EplerWood International - Sustainable Development, Ecotourism, Destinations, Communities

Sustainable Tourism Ecotourism Destinations Communities

What's New at EWI

Ecotourism and Business Sustainability

The International Sustainable Tourism Initiative (ISTI) works closely with a range of Harvard scholars to develop high quality materials on sustainable tourism. We are proud to announce the launch of our new Harvard Business School case study, Wilderness Safaris: Ecotourism Entrepreneurship. This study details how a key, publicly traded company in Southern Africa has prioritized investments in conservation and built a decision making structure around a quadruple bottom line. In the 8 countries where they operate, Wilderness Safaris uses data analysis that gives trackable insights into community well-being and ecosystem health.

Ecotourism and Sustainable Development

The Wilderness Safaris case, together with other Harvard materials on Costa Rica, Peru, and ecotourism around the world, will be used in Megan Epler Wood’s course Ecotourism and Sustainable Development through Harvard Extension School. This course will be offered in the Fall 2018 semester, on-line worldwide.

New documentary on Overtourism

Justin Francis and Responsible Travel have produced an important video on overtourism entitled “Crowded Out”. This documentary raises many salient points on the future of tourism destination management. Tune in and hear what locals and experts have to say, including EWI Principal, Megan Epler Wood. Watch Here.

Featured Projects

Puerto Rico: Building a Resilient Ecotourism Industry in Puerto Rico Post Hurricane Maria

EplerWood International joined the national effort to rebuild Puerto Rico’s economy with an innovative project to develop a new course of action for tourism development on the island after the devastating impacts of Hurricane Maria. This tough time in Puerto Rico’s history has been made worse by a plummeting tourism economy. The damage from Hurricane Maria is tragic, but it opens the door to new forms of tourism which can lead to greater sustainable development outcomes for local people.

EWI proposed a full review of the island for potential to develop an Alternative Tourism economy and worked with expert GIS planners, Geoadaptive, in Boston to manage the alternative tourism hub identification process. EWI handled community survey work, consultations with civil society and developed strategies for building an alternative tourism market economy with local enterprises. These outputs are part of a disaster recovery project led by the Rand Corporation for the Puerto Rico government, local civil society, and the U.S. Congress.