How We Do It

We leverage advocacy as a tool to achieve sustainable tourism solutions by identifying the key issues within our industry and gathering critical research to carefully and consciously outline the best path forward. A key element of our advocacy strategy is the generation of practical and actionable information, followed by thoughtful dissemination to audiences with whom it will have the most impact. 

We believe the best solutions are born from collaboration. We seek partnerships of all types in order to develop, compile, and/or share best practices on a variety of tourism topics.

Forward-thinking and innovative conferences have become a trademark of our programming. Our conferences and events are solutions-oriented and participatory where possible. They highlight illustrative case studies, best practices, and destinations that have overcome challenges and want to share their knowledge. 

Through a multi-disciplinary approach, we analyze the complex context of local tourism ecosystems in order to execute field projects that are both technical and holistic in nature. Whether it’s sustainable tourism master planning, capacity-building, tourism visioning, marketing and branding, or workshops and training with local stakeholders, we apply decades of rigorous data and case study collection from around the globe to transfer these best practices into tangible fieldwork.

We provide fiscal sponsorship services to four impactful programs based in the Americas. We are proud to support these projects working hard to support communities and protect precious natural and cultural resources.

The tourism industry, despite its size and importance, has historically lacked strong standards, careful scrutiny, and oversight. There has also been a lack of insightful research to assist travelers, tourism businesses, and decision-makers in responsibly developing this huge, widely-scattered industry. CREST was created in 2003 to counter this deficiency in meaningful data and analysis, and to advocate for responsible tourism.