A new non-profit organisation has been launched offering courses on responsible tourism globally across different industries related to tourism.
ICRT global has been set up by emeritus professor Harold Goodwin, managing director of the Responsible Tourism Partnership, and has easyJet holidays as its founding partner.
It is backed by a board and a panel of special advisors including travel industry professionals and academic experts, with a focus on education, training, sharing knowledge and examples of responsible tourism worldwide.
ICRT global will offer two post-graduate level courses aimed at middle and senior managers, one focused on responsible tourism and one on managing over tourism, in the first half of 2025. A third course on shared value will follow.
These are designed to help people working in any part of the tourism sector across different industries, whether it’s local authorities, museums, parks, attractions or community leaders as well as tourism bodies such as hotels and tourist boards.
Courses will be online, with bespoke training available for organisations and manuals and guidance to support universities to create responsible tourism courses. ICRT global will also run events and lead the Responsible Tourism Awards, with experiences of the winners fed back into the training programmes it provides.
It will also act as a hub for the independent, regional ICRTs globally as a source of knowledge for those looking to make tourism better. Regional ICRTs, which promote responsible tourism through advocacy, training and research, already operate in Southern and West Africa, the India sub-continent, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
Goodwin said: “Responsible tourism is what we do to make tourism more sustainable, in a way which benefits communities and destinations.
“It requires people working in tourism and hospitality to say what they are doing to make tourism better and to be transparent about what they achieve.
“But, to do that, they need to understand the issues and the possible levers for change. So, our mission is to spread the word about what can be achieved and we appreciate the backing of our founding partners easyJet holidays to support the creation of our new courses.”
EasyJet holidays chief operations officer Matt Callaghan said: “At easyJet holidays, we have an ambition to make more sustainable holidays mainstream, but we know this journey is complex and to succeed we need to learn from one another within the industry.
“That’s why we’re delighted to be a founding partner of ICRT global, supporting their goal to provide effective education on responsible tourism, available to all. I’m looking forward to seeing the success of ICRT global’s training and guidance work and it having a positive impact on destinations and their local communities.”
ICRT global chair Debbie Hindle said the ten-week, postgraduate-level courses were available to anyone and aimed to be practical and inspiring. They cost £365 for early bookings.
The courses will include real world examples of new ideas from the Responsible Tourism Awards in a bid to ensure they are kept relevant and up-to-date, she said, and can be taken by those outside the tourism sector who are not normally involved in tourism on a day to day basis.
“Our courses are designed to help people from any part of the tourism sector who want to understand the issues and opportunities for tourism to make a positive impact,” she said. “This could be the head of a national park wanting to understand how to combine conservation and tourism, through to a city planner wanting to harness tourism for the benefit, rather than the detriment of their city. Our courses will be at postgraduate level but are accessible to anyone to attend.”
ICRT global plans to hold a half-day conference in London on November 4 to formally launch, where it will also unveil the winners of the annual Global Responsible Tourism Awards.
Its board includes Adama Bah, chair of the Institute of Travel and Tourism of the Gambia; Martin Brackenbury, former travel and tourism director, professor of Nottingham University and advisor to the World Tourism Organisation; Manisha Pande, managing director of Village Ways in India, and; Caroline Warburton, formerly of Wild Scotland and the Scottish Tourism Alliance, now at VisitScotland.
Special advisors for ICRT global include Julie Cheetham, sustainability expert and former managing director of Weeva; Dr Xavier Font, University of Surrey; Carol Hay, chief tourism officer of McKenzie Gayle; Richard Hearn, founder of Inntravel and former chair of the Association of Independent Tour Operators (Aito); Sarah Habsburg-Lothringen, founder of Responsible Hospitality Training and Marketing sarahhabsburg.com; Dilys Roe, principal researcher and team leader (biodiversity), natural resources, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), sustainable use and livelihoods specialist group.