CREST Consulting Services

About CREST Consulting Services

In addition to our mission-driven projects and programs, Center for Responsible Travel offers its research talent and expertise in sustainable tourism and project management on a fee-for-service basis to multilateral institutions and private companies. We work with clients of all sizes to identify and meet their needs - working on matters that range from corporate responsibility to destination stewardship, 'green finance', climate change, strategic planning, travelers' philanthropy, indigenous tourism and much more. We draw on the experience of our own staff and tap into our extensive network of experts working around the globe. Below are some highlights of past consultancies and short bios of some of the consultants in our network.

Highlights of past consultancies:

CREST has carried out research and field studies for a wide range of international development and aid agencies, philanthropic foundations, government agencies, academic institutions, conservation organizations, and tourism businesses. The following are a sampling of CREST staff and consultants involved in implementing our field projects and carrying out research. For more information about CREST or any of our consultants, contact Martha Honey: Tel. +1 202-347-9203 ext. 413 or Email:mhoney(at)responsibletravel.org

Consultancy

Description
Sustainable Tourism Feasibility Study and and Development Plan Identify and generate tourism-related investment and employment opportunities within an acceptable social and environmental safeguards framework.
Assesing Impacts of Coastal and Cruise Tourism

A series of studies designed to analyze market trends and asses the social, environmental, and economic impacts on the Coast primarily in Costa Rica's Pacific coast and Mexico.
Promoting Innovation in Tourism Development The Symposium for "Innovators", created by CREST, supports resort developers, architects, investors and operators involved in more social and environmental subjects.
Financing Sustainable Tourism Sustainble Investment and Finance in Tourism (SIFT) is a new concept designed to coordinate and increase funding for sustainable tourism projects developed by CREST and spearheaded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNEP)
Indigenous People and Ecotourism Intiruna is an NGO dedicated to collective marketing, development, consulting, and education in the service of indigenous-controlled sustainable tourism and CREST helped in its creation.
Travelers’ Philanthropy Working together with tourism companies to foster corporate and visitor contributions of time, expertise, and resources to support development and conservation projects in tourism destinations.
Certification

The global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) launched recently was created thanks to the projects and studies by CREST who has worked for years in developing and promoting "green" certification.
Market Research and Trends CREST conducts market, consumer, and frasibility analysis and provides reports to tourism business, governments, development agencies, and NGOs on consumer and industry trends.
Strengthening Sustainable Tourism and Ecotourism In one of the most biodiversity rich areas on earth (Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica); CREST is involved in a multi-year project to strengthen their sustainable tourism programs trhough workshops on trade-offs of different tourism models, reducing tourism's carbon footprint, and enhancing visitor engegement through travelers' philanthropy and voluntourism.

Our Experts:

CREST maintains a network of tourism and development experts with experience in many corners of the world. These talented and hard-working individuals lend their technical capacity to our projects on an as-needed basis. We have the highest of confidence in their abilities and we are proud to work with them. The experts we regularly rely on include:

William Durham, Ph.D.

Bill is the co-founder and Co-Director of CREST and heads its Stanford University office. He has particular interest in ecotourism as a means to promote conservation and development in Central America, Africa, and Galapagos. Bill is the Bing Professor in Human Biology in the Department of Anthropology, and the Yang and Yamazaki University Fellow at Stanford University. He has worked in Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama, including most of a year with the Native American Kuna. Recipient of a MacArthur Prize Fellowship, Bill has conducted impact assessments of ecolodges in Costa Rica and Peru. His numerous publications include Ecotourism and Conservation in the Americas (CABI, 2008, with A. Stronza).

Martha Honey, Ph.D.

Martha is co-founder and Co-Director of CREST and heads its Washington, DC office. She has successfully administered numerous research and field consultancies related to certification, marketing strategies, industry and consumer trends, travelers’ philanthropy, and impacts of various types of tourism (eco-, sustainable, and mass). She has worked and lectured on tourism in dozens of countries. Her books include Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise? (Island Press, 1999 and 2008) and Ecotourism and Certification: Setting Standards in Practice (Island Press, 2002). She was named one of world’s top 10 eco- and sustainable-travel “watchdogs” (CondeNast Traveler, 2008). She was also Executive Director of The International Ecotourism Society (TIES). Martha worked as a journalist for 20 years, based in East Africa and Central America and holds a Ph.D. in African history.

Carter Hunt, Ph.D.

Carter is a Post doctoral Fellow in Environmental Anthropology at Stanford University.
He teaches courses on ecotourism, protected areas, and environmental problems and collaborates on CREST projects. Carter has worked in Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica with forms of tourism that support biodiversity conservation, cultural preservation, and sustainable community development. He holds a doctorate in Recreation, Park, and Tourism Sciences from Texas A&M University. His dissertation research examined ethnographic impacts of rapid coastal tourism development on local rural populations and environments along Nicaragua’s Pacific Coast.

David Krantz, M.A.

David is CREST’s Washington Coordinator. He has overseen or worked on dozens of research and field projects. His areas of expertise include market analysis, travelers’ philanthropy, coastal tourism development, and good practices in the hospitality and tourism industries. Previously, David coordinated conservation initiatives in the tourism industry with Conservation International. David’s background includes hospitality management and over two years of experience in adventure and ecotourism in the developing world as he backpacked through South America, Eastern Europe, and Southern Africa. He holds a Master’s of Tourism Administration from The George Washington University, where he focused on sustainable destination development.

Leland Baxter - Neal

Leland is a freelance writer and researcher, specializing in Latin America. He worked as a reporter based in Costa Rica for five years, covering environmental issues, tourism, real estate development, business, and politics in Central America. He was a staff reporter for The Tico Times and The Beach Times and wrote for the international news wire Reuters. His environmental and political reporting has appeared in the Miami Herald and other publications. Leland wrote the chapter on Costa Rica’s biodiversity for the 2010 edition of Fodor’s Costa Rica guidebook.  For CREST’s study of the impacts of large-scale tourism along Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, he facilitated contacts with local experts, and wrote the study comparing government incentive programs in Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica for foreign retirees and investors in tourism and real estate development. Leland is fluent in Spanish, holds a Bachelor’s in Journalism, and is based in Portland, Oregon.

Dan Berrien, M.A.

Dan is a sustainable tourism and real estate development specialist, with expertise in the planning, design, and management. He has extensive experience in private sector development with a focus on the Caribbean and the Americas and has also consulted with non-governmental and government organizations. His work has involved land use planning, business development, and market research related to sustainable tourism project implementation. He was a lead consultant with CREST in developing the business plan for the UNEP’s SIFT Network. He holds a Master’s in regional planning from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Seema Bhatt, M.Sc.

Seema is a consultant based in India, specializing in projects and research related to ecotourism, biodiversity, certification, and climate change. Her particular focus is on strengthening the links between ecotourism, biodiversity conservation, and local livelihoods. As the South Asia Coordinator for the USAID supported Biodiversity Conservation Network, she coordinated two projects on ecotourism. Seema has worked extensively with other ecotourism projects in India and elsewhere in South Asia. She was a Fulbright Research Scholar based with CREST in Washington DC where she explored the feasibility of ecotourism certification in India. She co-authored Ecotourism Development in India (Cambridge University Press, 2008). Seema holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Michael E. Conroy, Ph.D.

Michael is an economist, Latin American expert, and former professor at the University of Texas (1971-1996) and Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (2003-2006). He worked for the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (1996-2008) where he focused on development of advocacy-led certification systems for sustainable tourism and ecotourism, and other industries. His consultancies have included building global participation in the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, strengthening benefits for small-scale producers and communities in both the FSC certification forestry system and the Fair Trade system worldwide, and creating new certification systems for US agricultural production (emphasizing farm worker justice and food safety). He is author of Branded! How the ‘Certification Revolution’ Is Transforming Global Corporations (New Society Publishers, 2007).

Jorge De Vicente, M.A.

Jorge is a sustainable tourism and competitiveness specialist, with expertise in value chain analysis, sustainability assessment, strategic planning, and marketing. He has ample experience advising governments, the private sector, and civil society in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as facilitating multistakeholder dialogue. Based in Washington, DC, he has worked for the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF-IDB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and for CREST. Jorge led the development of the innovative and highly acclaimed IDB Tourism Sustainability Scorecard for Private Sector Projects. He holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from The Fletcher School at Tufts University.

Juan Luna-Kelser, M.A.

Juan is a sustainable tourism specialist. He has far-reaching international experience in preparing and managing large - scale projects, as a result of thirty years at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Since his retirement from the IDB in January 2007, he has been consulting on various tourism projects in Albania, Bolivia, El Salvador, DOminican Republic, Honduras, India and Panama, as well as provided training courses in destination managment, workforce development, rural and community base tourism. He also assembled and managed the team of consultants who worked on the development of the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria. Juan is currently responsible for the implementation of the education and tourism workforce development thematic area for the Dominican Sustainable Tourism Alliance in the Dominican Republic (USAID funded program under the Global Sustainable Tourism Alliance). He is both an Ambassador for National Geographic’s Center for Sustainable Destinations that promotes Geotourism and an Adjunct Professor of Tourism at George Washington University's Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, School of Business, teaching community-based tourism. He holds a Masters degree in Tourism Administration - Sustainable Destination Management from George Washington University, as well as a Masters degree in Political Science from Drew University, Madison, New Jersey. Juan is originally from Mexico City and is fluent in Spanish, English and Portuguese.

Robin Mason, M.A.

Robin is a sustainable tourism specialist based outside Washington, DC with expertise in building public private sector alliances, community-based tourism, destination management, and tourism product development. She has over 20 years of experience working with USAID, World Bank, and local governments in developing tourism strategies, tourism clusters, and value chain analyses, and in implementing tourism plans. Robin forged a worldwide public-private partnership for USAID’s Global Development Alliance Office, carried out tourism sector analyses in Mozambique, and worked with the Istanbul government on tourism improvement. She was part of CREST’s team for UNEP’s SIFT Network project. Robin holds Master’s degree in international development from American University, and is completing a tourism administration degree from The George Washington University.

Fred Nelson, M.Sc.

Fred is Executive Director of Maliasili Initiatives, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting locally-based, incentive-driven conservation efforts in Africa. Based in Arusha, Tanzania from 1998 into 2010, Fred has recently relocated to Burlington, VT. Fred served as the local coordinator of CREST’s 2008 International Travelers’ Philanthropy Conference held in Arusha and has been a research consultant for several CREST publications. A scholar and practitioner on natural resource governance, Fred has published widely and has worked for international NGOs and development agencies. He is editor of Community Rights, Conservation & Contested Land: The Politics of Natural Resource Governance in Africa (Earthscan, 2010). Fred completed his Master’s degree at the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan.

Megan O’Donnell, M.A.

Megan is an economic development consultant and business analyst. She brings a unique perspective to researching market trends and developing international business opportunities, with extensive experience working with both public and private sector clients. As a technology entrepreneur, she developed business case models and pitched them to venture capitalist investors. As a private sector development advisor to governments, she researched international trends in the investment marketplace in a range of sectors including sustainable tourism. Megan has overseen a project on promoting market linkages for the Caribbean tourism industries and has worked with tourism and other industries in Africa (Gambia, Ghana and Tanzania), Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia (Mongolia) to leverage resources and attract corporate partners and investors. She holds a Master’s Degree in International Develeopment from Stanford University.

Abigail Rome, M.Sc.

Abigail is a specialist in ecotourism and sustainable tourism and is director of Tierra Vista Tours & Consulting, based in the Washington, DC area. She has over 20 years of experience in biodiversity conservation and natural areas management, most of which focuses on developing and improving ecotourism as a means for sustainable development. She lived and worked in Ecuador for 5 years and has pursued assignments throughout Latin America. She has worked with CREST on the development of internationally-accepted criteria and methodologies for sustainable tourism certification. She has a Master’s degree in plant ecology from Duke University.

Amanda Stronza, Ph.D.

Amanda is an environmental anthropologist and associate professor at Texas A&M University. Most of her field experience is in the Amazon regions of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, but she has also worked in Guatemala, Belize, Costa Rica, Antigua, Barbuda, Brazil, Paraguay, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Botswana. Since 1993, she has conducted ethnographic research in one village in the Peruvian Amazon, studying longitudinal effects of ecotourism on local livelihoods, natural resource use, and cultural identity. She has published over 30 peer-reviewed journal articles, and earned several grants from the National Science Foundation for her research on biodiversity conservation and ecotourism.

Sandra Tassel

Sandra is the President of Look at the Land, a conservation consulting firm based outside of Washington, DC. In her consulting work, she assists local and state governments, nonprofit organizations, and advocates for natural resource protection to develop and implement conservation strategies and programs. Ecotourism is often an element of her projects, especially in Latin America where she has advised community groups, businesses, and NGO’s on markets, communications, business plans, guide training and tourism product development. Sandra is the author of The Conservation Program Handbook: A Guide for Local Government Land Acquisition (Island Press, 2009).

Erick Vargas, M.Sc.

Erick is President of the Costa Rican-based consultancy, Sustainable by Nature. His areas of expertise include ecotourism, land use planning, guiding and interpretation, training in good environmental practices, product design, community tourism products and services, sustainability implementation, environmental impact assessment, and tourism research. Erick led the Costa Rican research team in CREST’s 2-year study of the impacts of large-scale tourism and vacation home development on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast. From 1997-2005, he headed the international training and consulting department at the prestigious National Biodiversity Institute (INBio). He holds a Master’s of Ecotourism from the Latin American University of Science and Technology.

Jannelle Wilkins, M.A.

From Costa Rica to Ecuador and the Galapagos, Spain and Mexico, Jannelle Wilkins has implemented a wide range of education and development projects. She has lived in Montevede, Costa Rica for the past four years and until recently directed the Monteverde Institute, an academic and research institution that advances sustainable living, locally and globally, through education, research and collaborative community development programs.  During her tenure as Executive Director, the Institute developed the first ever destination wide Travelers’ Philanthropy program, as well as, co-hosted, with CREST, the 3rd International Conference on Travelers’ Philanthropy as a core component of responsible travel.  While living in Madrid, Spain, Wilkins worked for the World Tourism Organization of the UN and later founded Altamira Tours which specializes in culinary and cultural tours in Spain, Portugal, Chile and Argentina. Wilkins holds a Masters in Public Administration.   

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