Ecotourism is where our core expertise lies and ecotourism will continue to be the guiding light for sustainability in tourism.

We support sustainable tourism. The goal is to improve the sustainability of all kinds of tourism. But for us, it is ecotourism first. The focus of ecotourism is on sustainable practices in natural areas, on how to contribute to conservation, helping people connect to nature and local culture and enrich their experience through interpretation, helping indigenous peoples and local communities to better lives through economic opportunities, investments in health, education and safety.

GEN supports a community’s social-environmental programs, interpretation-educational efforts, and also basic sustainable infrastructure solutions driven by ecotourism.

GEN is a network of networks, which links regions and destinations, but also organizations and people with specific interests like community development, conservation and interpretation, guiding, ecolodges, their design and good business practices.

GEN helps to mobilize and works with regional or interest networks.

GEN will be an umbrella voice and a truly international organization focusing on the current situation and trends in ecotourism and promoting ecotourism and good practices in sustainable tourism to the tourism trade, governments, NGOs and travelers.

GEN will also work with partners outside the tourism trade who are aligned with ecotourism interests. Examples are sustainable agriculture, animal welfare, cultural survival and sustainable technology.

GEN can align, highlight and magnify initiatives, destinations and products that truly reflect ecotourism and good sustainable tourism practices.

GEN can connect you to the right people and organizations who can help you with solutions for your ecotourism challenges.

GEN has a Facebook Group where curated information is shared by experts. You can also contact us by :

Email: info@GlobalEcotourismNetwork.Org
Facebook: GlobalEcotourismNetwork
Instagram: GlobalEcotourismNetwork
Twitter: @ecotourismnet
LinkedIn: Global Ecotourism Network

GEN can help journalists to find great stories and improve their reporting on ecotourism.

GEN can organize technical visits, curate conference content, prepare workshops and training.

As GEN is not a membership fee organization, we are happy to connect with you through the above-mentioned communication channels.

At the moment GEN is funded by the Board Members, supporters and through advising conference organizers and international tourism boards (country ecotourism consultation and performance).

GEN is managed by an Executive Committee and supported by an active board. The Board members hold regular meetings online and also use other digital communications channels. The Board Members also have in-person meetings at events in which we participate. In the recent past, we have had meetings in Chile, The Philippines and Germany at the ITB-2019.

GEN has smaller committees for specific issues, such as the website committee who created this site.

GEN is assisted by a Communications Manager.

From 2015, the initial Board was composed of the ex-TIES Advisory Board and has now recruited more members, who represent the GEN global regions and their networks, contributing with valuable ecotourism experience from all over the world.

See more about the team in Who We Are

GEN is not a membership fee organization, but you can help in other ways.

Get the word out, organize a regional or interest network (with our support, if you need that), contribute to our website and Facebook discussions, for example with good practical information on a destination, sustainable practices in business, research, innovations or events.

Work with us on a campaign, a technical visit, a conference that furthers the interests of ecotourism, conservation and communities.

Contribute or help us find donors and grants for specific campaigns, events, projects or publications that would serve our mission and vision.

In February 2015, the entire Advisory Board of TIES resigned and formed GEN. As we said then:

“As an Advisory Committee, we had worked diligently and tirelessly, and in some cases we invested our own money to support the advances and survival of The International Ecotourism Society and subsequently, the ITC’s TIES program. We reinforced the initial vision and fundamental work of the founding members and more recently of the chair, Dr. Kelly Bricker. We are honored to have participated in the growth and past success of this important global organization that began in 1990. However, in recent years we have had concern regarding access to important ITC held information. Despite numerous requests over the years by the ITC’s TIES Advisory Committee for information about the organization’s status (complete financials, accounting, operations, etc.), the ITC has been unwilling to share what we, as members of the Advisory Committee, consider essential information that we felt we had a right to see. In 2014, the ITC removed, without notice or explanation, the TIES program Advisory Committee’s involvement and participation in ITC’s programs, by among other things, removing each of the below identified members from the ITC/TIES website. As a result, the entire Advisory Committee of the ITC’s TIES program decided unanimously that resignation from the ITC was the appropriate response to our current situation, consistent with our beliefs.”

Since we left, we have received many questions about what is happening with TIES. As we are no longer part of the organization, we cannot answer that, but we would like to offer the following considerations:

If you are considering organizing an event with TIES, it might be prudent to contact the organizers of recent TIES events (ESTC Ecuador 2015, ESTC North American 2016) and ask about their experiences working with TIES

Ask TIES for attendance and media statistics of the last conferences, preferably audited and ask TIES for their most recent annual report, including financial data.

If you are considering sponsoring TIES, it might be prudent to contact other sponsors listed on the website about their experiences.

If you are considering membership in TIES, it might be prudent to contact other members in your category about the perceived benefits.

If you are considering participating in a TIES event, it might be prudent to ask about their refund policy before committing to payment or contact the main partner organization to verify if the event is confirmed.