James has almost 40 years of experience as a sustainable tourism planner, marketer, educator and trainer in 38 countries across Asia/South Pacific, the Americas and Africa/Indian Ocean. He has specialized in ecotourism; coastal, rural and aboriginal cultural tourism; health and wellness tourism; and heritage, spiritual, educational and adventure travel.

James has managed more than 420 national, regional and community tourism projects (business plans, market research, training programs, etc). He has prepared over 130 national, provincial and regional sustainable tourism master plans, developed international grading standards and certification programs, prepared investment, marketing and e-marketing competitiveness strategies as well as social, economic and environmental impact assessments, green management strategies and resort and ecolodge planning and construction. His tourism planning workshops have been attended by more than 8,000 participants worldwide.

He is considered an international expert in several areas, including the development of cross-border regional tourism strategies, such as the Northeast Asia Multi-destination Tourism Strategy, including Northeast China, Mongolia, far east Russia, North Korea, South Korea and Japan as well as, most recently, the Cooperative Tourism Strategy for the islands of the Indian Ocean.