Block Island Sustainable Destination Study
Block Island Sustainable Destination Study
Block Island
Sustainable Tourism Destination Mgmt
Marine life
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EWI Contributes to Coastal and Marine Tourism Study for a Sustainable Ocean Economy3
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat Cambodia

Sustainable Tourism | Ecotourism | Destinations & Communities

EplerWood International (EWI) builds value-added sustainable tourism economies which invest in improved local well-being.

EWI has a substantial track record working in the field together with the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, USAID, and GIZ.  We work closely with industry associations; destination management organizations; city, county and state governments; and NGOs in the United States; Canada; Cambodia; Thailand; Vietnam; India; Sri Lanka; Bangladesh; China; Samoa; Fiji; Honduras; El Salvador; Costa Rica, Ecuador; Colombia; Brazil; Mexico; Puerto Rico; the Dominican Republic; Tunisia; Egypt ; Cyprus & Sierra Leone. See details here.

THE INVISIBLE BURDEN:

Groundbreaking Reports
& Analysis

DESTINATION MANAGEMENT:

Ecotourism & DestInvest

SPEAKING:

Speaking & Strategic
Destination Evaluation

KEY AFFILIATIONS:

Harvard University, Cornell University, The Travel Foundation

FEATURED PROJECTS

VIEW ALL

Cornell University's "Sustainable Tourism Destination Management" 
Online Course Breaks New Ground Worldwide

Sustainable Tourism Destination Management

EplerWood International helped to develop, create and finance the online, self-paced Sustainable Tourism Destination Management course from Cornell University in 2022. Over 600 enrolled in 2023, our first anniversary. It is evidently changing the way students and professionals think, learn and act on the challenges of managing destinations sustainably. Course alumnae have now stepped up to explain why this course is fundamental to their thinking, what their course experience has been, and why it will guide thinking about sustainable destination management in future. Dozens have posted their comments on LinkedIn without prompting as they completed the course. Read a selection of their comments here.

Graduates Speak Out on the Value of the 
Cornell Sustainable Tourism Destination Management Course

  • "I 100% recommend the Sustainable Tourism Destination Management course from Cornell University led by the great Megan Epler Wood. It has a large number of useful tools and examples - from all over the world – and helped me to understand tourism taxes, climate action plans, and land management tools, all of which are addressed in an educational and entertaining way."

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    Marco Lucero Co-Founder, Cuidadores de Destinos, Chile

  • "The Cornell course provided a comprehensive understanding of the challenges facing tourism destinations and proposed solutions that acknowledge the tourism industry's and local communities' collective responsibility."

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    Helen Van Wengen House of Social Enterprise, Amsterdam, Netherlands and Jordan

  • "I came into the course having mixed feelings because of my experience in past
    e-learning modules. But, the amount of content was just right. The introductory summaries for each module were on point, simple and easy to digest, and it made me look forward to the rest of the material in each module. I completed it with so much joy knowing that there are great experts and resources who are doing their part in making sure we make tourism more sustainable one course at a time."

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    Christina Gale Sustainable Tourism Manager, The Pacific Tourism Organization, Fiji

  • "One of the most interesting courses I have taken on sustainable tourism. I am very grateful to everyone involved for making such a holistic analysis of different places possible and giving us perspectives that we can apply in our environment to safeguard one of the most important economic niches of any country."

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    Cuau Ramírez Economic Analyst, University of Colima, Mexico City, Mexico

  • "I am happy to have completed the Sustainable Tourism Destination Management course by Cornell University. Among many points, I learned: The invisible costs of tourism on destinations are the costs to upgrade infrastructure beyond resident needs to meet tourism demands. If the invisible costs of tourism are not met at the destination level, top destinations will have a growing debt per tourist even as tourism economies soar."

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    Dominic Wanjiru Sustainable Travel & Tourism Agenda, Kenya

  • "I had an incredible learning experience. It's been empowering to learn how the real ‘net’ economic value of tourism could be calculated on a destination scale. I especially enjoyed learning how to develop a destination-level greenhouse gas inventory to assess climate vulnerability and develop actionable climate action plans for tourism destinations."

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    Shivya Nath Climate Conscious Travel, India

What's New?

EWI Projects

EWI projects

EplerWood International (EWI) develops ecotourism and sustainable tourism destination plans through rigorous research and strategic planning. Explore our Projects page to learn more about how EWI is shaping the future of sustainable tourism around the globe.

EWI’s strength lies in transforming research into effective data-based frameworks to manage tourism’s impacts and develop ground-breaking infrastructure and baseline carbon emissions planning for destinations worldwide, which can be fully replicated locally.

Our track record is exemplified by the Post-Hurricane Maria Puerto Rico Project 2018 which highlights our capability in alternative business planning and long-term environmental and cultural protection strategies. The company has worked in some of the world’s most pressing conservation and social equity cases to preserve and protect some of the earth’s most important biodiversity and wildlife destinations, generating local opportunity and social equity worldwide.

From LinkedIn