Thomas Armitt Email & Phone Number

United Kingdom

Remote

Supporting the creation of, and managing, community tourism enterprise development and climate-biodiversity crisis solutions projects.Key achievements so far:* Completed the management of the "Sustainable Tourism and Protected Areas in a Post Covid World" project, in partnership with IUCN and funded by GIZ. This entailed working with teams in Peru and Vietnam, who were implementing field-based activities in four protected areas.* Led the creation and management of Planeterra's climate-biodiversity crisis response initiative, with the vision of linking community tourism to climate-biodiversity crisis solutions, creating complementarity and multiplying the positive impacts of these projects.* Facilitated G Adventures' and Planeterra's carbon footprint calculation, in line with the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism.* Spoke at various events (including ITB Berlin and ABTA's Driving Sustainable Tourism) to share how integrating Community Tourism as a core business endeavour, and by taking a people & nature positive approach, is good for business.

Chad

Researched and delivered a comprehensive report and action plan focusing on the opportunities for developing community tourism in the peripheral areas of Zakouma National Park, in Chad.

Zakouma National Park Chad

Trained all of the Zakouma National Park guides on how to create fulfilling experiences, by focusing on how these experiences can be interpreted to inspire engagement and meaningfulness, when guiding their guests around the Park.

Parc National De La Pendjari, Benin

Managed the development and implementation of a commercial development plan at Pendjari National Park, in Northern Benin, with the goal of generating 50% of all operating costs for the park, per year, through tourism & other enterprise revenue, by 2027. Key achievements:* Played a key role in making national park wide decisions as part of the Park Management Unit.* Managed the lodge refurbishment and improved the standards of service to achieve a 4.5 / 5 average rating for customer satisfaction and 9.2 / 10 for recommending the lodge to a friend or a colleague.* Tripled visitor numbers during the height of the Covid pandemic by designing and implementing a domestic tourism strategy to attract local markets.* Designed and implemented sustainable community-based hiking trails to increase the social and economic impacts of tourism in local communities* Supported the independant guiding community to improve their knowledge and skills so they can compete on an international level.* Successfully negotiated the contracts for a high end and a mid level tourism accommodation concessions that will contribute 20% to the park revenue goal.* Successfully negotiated a contract with a multinational agro-forestry company to sustainably harvest Shea nuts from inside the park. This will contribute 500k USD to park revenue, and generate 1.5 million USD for local communities within 5 years.* Created a range of products (chilli sauce, honey, Shea butter and Shea brandy) under the "Pure Pendjari" brand to showcase local ingredients and contribute to local community economic development.* Supported the design process and managed the implementation of new tourism infrastructure (animal hides, signage, welcome area buildings).

Bristol, United Kingdom

Managed a portfolio of overseas destination programmes and projects focusing on the development of responsible and sustainable tourism, in different thematic areas and at different stages of development. Achievements for Cabo Verde included: * Businesses and government work together in a Destination Council in Sal and Boa Vista* Hotels reduced their water and energy use by 12%* Partner hotels saved enough energy to power nearly 100 houses in Cabo Verde for a year and enough water savings to meet the needs of over 3,000 residents (or one-fifth of the population of Boa Vista)* 70% of tour guides trained are now meeting all responsible practice requirements* Key modules from the training course we created and delivered were adopted by the national hospitality school for all future students* Won the National Energy Globe Award for Cabo Verde in partnership with RHP Ltd, Ecovisao and GestEnGreen.Achievements for Croatia included:* By the end of the project, both villages we worked with (Zivogosce and Igrane) were benefiting from destination councils involving 26 public and private sector organisation representatives.* 17 of the 20 bar and restaurant owners trained implemented changes to business practices.* Over 800 hotel guests participated in new ‘Taste the Village’ excursions across the first season.* Business owners reported an 11% increase in footfall from hotel guests to the villages and 53% reported increased sales.

Sierra Leone

Organised and facilitated the implementation of a 10 days itinerary visiting communities living around the Tiwai Wildlife Sanctuary in South-East Sierra Leone as part of the Tiwai Heritage Trail. The experience was created for Karma Cola staff so that they could learn more about where the Kola nut (a key ingredient in their fairtrade soft drink product) came from, and to meet the communities that grow them. Key activities: Itinerary design, Community funding strategies, Budget creation and management, logistics coordination, kit organisation and purchase, community training development, tour planning and guiding, pre- and post-tour briefing and reporting, and risk assessment analysis.Key achievements:* The Karma Cola team have been using the heritage trail for 6 years now to share the communities' story with colleagues and partners. * The community fund management strategy has enabled several projects to get off the ground (e.g. Building new mosque, girl child education, teacher salary payments, women entrepreneur seed-funds)* Communities are now managing this project semi-independently and have gained useful hospitality and service skills.

Haiti, Brazil, Democratic Republic Of The Congo

Salvador, Brazil | Inter-American Development Bank - researched and analysed the tourism value chain from an inclusive growth perspective. This led to the design of an action plan that aimed at creating livelihood opportunities for afro-descendant women.Salonga National Park, DRC | Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology - researched the feasibility of developing an ecotourism product involving local forest edge communities, with a strong emphasis on protecting the Bonobo species of Great Ape.Southern Region, Haiti | Inter-American Development Bank - Designed, researched and delivered a report, exploring how the tourism sector can develop in an inclusive manner, creating livelihood opportunities for low-income people.

Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary, Pujehun District, South-East Sierra Leone

Worked on the development of ecotourism products that involve local communities in the planning, development and implementation processes and advised on targeted marketing strategies to promote ecotourism activities. The work was carried out at Tiwai Island Wildlife Sanctuary (www.tiwaiisland.org).Key achievements :* Created, in close collaboration with local communities, a heritage trail linking 8 communities via their natural, historic and cultural heritage with the goal of creating alternative livelihood opportunities other than the funds received from the wildlife sanctuary. It still exists to this day and regularly receives visitors.* Created and implemented a comprehensive and innovative marketing strategy to diversify target markets and promote resilience.* Developed a partnership with Karma Cola to use the heritage trail as an innovative way to share their product ingredient journey from source to shelf via experiential travel.* Created a tourism community Committee that was used during the Ebola Crisis (2014-2015) to sensitise communities on hygiene advice and to share up to date information amongst rural communities.* Built partnerships with several key organisations that can provide capacity building support to local communities, improving the quality of tourism products & services (e.g. First aid, ICT, etc.)

Sierra Leone

Worked with the National Tourism Board of Sierra Leone (www.welcometosierraleone.com) on developing an itinerary, for Secret Compass, based upon their specifications for an expedition experience. Led the recce expedition to assess the feasibility of the itinerary, and then accompanied the first official tour as cultural adviser. To view the experience that has been developed from these activities, follow this link: http://secretcompass.com/expeditions/sierra-leone-2015/

London, United Kingdom

Set up and ran a web portal to promote the development of, and raise awareness towards, sustainable and responsible tourism projects, based in West Africa, which benefit local communities and preserve local cultural, historical and natural heritage.

London, United Kingdom

Managed accounts, client relationships and expectations. Focus: Healthcare and IT Hardware based in EMEA, Asia Pacific and Japan regions.

London, England, United Kingdom

Managed the creation and delivery of training material within a customer service market research environment & lead an international team of quality auditors to produce high quality outputs to match clients’ expectations.

Catania Area, Italy

Taught English to groups of Italian students (age group 25-60), and worked as an interpreter (Italian to English) for private companies (e.g. Coca Cola Company)

London, United Kingdom

Assisted the marketing team of an I.T. hardware market leader with a variety tasks that supported the marketing communications, channel marketing, public relations and product management departments.

Brighton, United Kingdom

Updated, created and monitored web pages for an award winning sustainable tourism website and campaigning body to increase the marketing coverage of responsible and sustainable tourism products from around the world.

Senegal

Conducted field research to produce a study on the possibility of developing community-based ecotourism in Senegal, West Africa, and the challenge of marketing the result to the UK; this was subsequently published (ISBN-10: 3639183754)and is available to buy on Amazon.

Msc, Responsible Tourism Management, Merit

List of modules: - Responsible tourism Management - Theory & Practice - Natural Resources and Environmental Management - Local Economic.

Ba (Hons), Marketing And French, 1St

Activities and Societies: Fencing Kung-FuIn my third year I spent a year in Senegal, West Africa, working with an NGO specialised.