ETC announces the launch of SMART!

Since the ETC mission was launched in the wake of the 2004 Asian Tsunami, the program has been featured on BBC World News, Discovery Channel, Thai National Cable Television, and over 100 international newspapers, online new services, travel magazines, and dive industry publications.

ETC is now launching a commercial counterpart called Sustainable Marine Adventures & Responsible Tourism (S.M.A.R.T.)  SMART will offer commercial scuba diving and other coastal ecotourism adventures using ETC graduates as it's employees, and using 10% of the gross revenues to fund the ETC mission. This offers a unique and direct way for dive and adventure tourists to help the local community they are visiting— with both poverty alleviation and with building capacity to protect the marine environment they are traveling to see. The ETC is located near some of the top diving destinations in the world.

The SMART business plan took a top prize at the Asian Regional finals at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India, and went on to win the global award for it's Social Impact Assessment at the Global Social Venture Competition stemming out of the renowned Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. SMART is now seeking investment to expand the impact of ETC to other areas of South East Asia. Highlights of the plan:

  • South East Asia contains one third of the world's coral reefs most of which are under threat from a variety of human activities
  • The reefs are a huge economic asset worth billions of dollars annually and tied to many developing nation's economies
  • Coral reefs are a fragile and vital part of the planets biodiversity and the breeding ground for most of the world's fisheries
  • Seminal studies cite building of local capacity for marine conservation as a major ingredient for successful reef preservation
  • The studies also advocate building marine conservation values in local communities through community education
  • The ETC is a program that directly addresses building local capacity and conservation values for local coastal communities
  • SMART is directly in line with the millennium goals of the UNWTO for using sustainable tourism to combat poverty and protect the environment

Please have a look at our website, and as you do, please consider how you can help our mission become a permanent part of the landscape. We are so proud and grateful to have your interest and support. Enjoy.


Reid Ridgway
Managing Director
Ecotourism Training Center
ETC NEWS!

Ecotourism Training Center
becomes a member of T.I.E.S.
The International Ecotourism Society
Read Article in EcoCurrents Mag!

ETC/SMART Business Plan
wins a Global Award for it's
Social Impact Assessment!

April 18th, 2008
ETC teamed up with Thamassat University to produce a sustainable business plan to support the ETC's ongoing mission and expansion thoughout South East Asia. The business plan was entered in the Global Social Venture Competition stemming out of the reknowned Haas School of Business U.C. Berkeley, California. The plan has won the global honor for it's social implact assessment.



XL Magazine Story


ETC featured on the
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