An inspiring and creative project to assist the Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania in preparing their new tourism venture The Wukulina Walk to be market ready. This exciting project included trail design, interpretation design, itinerary design as well as staff training and guide mentorship. The Wukulina Walk won gold at the 2021 Tasmanian Tourism Awards in the category of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Tourism.

Returning to my roots (I was born on the West Coast of Tasmania), this tourism industry support consultancy involved working with over 25 local tourism operators on the West Coast of Tasmania. The consultancy goal was to encourage and support story telling driven brand development and marketing efforts in line with the Tasmanian Goverment department of State Growth “Western Wilds” journey initiative.

Working with specialized indigenous business development company - Cooee Traveler and funded by Indigenous Business Australia, this contract involved liaising with Adnyamathanha elders and community members to research creative ecotourism ideas on traditional lands in and around the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, South Australia.

Our longest ongoing project is a multifaceted educational and small business mentorship project aimed at developing practical tourism management skills, improving teaching skills for teachers/trainers and incubating/developing tourism business across the Tibetan Plateau. This project also includes a strong training/networking element that involves teaching workshops and mentoring Tibetan educators and tourism entrepreneurs, facilitating and teaching ecotourism study programs in the USA through Columbia University in NYC and facilitating study tours and further educational opportunities in Tibetan regions of China.

As the first International tourism consultants to be engaged by regional government in this wild region of eastern Tibet, Chris Jones and Jed Weingarten led a team of twelve international tourism and design consultants to research and develop a Cultural and Ecotourism Master Planning process for Ganzi Prefecture and Dege County Tourism Bureau in Sichuan Province, China. Working in the field over two years, this role involved working with Tibetan translators to liaise with government, community representatives and regional & international experts to coordinate input and deliver a Preliminary Cultural And Ecotourism Master Planning document to regional government.

This exciting project began in 2005 when Columbia University (NYC) received a US Bureau Of Education and Cultural Affairs grant to train Tibetan teachers in Responsible Tourism concepts and build capacity in teaching skills. Chris worked with Anna Spencely to develop a Responsible Tourism course for Tibet University. Four Tibetan teachers traveled to New York where we hosted the first teaching of the course at the School of International and Public Affairs - Weatherhead East Asian Institute. The teachers then travelled to Canada, where they studied at Thompson Rivers University. The teachers returned to Tibet where they introduced the new course at Tibet University

Working with the Aga Khan Foundation to research and develop new tourism products in the mountains of Tajik Badakhshan and along the Wakhan Corridor on the border of northern Afghanistan. We identified a range of new tourism products and researched strategies for bringing these products to market. We also partnered with Afzel Sherazi from the Alpine Club of Pakistan to train local tourism operators in the Tajik Pamir mountains

A contract for San Yat Sen University in Guangzhou who had been tasked by regional government to create a tourism development master plan for this remote region of Eastern Tibet. We knew this region well having explored many of its whitewater rivers over the previous 5 years. We provided adventure and ecotourism product recommenedations in the hope of encourging more responsible development in this incredible destination.

This consultancy saw us partnering with an enigmatic Tibetan community leader from northern Tibet to design and implement environmental practices in monasteries and nunneries in the Yushu an Nangchen regions. The consultancy was seriously interrupted by the catastrophic Yushu earthquake. Project staff were killed and the consultancy rapidly evolved into an emergency response mission.

A fascinating project working with University of Virginia and US/Tibet NGO Machik to document tourism resources in local Tibetan communities. Led by Tibet academic and UVa Tibet Centre director David Germano, our diverse team of experts conducted field work in the Kham region of eastern Tibet. This was an incredible opportunity to work with a team of international experts and we were fortunate to witness a full solar eclipse during the project!

As part of Canadian Company - Bombardier’s contract to build the rolling stock for the Qinghai - Tibet railway, a scholarship was funded for regional Tibetan youth to study tourism and hospitality diplomas in Mainland China. Chris took on the contract to teach the Responsible Tourism component of the scholarship program as this was not available in Chinese curriculum.

A documentary film project for Discovery Channel led to friendships and ongoing cooperation in Bhutan with one of the leading adventure tourism operators. We returned many times over 5 years to run expeditions tours and train local Bhutanese river guides in technical guiding skills and river rescue. The friendships we made in this incredible little country remain and we’ll be back as soon as the COVID situation allows.