Mike Robbins

Michael Robbins has over 30 years of experience as a tourism consultant and has worked throughout Canada, the US, New Zealand/Australia, Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean. With a background in environmental planning, Michael focused his professional career on planning and developing more sustainable tourism models that consider the triple bottom line: economic, social and environmental. He founded his own boutique management consulting firm in 1994 and quickly became a recognized expert in strategic planning and marketing, feasibility assessments for new tourism ventures, business planning, and master planning for tourism resorts and attractions.

He has a particular interest in tourism as a form of economic empowerment for indigenous peoples and has worked on a wide range of assignments with First Nation, Inuit, and Maori entrepreneurs. Since 2009, Michael has been assisting     the Inuit community of Arviat in Nunavut, Canada to develop a community-based tourism program. The Arviat Community Ecotourism initiative was a finalist in the Canadian Tourism Awards for 2012 in the cultural tourism category, and was selected as one of the Top 10 Canadian Social Change Innovators for 2012 by TIDES Canada. Through TIDES Canada, Michael has a donor directed fund (7th Generation Fund) providing assistance to various Aboriginal tourism and environmental conservation initiatives across Canada. 

Michael has served on a number of public and private boards, as well as charities, and currently serves as a Trustee with the Pete Crompton Foundation. He has been involved philanthropically and professionally in a number of landmark Canadian conservation initiatives, including the Great Bear Rainforest and the Taku River Tlingit traditional territory land use management plan.