Green Tourism Conference

Journalist, presenter in TV and Radio (ORF) and freelance podcast host of „Frauenfragen“ and „Verstehe!“. Author of the book “Frauenfragen: Männer antworten”. Keynote speaker on topics such as gender equality and personality developement. University degree in journalism. Several work visits abroad: Budapest, Hungary (MR1 Radio) and Dharamshala, India, where she helped build a radio station for teenagers (Tashi Delek 90.4 FM). Feminist and mother of two.

Andreea Staicu is deputy head of the Tourism and Textiles unit in the Directorate-General Internal Market, Industries, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, at the European Commission. Andreea is a lawyer, specialised in EU law and policies.

Professor of tourism at Linnaeus-University in Kalmar, Sweden. He has worked with tourism and climate change for more than 25 years. The most cited researcher in the field of tourism sustainability. He has worked as a consultant for dozens of companies, as well as supranational organizations including UNWTO, UNEP, OECD and World Bank Group.

Dagmar Lund-Durlacher, Professor of Tourism Management, is Senior Research Associate at the Center for Sustainable Tourism (ZENAT) at the University for Sustainable Development Eberswalde (HNEE) and at the Institute for Tourism Sustainability (ITS) in Vienna. She has been researching and teaching in the field of sustainable tourism for many years, focusing on CSR, climate change, mobility, sustainable food and transformation processes in tourism. She is active in numerous international scientific networks and works as a scientific and technical consultant for national and international organizations such as UNWTO, UNEP and OECD.

Since 2001, Michaela Reitterer has been the owner-CEO of Vienna‘s Boutiquehotel Stadthalle. Step by step, she has made her business increasingly sustainable. Her mission is sustainable corporate governance and the related implementation of all 17 SDGs.As former president of President of ÖHV (Austrian Hotelier Association), she has often proven that moving toward positive change requires swimming upstream. This takes boldness and bravery that can‘t be purchased but with her help, you can build it up yourself!

Management Board Member of Valamar Riviera d.d., Croatia's leading tourism company, where she is responsible for business development and acquisitions, internationalization of the Valamar portfolio, Valamar digital & innovation team, sustainability, and corporate responsibility. She has held numerous leadership roles shaping Valamar's impressive growth and development. Ivana Budin Arhanić graduated with a degree in Economics from Middleburry College in the USA and holds a MBA degree from Harvard Business School. She is an active member of various tourism and industry boards and associations in Croatia promoting innovation, growth, and sustainable development.

Lucia Masarova works at European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA). The Agency, established by the European Commission, implements four EU programmes: European Innovation Council, European Innovation Ecosystems, Interregional Investments Instrument and Single Market Programme.

As Project Adviser, Lucia Masarova is responsible for implementation of a number of actions under the SME Pillar of the Single Market Programme and under its predecessor, the COSME programme (Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises). In her portfolio, Lucia manages actions in different stages of implementation, from launching calls for proposals and tenders through monitoring of project implementation, to payments and impact evaluations. She currently monitors the Intelligent Cities Challenges initiative and several projects in the area of tourism, from the TOURCOOP call (COSME Work Programme 2019) - amongst which the ETGG2030 (European Tourism Going Green 2030) – and from the TOURSME-2021 call (Single Market Programme Work Programme 2021).

Tomej is associate professor at the Centre for Tourism, Innovation and Culture, University of Southern Denmark (SDU) in Kolding, Denmark. His research deals with various aspects of sustainable tourism development – sustainable mobility and transport, accessibility and inclusivity, tourism co-design, and regenerative tourism. Apart from publishing in leading scientific tourism journals, Tomej communicates latest research with professional communities and at public events such as the Danish Science Festival. He also teaches in SDU’s master programmes, including the joint European Master in Tourism Management (EMTM).

At Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts he is a lecturer, project manager and member of the institute management as well as head of the majors in tourism on the Bachelor level as well as of the mentoring programme. His main areas of expertise include tourism and sustainable development (e.g. Swisstainable), sustainable product development and marketing, sustainability management, certifications and labels. Fabian Weber represents the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in the international network TRIANGLE (European Knowledge Alliance for Sustainable Tourism) and is a member of the Executive Committee of BEST EN (Building Excellence in Sustainable Tourism - Education Network).

Claudia Plot, Mag.a is a consultant, coach and instructor for sustainable hotel management and leadership. Claudia Plot holds a degree in English studies and a Certificate in International Hotel Management (Modul Vienna). She held the Austrian ETGG 2030 workshops. Nearly 20 years of experience in the national and international hospitality industry and several of those in one of Vienna’s most sustainable hotel, have shaped her goal to help make tourism more sustainable. Her approach is very practical - aiming to break down the large concept of sustainability into manageable and easy to accomplish steps for a hotel's everyday life.

Gueorgui has a Master's degree in law and international relations, with a specialisation in sustainable development and environmental law. Currently, he is a PhD candidate and is preparing a thesis, whose subject focuses on the European Green Deal. By bringing his previous project management experience into the ETGG2030 project, he is supporting the sustainability certification of the selected tourism SMEs in Bulgaria and coordinates all national activities surrounding that process

Nastja Logar is specialized in green hospitality and sustainability marketing. She is a change-maker committed to helping the travel, tourism, and hospitality sector increase the value provided to guests and actively regenerate the communities and ecosystems they are a part of. She has an extensive experience in storytelling, green content marketing, eco-luxury experience design, and green hospitality videography.      

Dr Zimmer studied business administration/tourism at the Munich University of Applied Sciences. He is the founder of FUTOUR, a consultancy for environmental, touristic and regional topics, which helped him gain years of experience in Germany and abroad. He is also working as an examiner of the EMAS eco auditors in the field of “tourism” and “transport” as well as an accredited Green Key auditor, as a partner of Green Globe and chairman of the certification advisory board for TourCert. Furthermore, he was a member in the sustainability committee of the German Travel Association and on the Tourism Advisory Board of the Modul University Vienna.

Cinzia De Marzo, external expert of Asset Basilicata, ETGG2030 Italian partner is a Lawyer, specialized in European Union Law and Economy and sustainable tourism expert. She is EU senior advisor of the European Network Mirabilia, composed by chambers of commerce from Italy, Spain, France, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Greece. She also actively collaborates as tourism expert with EUROCHAMBRES, to develop strategic guidelines and reports to the Eastern Partnership Countries (including Ukraine), within the EU project EU4Business. She has been working as Seconded National expert at the European Commission ‒ DG GROW (Tourism Unit) for 5 years. 2021 she has been nominated by DGCLIMA a European Climate Pact Ambassador.

Simina Manea is working as manager of Sibiu County Tourism Association since 2008. She has been working with a diverse stakeholders group for the development of tourism policies with a greater focus on environmental and socio-cultural pillars of sustainability in recent years. She believes in a green future for Sibiu County tourism destination and she has invested herself to better support the transition to a sustainable, crisis-resilient tourism economy for places and businessess. She has managed projects for Sibiu European Capital of Culture 2007, or Sibiu. European Region of Gastronomy 2019. She has a master’s degree in the Economics of Trade, Tourism and Services.

Markus Brandstätter is the CEO of NLW Tourismus Marketing Gmbh, which is a regional tourism organisation responsible for Nassfeld-Pressegger See / Lesachtal / Weissensee and part of the steering group of the most sustainable tourism region in Austria. Therefore he is also pesponsible for tourism pubic transport within the region. The region NLW has received GSTC certification as a cross-border project with Tarvisio (first cross boarder certification in the world) and is one of the first “slow food travel destinations” in the world. Moreover the destination is “KEM - Klima & Energie Modellregion Tourismus“.

Tourism Manager of the Felsenland Südeifel Tourismus GmbH, a destination management organisation that also runs tourism infrastructure (Dinosaurierpark Teufelsschlucht and Naturparkzentrum Teufelsschlucht). In this function she supports tourism business promotion by handling projects and giving support and advice for tourism service providers. Following her studies in history and art history and her training in tourism management, she has worked many years in bus business. For this reason, she has experience with the challenges of local public transport in rural areas.

DI Thaler is head of division for active mobility and mobility management in the Austrian Ministry for climate action, environment, energy, mobility, innovation and technology as well as president of the EU platform on mobility management EPOMM. Since 2021 he is Vice Chair of the UNECE/WHO transport health environment pan European programme THE PEP.

Katrin Erben started her career at the Austrian National Tourist Office in 2016. Last year she took over the position as sustainability expert in the innovation department. Since then, she has been the main contact person for the Austrian tourism industry for issues related to sustainability, ESG and corporate social responsibility. Furthermore, she is responsible for the conception and implementation of sector-wide or cross-sector innovation projects with sustainability relevance.

Tatjana Peters is passionate about “green and fair travels and has been working in the field of sustainable tourism in varying positions and companies for 9 years. In her current position as a project manager for the sustainability initiative of the German-speaking tourism industry Futouris she is responsible for managing various sustainable tourism projects with local partners.

Alexandra Wolframm is in charge as Head of Public Affairs in the DACH region at Booking.com since 1 December 2021. Before joining Booking.com, she worked as Legal and European Affairs Officer at the German Tourism Association (DTV),  at the German Travel Association (DRV), where she was responsible for European Public Affairs, and as advisor in the German Bundestag.