Louise Twining-Ward

Louise Twining-Ward is the CEO of Sustainable Travel International, whose mission is to improve lives and protect places through travel and tourism. She has lived and worked in more than 30 countries., providing businesses, destinations and governments with the strategies and tools they need to protect their environmental and cultural resources and generate economic opportunity. Her particular area of expertise is small islands, and the development and use of indicators for monitoring sustainable tourism destination management. Prior to joining Sustainable Travel International in 2011, Louise was a consultant for the World Bank and Tourism Resource Consultants, a private firm based in New Zealand. She is an editorial board member of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism and an accredited STEP Eco-Certification Assessor. Louise wrote the World Bank and Africa Development Forum’s 2014 Tourism in Africa: Harnessing Tourism for Growth and Improved Livelihoods book, the 2010 UN Women and UNWTO’s Global Report on Women in Tourism.  She contributed to UNEP’s Green Economy Report and co-authored Monitoring for a Sustainable Tourism Transition: the Challenge of Developing and Using Indicators. A South Pacific expert, she supported the development of a code of ecotourism practice for the region, a tourism development plan for Samoa, a tourism human resource strategy for the Cook Islands, and designed a Regional Tourism Classification Program and a regional tourism handicraft project. She also produced the World Bank Africa Regional Tourism Strategy, the Africa Tourism Flagship Report, The Namibia Tourism Policy Note and the Seychelles Sustainable Tourism Label. Louise earned her Ph.D. in sustainable tourism and an MSc. in tourism planning and management at the University of Surrey.