This text is part of the special Business Tourism section
President of the Adventure Travel Trade Association for five years, Casey Hanisko has held various leadership positions in the travel industry for two decades. She was one of the guest speakers at the Purposeful Travel Summit, which took place from February 7 to 9 in Banff. Based in Seattle, the business and leadership coach and mentor is also a consultant for the RISE Travel Institute, which offers training on equality and social justice.
Who do you mainly work with?
I work with a lot of business leaders, especially women. I help them manage their business or overcome any challenges they may have. Women are more likely to own their businesses than men. They are leaders motivated by a specific goal. I also provide advice, particularly to tour operators.
Why work especially with women?
Many more women have started and run businesses in the travel industry over the past decade. As I have worked in this world for 25 years, I wanted to offer the opportunity to support them, since there are still quite few female mentors. […]
What are the main challenges faced by entrepreneurs who wish to make a sustainable shift?
I think a lot of companies face the same challenges of running their business, the pressures of the team and the travel and, let’s face it, the feeling that sustainability is an additional issue that needs to be addressed. must be tackled. That’s why, when I work with them, I try to remind them that this aspect should not be separated from the rest, that it is part of one and the same business strategy. […] Many of the companies I work with are already doing really good things, like working with local operators on the ground, hiring local guides, going to local restaurants, encouraging the use of renewable energy. […] They wonder when to take certain major steps and when to invest in infrastructure, in operations.
What came out of the Purposeful Travel Summit?
I would say it’s probably the need for collaboration across the entire tourism supply chain. Government must be involved to establish policies and laws and to provide funds to support local businesses to innovate, to push the boundaries. […] There really are a lot of things to do. The conversation sort of started with the need to educate travelers and how to do it. The reality is that it is extremely difficult to provide choices to travelers who simply want to go on vacation. We need to present something lasting. We just need to remove the choice [d’expériences non durables] and make sure it’s the best. It’s not just about not washing towels in hotel rooms. It’s much deeper than that.
After 25 years in the travel industry, what do you think has changed the most?
What I noticed — and we also discussed this during the summit — is that there are more and more companies that are trying to put in place their own communications strategy and obtain a sustainability credential. 10 years ago, we gave everyone bottles of water and maybe did a little carbon offsetting. Today, we are wondering how to change operational aspects. We must obtain sustainability certification. We need to be accountable for what we do and be much more visible and transparent about the difference we are making. […]
The other thing that has changed a lot is the recognition of the whole diversity and inclusion, social justice aspect of sustainability. It’s not just about nature and the environment, but also about people. This awareness has deepened so much!
The reality is that local people are essential and they need to have a good place to live. This will also make it a good place to visit.
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Duty, relating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.