News

2nd Executive Symposium for Innovators in Coastal Tourism Development Rescheduled to May 15-17, 2013

The Center for Responsible Travel (CREST) and the Center for Global Business at Stanford University have decided to reschedule the “Executive Symposium for Innovators in Coastal Tourism Development” by twelve months, until May 15-17, 2013. We want to explain the reasons why we have taken this decision and outline the steps you can take to remain an active member of the Invitation Committee and help make this important event successful.

CREST and Stanford decided we must reschedule the Innovators Symposium after learning that the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) was planning to hold their first-ever Regional Summit in partnership with the Mexican Tourism Board (SECTUR) in Cancun on the exact same dates: May 16-18, 2012. WTTC announced their Regional Summit after CREST and Stanford had circulated a “Save the Date” announcement for the Innovator’s Symposium. Initially we approached WTTC to explore combining our two conferences, but after considerable discussion they declined to do so. We and our supporters decided it was unwise to go ahead as originally scheduled since WTTC will also be inviting government officials and business leaders from the Americas – exactly the target audience for the Innovators Symposium.

We next tried to find another suitable date before the Mexican elections in July, but none worked. CREST found conflicts from other tourism events, the G-20 meeting in Los Cabos, and the Rio+20 conservation summit. We were advised by our Mexican colleagues that we would not get sufficient participation from Mexican government officials if we held the event in June just prior to the elections. After the elections, we were advised, the outgoing officials are not engaged.

So despite being otherwise prepared to hold the event this year, we have decided it is best to reschedule The Innovators Symposium for May 15-17, 2013. Between now and then we will be working with our partners in Mexico to hold sustainable tourism forums in a number of coastal states in Mexico, and we will continue to build toward the 2013 Symposium.

With your help and participation, the rescheduled Symposium can be even stronger than the original. If you would like to participate as a speaker, sponsor, or if you have other ideas on how to make the 2013 Coastal Tourism Development Innovators Symposium a success, please contact David Krantz at dkrantz[at]responsibletravel.org or 202-347-9203.