’s charitable arm that supports grassroots initiatives in Latin America including a number of important conservation projects in popular tourism areas. During the pandemic, Megan initiated the successful ‘Peru 25 for 25’ campaign, raising more than £18,000 to provide essential food parcels for out-of-work Inca Trail porters in Peru.

With her wealth of experience, Megan is a prominent figure in the fields of responsible tourism, sustainability and conservation.