The Summer School in Leadership and Governance for Sustainable Tourism is back for its 4th edition, and this time it will take place at Lonely Planet´s No. 1 destination in Europe 2015: Akureyri, Iceland!

The framework of the 2016 edition will be represented by the United Nations decision to adopt 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.

The Summer School will once again bring together key representatives of the tourism sector: donors, policy makers, industry representatives, project management practitioners, academics and entrepreneurs to share practices on how to plan and manage sustainable tourism projects and how effectively monitor sustainable project management benefits within the tourism sector.

The Summer School is the PM4SD™ annual event, promoting it as the methodology to apply in tourism projects and to discuss the professionalization of project management in sustainable tourism.

The Summer School will also feature plenty of social activities to discover the North Iceland, including visits at fishing town, museum, harbor, waterfalls and nature baths. For the last day, we have planned one day tour to discover and taste several Iceland sustainable tourism gems!

The Summer School is organised by FEST, the host organization Icelandic Tourist Board and the European Travel Commission.

*fees included into the Summer School ticket:

Attendance of the event presentations, workshops, debate, networking activities, catering facilities, on-site transport, on-site tourism activities.

Full programme: www.summerschool.festfoundation.eu

Speakers: Opening Remarks

Eduardo Santander

Eduardo Santander has been Executive Director of ETC since April 2012. Educated in Spain and Austria, he holds a PhD in Sports Science and an MBA degree. He has extensive experience in destination marketing gained through his career in diverse companies from the tourism industry in Innsbruck (Austria) and the United States. He has also been a guest lecturer on tourism marketing at International Business Seminars in a number of US Universities. Under the leadership of Mr. Santander, ETC continues supporting member NTOs in their portfolio of marketing and research activities in major long-haul markets with the aim of strengthening and increasing competitiveness of Destination Europe.

Cláudia Monteiro De Aguiar

Born on 8 April 1982, Funchal she is a member of the EPP Group and of the Partido Social Democrata. She is a member in the Committees TRAN, D-TR and substitute for the Committee PECH, D-BR, DMER, DLAT.

Claudia Tapardel

Claudia Tapardel is one of the youngest women MEPs. She comes from Romania, and is very passionate about tourism. In 2015, Claudia was elected co-chair of the Intergroup for the Development of European Tourism and Cultural Heritage. With 140 members, the Intergroup is dedicated to bring tourism into the spotlight of European policies. In the European Parliament, she is a member in three important Committees: Transport and Tourism, Constitutional Affairs and Budgets. Claudia has a rich education in Economics (PhD), Public Administration and International Business.

Speakers: Best Practises Session

Árni Sigurbjarnarson

A finalist in the Innovation Category in the WTTC's 2016 Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, Árni founded North Sailing in 1995 alongside his family. Born in Iceland, Árni's main interests are outdoor activities and environmental affairs and he has worked on projects such as the development of a hybrid electrical system for the boats of North Sailing.

Jordi William Carnes

Currently the CEO of the Barcelona Tourism Board and President of CTECNO (Catalan Technological Foundation), Jordi has worked for much of his professional career in the field of politics and for government bodies such as Barcelona Provincial Council, where he was Head of the President’s Office, the Catalan Government, where he was Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock, and the Barcelona City Council, where he was Deputy Mayor in charge of budget and economic promotion. His academic background also includes an M.A. in Public Administration from ESADE and a Senior Management Programme at IESE. In 2013, Jordi embarked on a career in the private sector, founding CGP Consultancy.

Julie Scott

A social anthropologist working in the fields of tourism, culture and development. For the past 20 years Julie has worked in universities in Cyprus and the UK, and in 2013 co-founded an independent consultancy specialising in applying ethnographic methods to tourism and cultural heritage based development. Working with a multi-disciplinary network of colleagues, Touch TD seeks innovative approaches to building linkages and partnerships across the tourism value chain, and to strengthening community capacity and participation. Touch TD has designed and implemented projects for UNESCO, UNDP, the EU and the UK government, including community based tourism projects in India and Turkey, the retrieval of public spaces in Georgia and Iran, and the social impacts of casino tourism in Cyprus. A member of the ICOMOS UK and International Scientific Committees for Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Cinzia De Marzo

A lawyer specialized in European Union Law and an Expert on sustainable tourism (management, legislation, promotion, training) at European level and qualified as a PM4SD (Project manager for sustainable development), certified by APMG international. Currently engaged by the European Institute of Cultural Routes - Council of Europe, within a task force on indicators and cooperation with the UNWTO for organizing the open consultation on International Observatories on sustainable tourism, held in Madrid 7 and 8 June 2016. Cinzia was also responsible for the implementation of the European Tourism Indicator System - ETIS - whilst working as a national expert for the European Commission (DG GROW).

Kelly Galasky

Kelly has 18 years of hospitality and tourism industry experience, having worked in various positions in hotels, restaurants and travel companies. She has eight years of experience working in rural, underserved communities in the Latin America and Caribbean region, and more recently in Europe and North America, on developing community tourism plans, projects and initiatives, creating opportunities by connecting with the private sector. This includes working for over six years at G Adventures, the world’s largest adventure travel brand, as a program manager for the Planeterra foundation, developing community tourism product closely with G Adventures’ product development team. From 2013-2015 Kelly managed G Adventures' three-year technical cooperation project with the Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank to develop five community-based tourism enterprises in four countries in Latin America.

Speakers: Capacity Building Workshop on Project Management and Sustainable Tourism tools (PM4SD, ETIS, GSTC criteria)

Silvia Barbone

Director of FEST and Jlag, Silvia is the developer and the main author of the PM4SD™ “Project Management for Sustainable Development” certification. She is an international expert in sustainable development and project management with an extensive knowledge of tourism, cultural and sport policies and practices. She is a senior tourism researcher, an experienced project manager and a certified Lead Trainer in Project Management for Sustainable Development. She designs and manages small, medium and large scale projects, she supports destinations to define strategies and empower local communities, she is one of the 10 EU experts selected by the European Commission to implement the European Tourism Indicator System (ETIS). She works with leading global organizations, including UNWTO, UNESCO, UNEP, UNITAR, European Travel Commission, European Commission, European Parliament, as well as local, regional and national public authorities. She is the chief editor of the first blog regarding European tourism policies and practices “Tourism Around Europe”, which addresses 8000 tourism stakeholders. She has recently been appointed as the Chair of the Tourism Society Europa Network, and a board member of Tourism Society.

Speakers: EU Institutions and International Organizations Session

Deirdre Shurland

A senior consultant to the UNEP Tourism & Environment Programme, Deirdre spearheads tourism sector value chain research and advises on implications of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the Paris Agreement on the tourism sector, from a policy and implementation perspective. She has also advised UNESCO on the global tourism sector’s response to tourism and climate impacts at World Heritage sites and UNWTO on mainstreaming sustainable consumption and production principles into tourism master plans. She coordinates the development of sustainable tourism cooperation projects and facilitates specialized training workshops on project design and implementation for developing countries.

Shaun Mann

Shaun is a passionate tourism development professional and has split the past 27 years between the private sector and the government. For the last 10 years Shaun has been in the World Bank Group where he has worked on tourism projects in 27 countries. He originally comes from Uganda where he was born and grew up and then returned to in 1989. He started a small tour operating company and then built and operated two lodges. He was then asked by the Government to lead the newly formed Uganda Tourist Board and manage a large EU-funded product and market development project that helped put Uganda back on the map. Since joining the World Bank in 2005, Shaun has been instrumental in reestablishing "tourism" as a legitimate instrument for economic development with a range of internal and external clients. The Bank had actually discontinued its tourism related lending in 1979 and closed a 30-strong tourism department.

Keynote Speakers

Seleni Matus

Seleni Matus has spent more than 15 years designing and directing large, multi-stakeholder initiatives in Latin America and in the Caribbean that have enhanced the quality of tourism offerings and helped to ensure the long-term health of natural ecosystems. These include the Mesoamerican Reef Tourism Initiative and the Sustainable Destinations Alliance of the Americas. She currently is the Executive Director of The George Washington University’s International Institute of Tourism Studies and Adjunct Professor. Seleni served as a founding member of the Mesoamerican Ecotourism Alliance and served on the Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s board of directors. Seleni currently serves as a member of the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s Sustainable Tourism Committee, as well as Steering Committee of the Sustainable Tourism Zone of the Caribbean.

David Randle

Dave holds a B.A. from California Lutheran University, an M-Div. from the Iliff School of Theology, and a doctorate in Spiritual Disciplines, Wellness and Environmental Concerns from the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO. He currently directs the Sustainable Tourism concentration for the USF College of Global Sustainability and serves as president and executive director of the WHALE Center, and Managing Director of the International Ocean Institute Waves of Change initiative. He serves on the Global Sustainable Tourism Council International Knowledge, Networking, Education & Training Working Group, The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) Research and Education Council, and the board of directors for the Florida Society of Ethical Ecotourism.

John Hull

John is co-director of the Alliance for Mountain Environments and Associate Professor of Tourism Management at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, Canada. In Europe, he is a visiting professor at University College of Southeast Norway and at the Harz University of Applied Sciences, Germany. He is also a member of the Sonnino Working Research Group, Italy and the New Zealand Tourism Research Institute. He completed his PhD at McGill University examining sustainable tourism strategies at the oldest seabird sanctuaries in North America as part of a UNESCO project focusing on the Circumpolar North. He has worked on tourism projects in Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. In Canada, he worked for Destination Canada, Parks Canada and the Tourism industry Association of Canada and delivered a Greening Your Business programme to over 75 businesses at the Gros Morne Institute of Sustainable Tourism. His research addresses the sustainability of tourism planning and destination development in peripheral and rural regions. Specific areas of focus include mountain tourism, creative tourism, geotourism, food and wine tourism, cruise tourism, polar tourism, and wellness tourism. He is co-editor of a book on Mountain Tourism (2016) published by CABI International.

Ingunn Sørnes

Ingunn has been working on sustainable tourism for 10 years now, introducing and building tools and policy for increased sustainability in tourism. Among these was the introduction of Sustainable Destination, a certifications scheme assisting DMOs work towards a more sustainable tourism. Educated within agriculture and management, Ingunn has also served the Ministry of Agriculture in policy on rural development and diversification of agriculture.

Brandon Presser

Brandon is a travel expert who has visited more than 100 countries and written over 50 travel books. He can currently be seen on Bravo's television series Tour Group, where, as Head Tour Guide, he fearlessly leads a group of eclectic American travelers on an elaborate world tour. Brandon secured his reputation as an adventure prodigy when he became the youngest member of the coveted team of writers at Lonely Planet, the world’s most prominent travel brand. He crossed the globe authoring books on far-flung destinations like Iceland, Turkey and Malaysia, and was awarded the prestigious SATW Lowell Thomas gold prize for his outstanding achievements in guidebook writing. Today, Brandon contributes to a variety of prestigious publications including Travel + Leisure and The Daily Beast, and leads worldwide expeditions for elite jetsetters. Originally from Canada, Brandon holds a degree in art history and architecture from Harvard University, and when he's not on the road he calls New York City home. He speaks fluent French, and can order food in six other languages.

Rob Holmes

Rob Holmes is the Founder & Chief Strategist of GLP Films, the leading content marketing agency dedicated to authentic storytelling and digital content strategy within the travel industry. Rob has a diverse background in multimedia production, storytelling, sustainable tourism, conservation, marketing, and entrepreneurship. In his work with GLP Films, Rob has spearheaded partnerships with global travel brands, including National Geographic, UNWTO, Columbia Sportswear, leading NGO’s, international tourism boards, and numerous media networks. Rob holds a BA in Wildlife Management and Conservation Biology from Hobart College, and an MBA from University of Washington in International Business, Marketing and Environmental Management.

Tim Williamson

After studying history at Liverpool University, Tim started his 20 years in travel as a ski rep for Skibound in Brighton which was then acquired by First Choice Holidays giving him the opportunity to join their product team as a marketing assistant. Tim worked his way up to Produce Director and then added marketing to the role before the merger with TUI. In the new company he was promoted to Customer Director and to the UK board with a team of 3,000 staff and a £60m budget. After a short project in Beijing for TUI China Tim left to take a year out and worked with his family as a volunteer in an orphan and vulnerable children pre-school in Swaziland. His next role in travel as CEO of Travel Department, Ireland’s largest escorted tour operator, and then as Customer Director for Monarch Airlines. Since December 2013, Tim is Marketing & Content Director for Responsible Travel where he has been a non-executive director for the last 3 years. He is also a director of Development Squared, a business mentoring programme for Swaziland, and is still heavily involved in various charitable initiatives there. He lives in Brighton in the UK with his wife and two sons.

Teodora Marinska

Teodora is Head of Public Affairs of the European Travel Commission, where she works to raise awareness and understanding of the value of tourism in the EU and national policy makers, the main tool for which is the promotion of the Tourism Manifesto for Growth and Jobs. Teodora aims at influencing policy through the formulation and implementation of ETC public affairs strategy, one of the main pillars of which is sustainability. Before joining ETC, Teodora worked in the European Parliament and the Committee of the Regions. Teodora is Project Manager Practitioner (PM4SD) certified by APMG.

PM4SD Summer School 2016: Leadership and Governance for Sustainable Tourism