Climate response key issue for first Green Growth and Travelism Summer School

HAWAII, USA; BRUSSELS, Belgium; VICTORIA, Seychelles; BALI, Indonesia – Ashoka fellow and Goldman Award holder, Ignace Schops, Director of Belgium’s National Park Hogen Kempen will host and animate

HAWAII, USA; BRUSSELS, Belgium; VICTORIA, Seychelles; BALI, Indonesia – Ashoka fellow and Goldman Award holder, Ignace Schops, Director of Belgium’s National Park Hogen Kempen will host and animate a field session during the 2014 Green Growth and Travelism Summer School.

Schops said that “Response to Climate Change and Biodiversity depletion are not only central to humanity’s future, they are at the core of the Travel & Tourism product and service chain. We urgently need to become more sustainable in our daily lives and need a kind of eco-check for new developments. Especially in the Travel & Tourism field some sustainable targets can be easily reached. More embedded in a global sustainable policy framework it can be proved that there are a lot of opportunities that can tackle Climate Change & Biodiversity loss and solve social-economic problems as well.”

Registrations for the first of its kind “Green Growth & Travelism” International Academic Summer School are now open. Its focus will be on climate change, sustainable mobility and biodiversity. This week-long event is for graduate students, industry change makers and tomorrow’s leaders. It is organized through the renowned Transportation Research Institute (IMOB) of Hasselt University, Limburg, Belgium as the first global initiative of a group of Universities collaborating in a new Green Growth and Travelism Institute (GGTI).

Announcing the Summer School, the Rector of Hasselt University, Luc De Schepper said: “We are proud to launch this seminal summer school to focus on the role of the pivotal Travel &Tourism Sector. It fits well with the transport sustainability research in our International Transportation Research Institute and the overall vision of Limburg as a Green and Clean Province. The graduate students and industry executives who enroll in this school will receive intensive quality indoctrination in the real time transformational opportunities and challenges they will confront in the coming years.”

Professor Geoffrey Lipman founder of Greenearth.travel and President of ICTP, one of the directors of the School said: “This is the first of a planned series of educational initiatives to encourage and support Green Growth transformation patterns for the sector. Today’s world is changing rapidly and we are facing economic, social and environmental challenges compounded by intensifying climate change and shifting markets. In order to create a bright future, the concept of Green Growth has emerged as a proactive strategic response. Travel & Tourism – Travelism (in twitter language) is increasingly recognized as a key element of sustainable global socio-economic development.”

The Summer School will explore and explain these concepts, showing how the development of the Travelism value chain can both adapt to meet the changing global challenges and turn them into opportunities. A major element will be to look at the impacts along with the benefits of travelism – and the metrics and measures that are needed to assess and balance both sides of the equation.

A series of lectures devoted to transport and hospitality sustainability topics and case studies will be given by leading experts in the fields of climate change, green growth, travelism, mobility and biodiversity. These will be completed by field trips and interactive debates, focusing on practical applications and career development for course participants.

This innovative and though provoking summer school represents on ideal learning and networking opportunity for graduate students and young management professionals in the Travel and Tourism industry and those sectors which are part of its value chain.

Lecturers will include Professor Terry DeLacy, Geoffrey Lipman and Paul Whitelaw, Victoria University (Australia), Professor Geert Wets of Hasselt University (Belgium) and Professor Shaun Vorster, Stellenbosch University (RSA).

The first Green Growth and Travelism Summer School will be in Belgium, August 25-29, 2014. Early bird rates apply until end of May 2014

For practical details & registration, see www.ggtsummerschool.be

Hasselt University is an independent innovative university which is regionally anchored and has a pronounced international orientation. The university stands for excellence in education, top research in spearhead fields and active engagement in innovation/entrepreneurship. The overall objective is to combine academic excellence with economic & social relevance. The university aims to widen participation, addressing all talents, and inspires its students and staff to develop their full potential in a dynamic environment.

Hasselt University targets students with attractive undergraduate, graduate and PhD programs which are research-led and characterized by a high academic level and the integration of lifelong employability skills. The programs are supported by a range of innovative and effective teaching and learning forms.

The Green Growth & Travelism Institute is a non-profit international University R&D network. It has anchor university partners in Belgium, Australia, China, Peru, Korea, Indonesia, Zambia and the UK, with a dozen more under discussion. Its goal is to create an academic underpinning to the Green Growth & Travelism paradigm – with shared curriculum elements, summer schools, distance learning & entrepreneurship focused programs.

This program is supported by the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP).

ICTP is a grassroots travel and tourism coalition of global destinations committed to quality service and green growth. ICTP engages communities and their stakeholders to share quality and green opportunities including tools and resources, access to funding, education, and marketing support.

ICTP advocates sustainable aviation growth, streamlined travel formalities, fair coherent taxation, and investments for jobs. ICTP supports the UN Millennium Development Goals, the UN World Tourism Organization’s Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, and a range of programs that underpin them. For more information, go to www.ictp.travel

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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