Five new experts, including three new roles, have been recruited by the Travel Foundation.
The expansion marks a “new era of opportunity” for the sustainable tourism charity in the wake of the pandemic.
The Travel Foundation’s team is increasingly international, with members now based in eight countries, reflecting the global nature of the organisation’s work.
The charity has expanded its work to accelerate climate action and advance destination stewardship.
Its destination stewardship work includes a new programme with easyJet holidays for community positive tourism in five European destinations.
The foundation is also working with US destinations where the pandemic has brought new challenges and impacts, including in California, Port Aransas in Texas and Vail.
Chief executive Jeremy Sampson said: ‘This is an exciting moment for us. We’re in a position to share and scale knowledge about how to better understand and improve the impacts of tourism and address key issues such as climate change and equity.
“Our new projects and initiatives are bold and progressive and will give us more great examples that can inspire change globally.
“The recovery following the pandemic is a challenging time for tourism and that requires creativity and new thinking.
“I’m confident that our expanded team has these qualities in abundance, as well as a wealth of experience and expertise that will help us to forge a better future for tourism.”
The new recruits are:
- Climate specialist Jeremy Smith, co-founder of Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency and co-author of the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism. He is now leading the Travel Foundation’s climate action programme.
- Marketing strategist Elke Dens, director of global programmes, previously at Visit Flanders.
- Rebecca Armstrong previously provided consultancy support for Travel Foundation projects in Jamaica, Cyprus, Cabo Verde and Turkey.
- Kelly Galaski, an expert in community tourism and responsible travel policy development, has worked with Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association, Planeterra and G Adventures.
- Alicia Fajardo, an expert on the development of tourism public policies and strategies for destinations, has experience in the strategic planning of tourism in Andalusia.