Vicky Smith
Vicky Smith has been working in tourism since the mid-90s, and in sustainable tourism since the mid-00s, in destinations, marketing, and e-commerce. She has led overseas and online operations for major tour operators such as Tui and Virgin Holidays, online travel agents and media, in mass market tourism, ski touring, charity challenges, volunteer tourism, NGOs, and sustainable tourism accreditation organizations.
She has been a ski resort manager, a qualified ranger in Africa, a charity challenge leader, and an acclaimed academic for her pioneering published Responsible Tourism Management (Distinction) thesis on online marketing and the greenwashing of volunteer tourism.
She is also a trustee of the charity SEED Madagascar, part of the development team on the board of the Global Ecotourism Network, helping to create the European Ecotourism Network, and in 2019 the #YearOfGreenAction ambassador for the UK Department for the Environment (DEFRA).
Her start-up, www.earth-changers.com, was a partner solution for the UN Year of Tourism for Sustainable Development 2017, was a finalist in the UK Blog and Ethical Business Awards, won Travelmole’s UK Award for Responsible Travel and Tourism for website in 2019 and included as a Top 3 Storytelling Finalist in the NatWest/Pioneers Post SE100 Index of the UK’s Top 100 Social Enterprises, as well as having Vicky personally included in their WISE 100 Women in Social Entrepreneurship.