LEGACY SHOW: Adventure Travel and Voluntourism

In the adventure tourism industry, Christina Heyniger works with entrepreneurs and community tourism interests to develop and market niche tourism products and services. She has supported adventure travel tour operators and associations operating in Cambodia, China, Ecuador, India, Morocco, Nepal, and the United States and speaks regularly at industry and academic conferences on topics ranging from small business management to humanitarian aid and international development through responsible tourism. Through Xola, Christina and her team regularly produce general and specialized adventure tourism industry research reports.

Alexia Nestora is the director of Lasso Communications, a consultant firm that specializes in developing strategy and marketing communications for the voluntourism industry. Alexia previously ran the North American division of volunteer travel provider i-to-i and increased profits by over 50% in her first year. She recently supported research for prestigious Mintel reports on volunteer tourism and gap year as well as articles published in the Wall Street Journal, Smart Money and New York Times. She has been a speaker on volunteer tourism at the Adventure Expos, APTA National Conference and NY Times Travel Show and runs a blog for voluntourism providers called VoluntourismGal.