President of Maldives for symposium

President Nasheed

Sonu Shivdasani says: The Travel and Tourism Industry Needs To Do More

High profile attendees to include President Nasheed, president of the Maldives and environmentalist-explorer David de Rothschild

Six Senses is to host the third S.L.O.W. LIFE Symposium this October convening world-leading thinkers, policy makers and business leaders, the Symposium aims to accelerate progress towards sustainable business practices in the tourism industry.

The very best thinkers and key industry players will join forces with government ministers to confront the principle challenges facing the travel and tourism industry, including low-carbon infrastructure, transportation, resort management and threatened biodiversity.

Attendees will share insights, projections and plans, making connections that could influence the future direction of the tourism industry.

‘This is not just any old symposium on eco-tourism, but one where walking the talk about eco-tourism comes naturally and where proven leadership is all around us.  I suspect we all believe that the very idea of a sustainable future for humankind may well depend more on this industry than on any other.’

Adventurer and environmentalist David de Rothschild will be attending this year's symposium. A founder of myoo.com, a group that uses exploration and storytelling as a way to give nature a voice, and for his headline-grabbing adventures such as the Plastiki expedition which involved sailing across the Pacific on a catamaran made entirely with reclaimed plastic bottles, de Rothschild will be a big asset in helping communicate the symposium’s findings and messages.

Others scheduled to speak include President Nasheed of the Maldives and Sonu Shivdasani, Chairman and CEO of Six Senses, the luxury resort company at the forefront of eco-tourism innovation, Jean Ballandras, Secretary General for the Reunion Islands, Jonathon Porritt, Forum for the Future, Tim Smit, Co-Founder and CEO of the Eden Project; Fabien Cousteau, grandson of Jacques Cousteau and Founder of Plant A Fish, Chris Gorrell-Barnes of Blue Foundation and Mark Lynas, Author and Climate Change Advisor to President Nasheed.

Sonu Shivdasani, CEO and Chairman of Six Senses said, ‘Tourism does so much good for sustainability. If it wasn’t for tourism, most of the fantastic reserves in South Africa or Namibia would be mines or farms. The land would go to waste. It would be stripped of lumber. Animals would be killed and eaten. The thing we can do as individuals is to try and make tourism sustainable. Six Senses has a voice within the travel and tourism industry and we want to use our voice to encourage every level of the industry to be more sustainable in its choices. The travel and tourism industry needs to do more.

We want our findings to reach the heart of the industry, going right back to investment and development stages.’

Valere Tjolle
Valere is editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suite 2011 Special Offers HERE