Organization Mission/Purpose: EplerWood International was launched in January 2003, by Megan Epler Wood, founder and past president of The International Ecotourism Society, to advise private business, government, international development projects, non-governmental organizations, and academic institutions on the development of sustainable tourism and ecotourism in developing countries.
Our work takes us to remote locations, little known to the outside world, to work with local specialists to develop and create well-planned, sustainable destinations that can be commercially viable for the adventure travel community.
Products and/or Services: EplerWood International provides market-based approaches to sustainable tourism development in response to a rising global demand for sustainable tourism projects.
We increasingly see ourselves as the firm that helps introduce new, unknown destinations to the adventure and ecotravel community. Our job is to help commercial tour operators and hoteliers add viable new destinations to their catalogues and development plans.
We are here to help you, and our bill is paid by development agencies, so take advantage of our services!
Examples of 2009 projects:
- El Salvador Launched www.elsalvadorexperience.com in December 08 the first eco/adventure portal for the country. Launched eco, culture, adventure and voluntours to El Salvador with Greenspot.travel and G.A.P Adventures – looking to promote and interest more operators in 2009!
- Bangladesh Launched a new project in Bangladesh in January 2009 to help design an adventure destination on the Teknaf Peninsula, where the longest beach in the world lies along the Bay of Bengal. Presently developing a unique trekking opportunity along a pristine coastline with trails into remote forests with wild elephant, with return journeys via traditional Bengali wooden boat craft. See our blog at www.meganeplerwood.blogspot.com
- Dominican Republic Launching the first artist’s cooperative in Puerto Plata to develop marketable arts and crafts. Through Vermont Institute for The Caribbean, local artists have been trained via experienced Vermont crafts persons and the project is being linked to “all inclusive” resorts to help sheltered visitors come to know the real Dominican Republic. Getting the DR’s true culture on the map of the adventure travel world will be another excellent potential outcome.
Special Interest in Connecting with the Adventure Travel Community:
EWI’s connection with the adventure travel community can be illustrated by our latest work in El Salvador. EWI coordinated the launch of Ecoexperiences El Salvador, a destination marketing portal that is designed to showcase the variety of eco-adventure activities available in the country such as Volcano trekking, surfing, ziplining, mountain biking, snorkeling, etc. Part of the marketing strategy is to create partnerships with tour operators interested in incorporating El Salvador into their itineraries. GreenSpot.travel and G.A.P. Adventures have already joined EWI in featuring El Salvador as one of their destinations. We seek to cooperate with the adventure travel community on all of our projects.