TMI welcome Alison Burgh as Head of Sustainability

TMI are delighted to announce the appointment of Alison Burgh onto the executive board as she begins her new role as Head of Sustainability. With the significant growth in green tourism and increasing role sustainability will play in economic recovery, Alison’s appointment will help to drive policy as TMI demonstrate leadership by exercising best practice as an organisation. Part of Alison’s priorities for the forthcoming year will be to develop a new Sustainability Policy for TMI with the aim to share resources that will be useful to all members using the TMI website. The 2021 annual convention, ‘Heading Towards Sustainable Destinations’ highlighted the organisation’s commitment to sustainability and will again form a significant part of this year’s programme placing sustainable practices at the centre of destination management. 

Alison is currently a Director of Acorn Tourism Consulting which she co-founded in 2002. As a sustainable tourism development specialist with 20 years of experience developing destinations, places and businesses, she works to bring prosperity to local economies and communities. Alison is a Green Destinations representative and led Acorn’s ambition own a sustainable office in East Sussex and become the UK’s first Green Tourism Silver accredited consultancy. 

Alison’s background is in consumer research, hospitality and event tourism, having worked with the Consumers’ Associations in London, Hong Kong, Penang and Sydney and produced cause-related music events for global broadcast. This breadth of experience enables her to bring analytic rigour and creativity to strategic plans and develop innovative tourism products and experiences underpinned by well-evidenced market demand. In the UK and internationally, Alison works with destinations and place managers, tourism entrepreneurs, urban parks and protected landscapes. 

Alison has recently worked with Future Parks Accelerator in Bristol and Bournemouth and developed a Green Tourism Toolkit for businesses in Thanet. She is currently working with public and private sector institutions in Jordan as part of a five-year programme to strengthen the sustainability and diversity of the tourism sector and is supporting destinations in Africa with their Green Destinations Top 100 applications.