Join us on 15 July for our virtual Annual Conference: Uniting on Regenerative Tourism and and Transformative Travel.
This will be a very exciting conference for ANTOR as from 18 July ANTOR will be celebrating it's 70th anniversary year.
Programme:
1.00 - 2.00pm: Speed-networking with our sponsors. Please do make sure to join us for this as the sponsors are funding the conference and this event would not be possible without their support.
2.00 - 2.20pm: Keynote speaker: Anna Pollock, Founder of Conscious Travel and thought leader in regenerative tourism.
2.20 - 2.50pm: Good practice examples from Finland, Taiwan and Tobago.
2.50 - 3.20pm: Panel discussion chaired by Tracey Poggio, hearing from a travel agent, travel operator, and journalist who will share their thoughts on "What do tourists want or expect from regenerative tourism and transformative travel?"
3.20 - 3.50pm: Ian Dockreay, Chief Executive of Equator Learning and Travel Uni will discuss "'The Travel Reset’ – Our very rare opportunity to change the mindset of the travel industry and travellers"
3.50 - 4.10pm: Coffee Break and visiting the Sponsor rooms
4.10 - 4.30pm: Nico Nicholas, CEO & Co-founder of Trees4Travel will discuss "How to turn your destination into a carbon emission free travel experience"
4.30 - 4.50pm: Vicky Smith, Founder of Earth Changers , will discuss "Transforming Travel - Time to Rethink Tourism"
4.50 - 5.00pm: Q+A's
5.00 - 5.30pm: Final networking with our sponsors in their meeting rooms.
Speaker Profiles
Keynote speaker: Anna Pollock
Anna Pollock, Founder of Conscious.Travel, has 48 years’ experience in tourism as an independent consultant, strategist, international speaker and change agent and is now acclaimed thought leader in the emerging field of regenerative tourism.
Past clients include the Canadian Tourism Commission, PATA, European Travel Commission, Tourism British Columbia, the Australian Tourism Export Council, Tourism Tasmania, Innovation Norway, Visit Flanders, Rotterdam Partners and departments of industry, conservation and tourism in New Zealand. Recipient of The Visionary of the Year Award from the Canadian tourism industry.
Anna has undertaken seminal work in many aspects of tourism, notably in education, sustainability and technology. During the 1990s, Anna established herself as a thought leader on the strategic implications of the Internet; she created the first internet-based tourism strategy for Scotland; and she co-developed one of the first multi-purpose destination management systems. She also prepared one of the first reports on the impact of climate change for the Canadian tourism industry in 2007.
Her strength is her ability to see the whole “big picture,” to ask difficult questions and to help others make sense of their rapidly and dramatically changing world.
Since 2010, Anna has focused on investigating emergent, alternative models for the tourism sector that would enable it to shift from extraction to regeneration and that generate higher yields with less impact. After several years of research, she published her thinking in a comprehensive report Social Enterprise and Tourism – The Conscious Travel Approach that is now used as text in many universities around the world.
In October 2016, she was retained by Visit Flanders to assist their strategic planning and, over a two year period, supported their Travel to Tomorrow program, helping to shift their official policy from volume growth to destination flourishing. During that period, she was able to develop her unique approach to regenerative tourism and assist a number of communities through a program of action learning. That led to a LEADER project that applied the flourishing destinations concept in Angus, Scotland; Bazinul Dornelor in Romania; and Meetjesland in Flanders.
Having influenced the first ever regional tourism strategy in New Zealand to integrate regenerative principles, Anna was invited to New Zealand in 2019 and began working with the regional tourism organisations and the Department of Conservation. Her writing and speaking led her to be invited by the New Zealand Government to sit on the Tourism Futures Task Force that produces its report in January 2021. She is the only member of the Task Force outside New Zealand.
Anna has recently been retained to advise on a regenerative recovery program for Northern Ireland and, in partnership with Michelle Holliday, author of The Age of Thrivability, is now developing an online educational program to enable destinations and their stakeholders better understand and apply regenerative principle. The launch of the program will occur in New Zealand in February 2021.
Good practice examples from Finland, Taiwan and Tobago
Liisa Mäkelä, Manager Sustainable Travel Development for Visit Finland
Sylvia Lee, Director for Taiwan Tourism Bureau
Louis Lewis, CEO of the Tobago Tourism Agency Ltd
Panel - Chaired by Tracey Poggio
Richard Hammond, Executive Producer and Founder of Green Traveller
Richard is the founder and CEO of Green Traveller. He has written, photographed and filmed about green travel for over 20 years. He was previously the Guardian's eco travel correspondent and co-author of the Rough Guide: "Clean Breaks: 500 New Ways to See the World".
Karen Simmonds, founder of Travel Matters and Make Travel Matters
Karen has worked in travel & hospitality for over 30 years, having started her career in guiding roles around Europe. Karen considers herself to be versatile and multi-talented as the owner of the travel concierge company Travel Matters, which specialises in arranging bespoke worldwide adventures and holidays. She is the founder of the Make Travel Matter campaign, building awareness and engagement about how we can travel responsibly and in a sustainable way, sharing good practice with clients and the industry as to how travel choices and decisions can have a positive impact on the communities we visit.
Mikey Sadowski, GM of Global PR & Communications – Intrepid Travel
Mikey Sadowski is the GM of Global PR & Communications at Intrepid Travel, a purpose-driven tour operator that is both the world’s largest adventure travel company and travel B Corporation. Mikey is involved in shaping the brand’s global positioning, advocacy and communications as a leader in responsible travel. Outside of Intrepid, he is a contributor, invited lecturer and advisory board member for a wide range of publications, organizations and academic institutions.
Ian Dockreay, Chief Executive of Equator Learning & Travel Uni
Ian is an international travel and aviation executive with senior management level experience in American Express Travel, British Airways, Emirates Airline, OAG and Virgin Atlantic. Also founder and strategist of numerous exhibitions and media titles including the European Travel Technology Show, Business Travel Show and BBT (Now BTN Europe) to name a few. He is now running and expanding Equator Learning and Travel Uni, both leaders in travel education, engagement, marketing & technology on a global basis.
Specialisms include, marketing, engagement, technology, education/training, media and entrepreneurship. He is a PATA Board Member in the UK, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Marketors and a Freeman of the City of London.
Nico Nicholas, CEO and Co-founder of Trees4Travel
A true business entrepreneur at heart, specializing in innovation and technology. Nico has successfully built companies in a multitude of sectors, which have been justly acknowledged through various nominations and awards received over the years. He is a contagious leader with a can-do attitude who is now devoting his time to one of the world’s biggest challenges: climate change. Rewilding the planet and making travel naturally sustainable is his new ambition.
Vicky Smith, Founder of Earth Changers
Vicky’s headed up destinations abroad, marketing and ecommerce for tour operators, travel agents, media and NGOs in mainstream tourism, ski, tours, volunteer tourism and sustainable tourism accreditation. She's a published academic in responsible tourism, qualified safari guide, charity challenge leader and charity trustee for sustainable development in Madagascar. She also helps develop the Global and European Ecotourism Networks and was Ambassador for the UK Government DeFRA’s Year of Green Action, 2019.
Vicky's startup Earth Changers is a curated collection of the best positive impact, sustainable tourism for people to find & book trips that truly change the world, which won Travelmole UK Best Responsible Travel & Tourism Website, 2019 in a public vote.
