|
Organization type: NGO
Profile:
Founded in 1990, TIES is the largest and oldest ecotourism organization in the world dedicated to generating and disseminating information about ecotourism. It currently has members in more than 70 countries. The organization’s membership includes academics, consultants, conservation professionals and organizations, governments, architects, tour operators, lodge owners and managers, general development experts, and ecotourists. As a non-governmental organization, TIES is unique in its efforts to provide guidelines and standards, training, technical assistance, research, and publications to foster sound ecotourism development as a viable tool for conservation, poverty alleviation, protection of culture and biodiversity, sustainable development and education, and enjoyable travel.
TIES promotes responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people by:
- Creating an international network of individuals, institutions, and the tourism industry;
- Educating tourists and tourism professionals; and
- Influencing the tourism industry, public institutions, and donors to integrate the principles of ecotourism into their operations and policies.
Areas of Sustainable Tourism (ST) expertise:
TIES, through its Experts Bureau (professional-level members), is able to gather expertise and on-the-ground experience in almost any topic related to ecotourism and sustainable tourism.
Particular tourism niches:
TIES provides a number of services including: online courses in sustainable tourism (ten courses in collaboration with The George Washington University), consulting, classroom and field courses (from one to five days, generally customized to the client’s needs), public education via the university’s website and exhibiting at travel trade shows, hosting conferences on ecotourism, conducting research on ecotourism and sustainable tourism, and creating publications on ecotourism and sustainable tourism.
Regions worked:
TIES is a global organization that has worked on all continents (excluding Antarctica). Recently, it has worked in the United States, Ukraine, Mexico, Costa Rica, China, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Montenegro.
USAID projects:
- Sri Lanka: Workshop on Sustainable Tourism Management (November 2004)
Recent ST partnerships and collaborations:
- Rainforest Alliance/UNEP (research on green certification for the tourism sector)
- George Washington University (various training courses and also online courses)
- Adventures in Travel Expo (travel trade show exhibition and public education on sustainable travel)
- AMTAVE (a sustainable/adventure tourism NGO in Mexico to do tourism master planning in NW Mexico)
- U.S.-Ukraine Foundation (ecotourism workshops in Ukraine)
- UNEP (tourism master planning in Montenegro)
Contact:
The International Ecotourism Society
1333 H Street, NW
Suite 300, East Tower
Washington, DC 20005 USA
Phone: (202) 347-9203
www.ecotourism.org
|
