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Inspiring Sustainable Tourism Conference 2022
Our annual Inspiring Sustainable Tourism Conference is a thought provoking, educational and inspirational day with amazing speakers. This event is a must for future-focused tourism businesses that want to improve their sustainability credentials. It’s packed with insights from both international and Irish leaders in their fields. Filled with practical advice, as well as inspiration from business owners that have transformed their operations and taken the lead in responsible, sustainable and regenerative tourism.
Our Inspiring Speakers
Dalton Philips, Dublin Airport Authority
Dalton Philips has been the Group Chief Executive of DAA plc since October 2017. His career began with Jardine Matheson, with roles in New Zealand, Australia and Spain. He then spent seven years with Walmart in Brazil and Germany. In 2005 Dalton joined the Weston family, as CEO of luxury goods retailer Brown Thomas Group (Ireland), and in 2007 as COO for Loblaw Companies Ltd, the leading Canadian grocery retailer. Between 2010 and 2015 Dalton was CEO of Wm Morrison Plc, the UK’s 4th largest supermarket chain. Dalton has also been a Senior Advisor to The Boston Consulting Group. Dalton has a BA from University College Dublin, an MBA from Harvard Business School and an honorary Doctorate of Management from Bradford University. Dalton is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish and also holds a private pilot’s licence.
Gráinne Kelliher, Airfield Estate
Gráinne is CEO of Airfield Estate, a not for profit, self financing visitor experience which is home to a working farm, food and ornamental gardens, heritage experience, cookery school and vintage cars. It is also a Research Base for Food, Agriculture and Sustainability, with a mission ‘to inspire and enable people to make food choices that benefit people, planet and pocket’. Airfield engages with thousands of schools and hosts many food related conferences and events each year. It collaborates with third level institutions to carry our research and create educational programmes around the area of food sustainability. Grainne is committed to preserving and sustaining Airfield Estate for future generations whilst always being true of the wishes of its original owners, Letitia and Naomi Overend, who set up Airfield as a charitable trust in 1974. Prior to Airfield Grainne spent 25yrs working at executive level in organisations such as Disneyland Paris, Quinlan Private and Aramark
Ian Corbett, TUI Group
Ian Corbett is the Sustainable Business Manager for the TUI Group, the world’s leading integrated tourism group which operates in more than 100 destinations worldwide. Ian is part of the senior leadership team driving the sustainable transformation of TUI, enhancing the value of its business model for TUI, its partners, and the 28 million customers served by the Group each year. Ian has been with TUI for more than 20 years and spent much of his early career in commercial, product and brand management roles, before moving into sustainability because of his desire to help further TUI’s pioneering work in the area of sustainable tourism.
Jeremy Smith, Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency
Jeremy Smith is a writer and strategist working to ensure a sustainable and regenerative future for tourism. In 2020, he co-founded Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency, a global initiative of more than 420 destinations, businesses and organisations committed to equitable science-based climate action. In 2021, he was a co-author of the Glasgow Declaration for Climate Action in Tourism, which launched at COP26 in Glasgow and was built on the original framework and commitments of Tourism Declares. He is now working with the UNWTO and Travel Foundation to ensure the implementation of the declaration over the next decade.
Jeremy is a regular commentator on sustainability and equity issues in tourism, the author of the books Transforming Travel – realising the potential of sustainable tourism and Clean Breaks – 500 new Ways to See the World, and co-founder of travindy.com, the travel industry sustainable tourism website news site. He advises destinations and businesses in sustainable tourism strategy, and sits on the advisory boards of the Future of Tourism Coalition and Travalyst.
Rachel McCaffery, Travel Without Plastic
Rachel McCaffery has over 15 years of experience in tourism and sustainability. One of the founders of Travel Without Plastic, she used her experience of working with businesses to overcome problems to establish Greener Guest – a knowledge hub and marketplace to help hospitality businesses reduce plastic and source more sustainable alternatives. Rachel has driven sustainability strategy and supply chain management for commercial tour operators such as Airtours, Virgin Holidays, STA Travel and Virgin Atlantic. She was heavily involved in the creation of the Association of British Travel Agents’ (ABTA) sustainability tools such as the Travelife Sustainability System, the Global Animal Welfare Guidelines and Responsible Volunteering Guidelines, and works with visitor attractions, hotels, destinations and other tourism businesses to implement and promote sustainable tourism.
Jo Hendrickx, Travel Without Plastic
Jo Hendrickx is the Founder of Travel Without Plastic and Co-Founder of Greener Guest. She has over 20 years of experience in the tourism sector, and since 2007 has worked directly with accommodation providers, excursion suppliers and tour operators to support the practical implementation of sustainability strategies. Jo has worked on waste reduction projects in Europe, the Caribbean and Asia since 2011, and has always been an advocate of circular solutions to drive a responsible approach to single-use plastic reduction. More recently she undertook a scoping report on litter reduction on behalf of the Snowdonia National Park Authority and was also the lead author of ‘Rethinking Single Use Plastic Products in Travel & Tourism’ by UNEP and the WTTC’ published in June this year.
Mark Henry, Tourism Ireland
Mark Henry leads the Central Marketing Division of Tourism Ireland (TI). His remit includes strategy, research, brand, content creation, digital platforms, customer engagement and industry partnership. Mark represents Tourism Ireland on the Department’s Sustainable Tourism Working Group, and chairs TI’s internal Sustainability Taskforce. He is also the author of ‘In Fact: An Optimist’s Guide to Ireland at 100’ which charts the progress that Ireland has made in its first 100 years as an independent nation.
Mary White, Blackstairs Ecotrails
Mary White is a former Green Party Member of the Irish Parliament for Carlow/Kilkenny and former Minister of State for Equality, Human Rights and Integration. She is a linguist, walking guide, forager, flora and fauna specialist. She speaks to a wide public on Deep Ecology, Eco Tourism, Climate Change, Sustainability and other green issues.
Mary runs Blackstairs Ecotrails, an award winning eco tourism business in the Blackstairs Mountains and the Barrow valley, with her husband Robert and daughter Dorothy Ellen. She works with schools and other organisations running wild life and foraging workshops , team building events and Celtic Tree Trails.
Mary is also a well- known conference speaker on green issues.
Úna Fitzpatrick, National Biodiversity Data Centre
Úna FitzPatrick has a Ph.D. in botany. She worked on a project on the conservation of Irish bees before joining the National Biodiversity Data Centre in 2007. The Centre is responsible for the collection, collation, management, analysis and dissemination of data on Ireland’s biological diversity. As Senior Ecologist, she is responsible for the plant, vegetation and pollinator work programmes of the Centre. In 2015, she co-founded the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan. She is Chair of the Steering Group and also oversees implementation of the Plan.
Dr. Xavier Font, University Of Surrey
Dr Xavier Font is professor of Sustainability Marketing at the University of Surrey, UK. He researches and develops methods of sustainable tourism production and consumption. He has published widely about sustainable tourism certification, and has consulted on sustainable product development, marketing and communication for several United Nations agencies, the International Finance Corporation, the European Commission, national tourist boards and the private sector. He has conducted over 150 courses for more than 3000 businesses on how to market and communicate sustainability. He is currently the Principal Investigator for the University of Surrey for the €23m Interreg project Experience, that is developing low season sustainable tourism visitor experiences.
Check Out Our Previous Conferences And See How We Inspire Sustainable Action
Inspiring Sustainable Tourism Conference 2025
Inspiring Sustainable Tourism Conference 2024
Inspiring Sustainable Tourism Conference 2022
