The Regenerative Travel
Industry Forum 2021

Join Our Trade Show on Oct 27th

Discover hotels, DMCs and tour operators with a deep commitment to positive social and environmental impact at our trade show.

What You Can Expect As An Exhibitor

An exclusive opportunity to create an interactive experience that educates buyers on your products, experiences and destinations.
A curated list of potential buyers interested in learning more about a regenerative approach to travel.

What You Can Expect As A Buyer

Exhibitor presentations for education and in-depth insight into on regenerative travel offerings and hotels around the world
Opportunity to expand your network with like-minded regenerative partners

$ 500 For independent hotels & DMCs

20 minute exhibition slot during the virtual Trade Show on October 27, 2021
45 minute consultation with RT trade specialist on your trade sales & marketing strategy to provide a high level overview of how to navigate sales, PR & marketing strategy
Access to a curated database of 100+ potential buyers, suppliers and travel agents interested to learn more about and sell Regenerative Travel hotels, product and experiences
Complimentary access to join the virtual Trade Show & Industry Forum

Free For travel agents & media

Access to join the virtual Trade Show & Industry Forum
Informative and curated exhibitor presentations from regenerative hotels and suppliers with recordings available to replay
First access to join our online community for the industry (trade, agents and media) interested to learn more about and sell Regenerative Travel hotels, product and experiences
Access to our industry newsletter on new hotels, product offerings and experiences from Regenerative Travel

For more information:
Melony van der Merwe

[email protected]

Deep dive into the state of the industry and how regenerative principles can transform your business to be a force for good.

introduction

10:00 – 10:15AM EDT

welcome

Introduction to Regenerative Travel

A welcome from the founding team behind Regenerative Travel

Amanda Ho, Co-Founder of Regenerative Travel
Melony van der Merwe, Community Builder at Regenerative Travel
O’Shannon Burns, Ecosystem Steward at Regenerative Travel

Introduction to Regenerative Travel

A welcome from the founding team behind Regenerative Travel

Amanda Ho, Co-Founder of Regenerative Travel
Melony van der Merwe, Community Builder at Regenerative Travel
O’Shannon Burns, Ecosystem Steward at Regenerative Travel

session 1

10:15 – 10:45AM EDT

session 1

Shaping The Future of Travel To Be Net Positive

We explore through a global lens of various industry professionals, how the travel landscape has shifted in a Covid conscious world as well as positive ways to navigate this new normal.

Juliet Kinsman, Sustainability Editor at Conde Nast Traveller (Moderator)
Henley Vazquez, Co-Founder at Fora
Jared Meyers, Co-Founder at BTOURISM
Luca Franco, Founder and CEO of Luxury Frontiers
Naledi K. Khabo, CEO, Africa Tourism Association

Shaping The Future of Travel To Be Net Positive

We explore through a global lens of various industry professionals, how the travel landscape has shifted in a Covid conscious world as well as positive ways to navigate this new normal.

Juliet Kinsman, Sustainability Editor at Conde Nast Traveller (Moderator)
Henley Vazquez, Co-Founder at Fora
Jared Meyers, Co-Founder at BTOURISM
Luca Franco, Founder and CEO of Luxury Frontiers
Naledi K. Khabo, CEO, Africa Tourism Association

session 2

11:00 – 11:45AM EDT

session 2

Hotel Supply Chains and Environmental Impact

An exploration of how regenerative hotels keep a sustainable, low-impact back of house or supply chain.

O’Shannon Burns, Ecosystems Steward at Regenerative Travel (Moderator)
Jeffery Smith, Vice President of Sustainability at Six Senses
Dana Krauskopf, Owner at Hamanasi Resort
Portia Hart, Standard Bearer at Regenerative Travel and Founder of Blue Apple Beach

session 3

12:00 – 12:45PM EDT

session 3

Metrics & Benchmarking: How Do We Measure Impact?

A discussion on how hotels can assess impact and what metrics should be considered for true regenerative impact.

Portia Hart, Standard Bearer at Regenerative Travel and Founder of Blue Apple Beach (Moderator)
Renee Kimball, Owner of Tranquilo Bay
Jenny Teasdale, Director of Operations at Green Apple

A discussion on how hotels can assess impact and what metrics should be considered for true regenerative impact.

Portia Hart, Standard Bearer at Regenerative Travel and Founder of Blue Apple Beach (Moderator)
Renee Kimball, Owner of Tranquilo Bay
Jenny Teasdale, Director of Operations at Green Apple

session 4

1:00 – 1:45PM EDT

session 4

Why We Must Assert Value To Travelers

Exploring regenerative revenue models for a sustained future. In this session we explore how we can effectively assert value that supports all stakeholders to consumers.

Mary Holland, Journalist (Moderator)
Beks Ndlovu, Founder of African Bush Camps
Brooke Garnett, Founder of MAYAMAYA
Byron Thomas, Managing Director of Niarra Travel

Exploring regenerative revenue models for a sustained future. In this session we explore how we can effectively assert value that supports all stakeholders to consumers.

Mary Holland, Journalist (Moderator)
Beks Ndlovu, Founder of African Bush Camps
Brooke Garnett, Founder of MAYAMAYA
Byron Thomas, Managing Director of Niarra Travel

session 5

2:00 – 2:45PM EDT

session 5

Designing and Selling Regenerative Travel

A discussion on ways of incorporating regenerative travel values and experiences into guest itineraries to shift the paradigm towards travel with transformative and positive impact.

Jen Murphy, Travel Journalist (Moderator)
Gregory Sacks, Co-Founder Trufflepig Travel
Martin Frankenberg, President Brazil Luxury Travel Association
Cheraé Robinson, Founder & CEO of Tastemakers Africa
Brett Melzer, Co-Founder & Owner Gangtey Lodge

A discussion on ways of incorporating regenerative travel values and experiences into guest itineraries to shift the paradigm towards travel with transformative and positive impact.

Jen Murphy, Travel Journalist (Moderator)
Gregory Sacks, Co-Founder Trufflepig Travel
Martin Frankenberg, President Brazil Luxury Travel Association
Cheraé Robinson, Founder & CEO of Tastemakers Africa
Brett Melzer, Co-Founder & Owner Gangtey Lodge

session 6

3:00 – 3:45PM EDT

session 6

Changing The Media Narrative To Foster A More Equitable & Regenerative Future

An overview of regenerative principles and criteria for regeneration starting from sense of place. We explore how to foster purpose-led journalism and telling engaging sustainability-pegged stories which effect positive change.

Paula Franklin, Branding Consultant and Co-Founder of Travel Is Better in Color (Moderator)
María Pellicer, Journalist
Jeralyn Gerba, Co-Founder of Fathom, Co-Founder of Travel Is Better in Color
Harriet Owalla, Journalist
Tina Aponte, Owner of Royal Chundu

Paula Franklin, Branding Consultant and Co-Founder of Travel Is Better in Color (Moderator)
María Pellicer, Journalist
Jeralyn Gerba, Co-Founder of Fathom, Co-Founder of Travel Is Better in Color
Harriet Owalla, Journalist
Tina Aponte, Owner of Royal Chundu

session 7

4:00 – 4:45PM EDT

session 7

Redefining Wellness Travel Post-Pandemic

The regenerative definition of wellness travel that includes as well as goes beyond spa, yoga, and traditional associations with wellness, and invites an expanded understanding of travel that serves one’s wellbeing.

Erica Hartnick, Co Founder + Creative Director of Yoga Trade (Moderator)
Chip Conley, Founder of Modern Elder Academy
Adi Shakti, Founder of SoulWork
Andrew Sealy, Founder at Andrew7Sealy
Michelle Fliegauf, Founder of International Yoga

Erica Hartnick, Co Founder + Creative Director of Yoga Trade (Moderator)
Chip Conley, Founder of Modern Elder Academy
Adi Shakti, Founder of SoulWork
Andrew Sealy, Founder at Andrew7Sealy
Michelle Fliegauf, Founder of International Yoga

Amanda Ho

Co-Founder of Regenerative Travel

Born and raised in New York, Amanda is the Co-Founder and Brand Director of Regenerative Travel, an online travel platform is dedicated to connecting travelers to values-aligned hotels. Through sharing individual best practices and, through collaboration, Regenerative Travel enables the collection to work together to achieve significant economies of scale, to build liquidity and legacy, and to make a deeper impact. Previously as the founder a multi-media lifestyle publication, Amanda honed her craft as a storyteller, producer and creative strategist for luxury hospitality and real estate companies, tourism boards and lifestyle brands with a passion for sustainability.

Beks Ndlovu

Founder of African Bush Camps

Beks Ndlovu, a professional safari guide born and raised in the village of Lupane on the outskirts of Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe founded the 100% owner-run and Africa based African Bush Camps in 2006. From the start of operations, Ndlovu’s mission has been to operate a portfolio of luxury tented camps and lodges across Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. In founding African Bush Camps Ndlovu also created The African Bush Camps Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on conservation, education, and empowerment for the communities that surround the company’s camp locations.

Byron Thomas

managing director of niarra travel

Growing up close to Durban in South Africa from the age of six, Byron’s love and passion for Africa’s people and wilderness was deeply embedded from a young age. After a (brief!) foray into banking in London, he worked with non-profit community construction projects in the townships in KZN and the Eastern Cape. In 2012, Byron joined a luxury travel company to share what he loved creating safaris across the continent. The events of 2020 gave him the opportunity to create something new with these values at its core and so Niarra Travel was born.

Gregory Sacks

Co-Founder at TrufflePig

Greg grew up in Toronto, the son of South African immigrants, and tales of far-away places were always swirling around the family table. After 4 years at McGill University in Montreal, where he earned a Bachelors Degree in Psychology and Poutine, Greg translated his french speaking skills and love for mountain biking into a job guiding luxury bicycle tours around France. In 2004 he started a custom travel company with 2 friends, and the rest as they say is history. Trufflepig Travel is now 16 years old, with 21 staff spread across 6 countries. Trufflepig plans and operates bespoke itineraries in over 40 countries around the world.

Dana Krauskopf

Owner at Hamanasi Resort

Dana Krauskopf together with her husband, are founders and owners of the award winning Hamanasi Adventure & Dive Resort, a boutique eco-resort in Belize. She and her husband David love travel, so much so that in the 1990s they quit their professional jobs in Chicago and moved to Eastern Europe. Seven years and three countries later, after working in marketing, travel and for UNESCO, Dana with David took on creating their dream of a high-end, high-service hotel. From the start, they developed their 31 acres of coastal forest with the marine environment and local people in mind.

Jared Meyers

co-founder at btourism

Jared Meyers is the Owner and/or Chairman for several companies headquartered in Florida. The most notable ones are those that operate under the Legacy Vacation Resorts and Salt Palm brands. He firmly believes that resources and capabilities exist to solve most of humanity’s problems and to achieve a prosperous future for all. To accomplish this, businesses must measure their impact, be transparent, and drive the responsibility revolution; and consumers must prioritize their spending and habits in alignment with these businesses.

Juliet Kinsman

sustainability edtior at
Conde Nast Traveller

Juliet Kinsman has spent two and a half decades as a journalist and broadcaster talking about the world’s most special places in which to spend time. In 2020 she was appointed Condé Nast’s first-ever Sustainability Editor, and she published her book ‘The Green Edit: Travel, Easy Tips for the Eco-Friendly Traveller.’ Founding editor of Mr & Mrs Smith, today luxury to her means design-led hotels having a positive impact which celebrates through BOUTECO, her sustainability consultancy to help award-winning brands stand for something and stand out for it.

Henley Vazquez

Co-Founder at Fora

Henley began her career at Town & Country Travel magazine before joining the founding team at Indagare then launching her own agency, Passported. She recently teamed up with co-founders Evan Frank and Jake Peters to build Fora, a new platform launching late 2021 and focused on empowering anyone passionate about travel to earn income as a travel advisor. Henley, who is originally from Virginia and graduated from Princeton University, spent part of lockdown living in Costa Rica but has now dutifully returned to New York City, where her three children and jungle rescue dog can be spotted terrorizing Tribeca.

Martin Frankenberg

President Brazil Luxury Travel Association

Martin was one of the founders of Matueté Travel in Brazil, the leading Luxury Inbound and Outbound Operators in Brazil. Elected to Conde Nast Traveler Magazine’s List of Top Travel Specialists for 10 consecutive years between 2011 and 2020. President of the Brazilian Luxury Travel Association from 2017 to 2021. In the end of 2019, left his executive role at Matueté to dedicate his time to sustainable and regenerative travel in Brazil, especially in the Amazon. Has been Conservation International’s Technical Consultant for the Travel Industry since the beginning of 2021.

Jeffery Smith

Vice President of Sustainability at Six Senses

As vice president, sustainability, Jeffery is tasked with ensuring that Six Senses remains at the leading edge of sustainable tourism practices that includes environmental performance of each property, supporting the preservation of natural and cultural heritage and enhancing social and economic benefits to local communities in destinations where Six Senses operates. Under his leadership, Six Senses will continue to optimize its measurable performance in sustainable hotel and spa operations, while maximizing the benefits provided to communities and environments

Naledi K. Khabo

CEO of Africa Tourism Association

Naledi K. Khabo is a strategy leader with 25 years experience within Operations, Marketing & Technology. Naledi currently serves as chief executive at the Africa Tourism Association (ATA). During her tenure at ATA, Naledi has led the organization through significant operational changes including a complete re-branding of the organization and launching new digital platforms to serve the tourism industry. Most recently, Naledi has made driving inclusive engagement and DEI initiatives across the travel industry. She is co-founder of Travel Is Better In Color – a platform celebrating diverse storytelling across the travel industry.

O'Shannon Burns

Ecosystem Steward at Regenerative Travel

O’Shannon is Regenerative Travel’s Ecosystem Steward, working together with hotel members to co-create a vibrant ecosystem where properties can learn and discover opportunities for greater social and environmental impact. She is also a consultant for EplerWood International where she studies and implements solutions to foster the sustainable management of tourism destinations. O’Shannon spent more than a decade at National Geographic collaborating with explorers, spearheading sustainability initiatives, and developing exploratory travel experiences on all seven continents.

Brooke Garnett

Founder of MAYAMAYA

Brooke is a founder of MAYAMAYA, a high profile luxury travel company which specializes in tailoring seamless, premium journeys around the world. Brooke has spent the last 16 years working in the travel industry and has been featured as a Condé Nast Top Travel Specialist and on the Travel + Leisure A-List. Brooke specializes in travel to more remote destinations with a focus on Africa. Brooke spends a lot of her time traveling so that she has first-hand knowledge of all the best aspects of the places she sends her clients, as well as what her clients should avoid.

Luca Franco

Founder and CEO of Luxury Frontiers

Luca Franco is the Founder and CEO of Luxury Frontiers, a San Francisco/Johannesburg-based international firm specializing in design, development, and guest experience concepts for upmarket, light-on-earth hospitality structures ranging from tented camps to treetop suites. Drawing on his passion for transformational travel, re-wilding, and entrepreneurship, Franco founded Luxury Frontiers in 2011 and has grown the firm with a multicultural team of designers, architects, and eco-resort experts to create truly experiential hospitality structures.

Erica Hartnik

co-founder of yoga trade

Erica Hartnick grew up in the Sierra Nevada foothills in Nevada City, California and enjoys all things wild and free. She is grateful for having the opportunity to live a life of adventure and exploration. Erica Hartnick is the Founder of Yoga Trade. Yoga Trade connects the yoga and wellness community with inspiring work experiences and unique opportunities around the globe. The vision is a world made better through living yoga-based exchanges that improve communities locally and globally.

Cheraé Robinson

founder and ceo of tastemakers africa

Cheraé Robinson is an intrapreneur turned entrepreneur, DJ, Pan-Africanist, and the Founder and CEO of Tastemakers Africa, an experiences marketplace connecting travelers to local insiders in African cities. Combining her strong passions for agriculture and development, Cheraé has raised visibility and support for large international organizations, including CARE USA, for nearly a decade through fundraising, media, and public-private partnerships.

Harriet Owalla

Journalist

Harriet Owalla is a travel and conservation journalist based in Kenya with over 6 years of experience in covering the region. Her work has appeared in both local and international newspapers and magazines and has appeared on BBC travel Kenya edition and on the New York times where she talked on Kenyan travel during the pandemic.

Mary Holland

Journalist

Mary Holland is a South African writer based in New York. She has written for the Financial Times How To Spend It, Wall Street Journal Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure and AFAR. She is also the New York correspondent for Monocle Magazine. She was previously the Online Editor at GQ and GLAMOUR for over two years overseeing the team of writers for both brands online.

Melony van der Merwe

Community Builder at Regenerative Travel

Melony van der Merwe is an independent Travel Trade Relations Specialist based in North America. With over 15 years’ experience in the industry, this South African has designed private travel to Africa and represents sought after boutique hotels and safari lodges to the travel trade. When this nomadic epicurean is not travelling to eat and discover, she also builds community and a deeper appreciation for the environment through food through the lunar dinner communions that she hosts at her home.

Portia Hart

Standard bearer at Regenerative Travel and Founder of Blue Apple Beach

Entrepreneur and expert in hospitality in rapidly developing markets (specifically LatAm). Since 2015, Portia is the founder of two boutique hotels, three beach clubs, two bars and a not-for-profit foundation in Cartagena, Colombia. Hospitality brands designed for young, affluent and modern travelers seeking luxury in a fun, creative but also culturally sensitive and environmentally responsible setting. The Green Apple Foundation specializes in the promotion of sustainability in the local tourism industry.

Renee Kimball

Owner of Tranquilo Bay

Working in Houston, Texas for over 10 years gave Renee and her business partner time to research different parts of the world and fall in love with Bocas del Toro, Panama. In 2004, Renee left her technology and transactions attorney career to pursue the opening of Tranquilo Bay. She now manages all guest relations and travel for the resort, in addition to overseeing its daily management and marketing. Renee was also President of the Bocas Sustainable Tourism Alliance, which was a destination management organization for Bocas del Toro from 2009 – 2012.

Maria Pellicer

Journalist

Maria was born in Mexico City and previously worked for Travel + Leisure Mexico before becoming Travesías Editor-in-Chief. After nine years on the job, she became Editorial Director for Travesias Media. As editor of books and travel guides like México capital gastronómica, Viajar y comer por México, LOCAL: Edición especial gastronomía and Playas de México, Maria was in charge of all Travesias Media travel projects while being editor of the Latin American edition of Virtuoso Life. She is now writing as a freelance journalist, taking advantage of the freedom and choosing carefully the stories she want to share with readers.

Chip Conley

founder at modern elder academy

New York Times bestselling author Chip Conley is the hospitality maverick who helped Airbnb’s founders turn their fast-growing tech start-up into a global hospitality brand. In Wisdom@Work: The Making of a Modern Elder he shares his unexpected journey at midlife — from CEO to intern — learning about technology as Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy, while also mentoring CEO Brian Chesky. Chip is the founder of the Modern Elder Academy, where a new roadmap for midlife is offered at a beautiful oceanfront campus in Baja California Sur, Mexico. MEA will be opening up their first U.S. MEA Regenerative Community outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2023.

Jeralyn Gerb

Co-Founder of Fathom

Jeralyn Gerba is the co-founder of the women-led travel company Fathom, an award-winning editorial travel website, content agency, and boutique advisory service providing world-curious travelers and brands with inspiration and expert recommendations. Her latest book, Travel North America (and Avoid Being a Tourist), is an homage to the stories, histories, landscapes, and cultures of the vast and diverse North American continent. She is also a co-founder of Travel Is Better in Color, an initiative drawing attention to dynamic travel writers and photographers of color and the distinct lenses through which they see the world.

Michelle Fliegauf

Founder at International Yoga

Michelle founded International Yoga in 2008 out of her love for both yoga and travel. From Antarctica to Uzbekistan, from bicycling around the Himalayas to traversing Africa for a year via public transport, her passport was so full of stamps that she needed extra pages added twice! She has spent the last 20 years in the adventure-travel field and for 13 years has had the honor to manage retreats for many senior teachers as well as being the preferred retreat management company for YogaWorks, the largest yoga studio cooperative in the US, along with many other studios. Michelle currently lives at the beach in San Francisco with her husband and two young sons.

Jenny Teasdale

Director of Operations at Green Apple

Jenny is a not-for-profit director and communications consultant, now running Fundación Green Apple in Cartagena and helping businesses and not-for-profits around the world with communications and sustainability. Originally from London, she has set up and run sustainability projects, working with businesses, communities and vulnerable groups to develop local solutions, mentor people, create employment opportunities and facilitate impactful positive change. As a marketing consultant, she delivers marketing strategies for global brands, startups and NGOs, focusing on content strategy, audience development and lead generation.

Brett Melzer

Co-Founder & Owner Gangtey Lodge

Over the past twenty years, Brett, together with his business partner, has successfully conceptualised, developed and operated three award winning Tourism Products in the frontier Markets of Myanmar and Bhutan. He specialises in new business development by analysing existing tourism environments and seeking to bring pioneering new niche concepts to market. In November 2013 Melzer opened the Gangtey Lodge in, winner of the Travel and Leisure Global Design Award, and a repeated Conde Nast and Travel and Leisure award gold list or best 100 resorts winner.

Paula Franklin

co-Founder at travel is better in color

Born in San Diego, Paula has lived in Berlin, DC, and New York. She’s worked in travel for almost two decades where she has focused her work on the intersection of hospitality, philanthropy, and culture. Paula helped launch Travel is Better in Color, a media platform and consultancy that elevates diverse voices and experts within the travel industry. We sat down with the jet-setter to chat about travel, connection, and how redefining them both might change our world for the better.

Andrew Sealy

Founder Andrew7Sealy

Andrew Sealy is a connection catalyst, a yoga artist, and a movement creator. He is internationally recognized for his yoga teachings and wellness leadership. Andrew’s teachings of Compassionate Self Love and Infinite Positive Potential inspire practitioners of all walks of life worldwide. Through the unique practice of Yoga and Mindful Living, Andrew embodies progressive knowledge while positively empowering his students with the tools needed for sustainable growth. Andrew’s teachings aim to answer the question: How can we adapt to create and evolve to sustain?

Jen Murphy

Journalist

Jen Murphy is a writer and editor who lives between Boulder, Colorado and Maui. She has written the Wall Street Journal’s “What’s Your Workout” column since 2003 and has profiled the exercise routines of everyone from politician Sarah Palin to NFL quarterback Drew Brees. Jen spent eight years working as an editor at Food & Wine magazine in New York City and fell in love with craft beer, amaro, sea salt brownies, and the gorgeous plates made by Hering Berlin. Her tenure as Food & Wine’s travel editor took her on a railway journey across India and a surf trip through Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, among other delicious adventures.