WTM Latin America 2015, to be held between the 22-24 April at the Expo Center Norte in São Paulo, along with 43rd Braztoa Trade Meeting, will premiere a programme focused on the Responsible Tourism sector.
Following on from the huge success of the WTM Responsible Tourism Programme which has been a prominent part of WTM in London for the last 9 years and includes the pioneering WTM World Responsible Tourism Day, it is now being rolled out at sister event WTM Latin America.
Delegates can expect to see a number of seminars with expert speakers that will discuss key issues that have arisen over recent years.
The first lecture taking place on the opening day (22 April) will consider the economic, social and environmental issues of responsible tourism. The panellists for the session ‘Why Responsible Tourism makes commercial sense’ will include two international Responsible Tourism award winners and will talk about why Responsible Tourism matters and why it makes business sense.
The session, ‘Resource Efficiency: Good for the Environment and the Bottom Line’, will see panellists share their experience of reducing the carbon and water intensity of their businesses and at the financial and environmental benefits of doing so. This will be taking place on Thursday 23 April.
Tourism has significant positive and negative social impacts, the session taking place on Friday 24 April entitled Tourism and Social Responsibility, will look into this further covering topics such as Favela tourism, child protection, and the sensitivities of tourists visiting indigenous tribes.
Chairing all of the above sessions will be expert Harold Goodwin, WTM Portfolio Responsible Tourism Advisor and Professor of Responsible Tourism Management at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK. Goodwin has been vital in bringing responsible tourism to the forefront of the industry at WTM in London, as well as other industry events, and will look to do the same at WTM Latin America in São Paulo.
Lawrence Reinisch, Director of WTM Latin America, said: “I am very excited to be bringing the Responsible Tourism programme to WTM Latin America this year, after many successful years at WTM in London.
“More and more companies from Latin America are starting to look at this in a lot more detail so it’s important to offer this industry knowledge and guide them with making the right decisions to benefit both their business and the environment and culture around them.”
