Join Us for a Conversation About More Conscious and Ethical Travel on June 11th
At the RISE Travel Institute Annual Conference, travelers and tourism professionals will explore how travel can create greater responsibility, stewardship, and positive impact.
One of the reasons I remain optimistic about the future of travel is that I keep meeting people who are willing to question old assumptions and experiment with new possibilities.
That’s one reason I’m excited to be part of the RISE Travel Institute Annual Conference on June 11 and to continue growing the collaboration between RISE and The Transformational Travel Council.
I have deep respect for what Vincie Ho, Ph.D. has created at RISE. At a time when so much of our industry is focused on growth, marketing, and visitor numbers, Vincie has consistently created space for deeper conversations about responsibility, ethics, stewardship, justice, and impact. Through education, dialogue, and community, she and her team have challenged both travelers and tourism professionals to think more critically about the role travel can play in shaping a better future.
Those values are deeply aligned with me and our work at TTC.
As part of the conference, six graduates from TTC’s Signature Transformative Experiences Accreditation Program will present their capstone projects: Dawnielle Tehama, CDTP, CAS, Juma Bakar, Laura Shook Guzman, Elizabeth Harrington, Ashley Thomas, CTP, and Louise Fowller. It was an honor to have each of them in our program, and I’m so excited to watch them share their new capstones with the world.
Each presenter will have just four minutes to share how they are applying the theory, science, principles, and practices of transformative experience design to real-world challenges across tourism, hospitality, wellness, community development, and destination stewardship.
What lights me up the most is that these graduates represent something our industry needs more of. They have moved beyond simply talking about transformation and into the hard work of designing for it. Their projects reflect months of study, experimentation, reflection, and practical application. They demonstrate what becomes possible when transformational travel is treated not as a marketing claim but as a discipline, a practice, and a commitment to creating positive outcomes for travelers, communities, and destinations alike.
The conference will also feature conversations on destination stewardship, regenerative tourism, justice, peacebuilding, community agency, animal welfare, and the evolving responsibilities of travel in a changing world.
If you’re a traveler, tourism professional, educator, destination leader, or simply someone curious about where travel is headed next, I encourage you to join us.
The event is free, virtual, and open to all. June 11, 2026.
Register here and learn to travel better to live better.
Journey on,
Jake