Toward a better life - Geoffrey Lipman

Geoffrey Lipman, a leading global expert on sustainable tourism, founder of the SUNx Project, first President of the World Tourism Council (WTTC), and former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Tourism as an important socio-economic sector and Professor Jeffrey Lipman has played a key role in its development. Professor Jeffrey Lipman, Director of greenearth.travel, a global network of think tanks promoting green growth and tourism - strategy, innovation and funding. He is a member of the US President's International Consortium of Tourism Partners (ICTP) and the Cosmos China Association. Jeffrey Lipman is an Adjunct Professor at Victoria University, Australia, Visiting Professor at Hasselt University, UK, Visiting Professor at Oxford Brookes University, UK, Senior Tourism Fellow at George Washington University, USA and a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Committee. He has been a global influence on tourism strategy, sustainability and liberalization, and in 2012 he launched a compendium of new leadership ideas from 50 of the best thinkers in the industry and beyond at the Rio+20 Earth Summit." Lipman served as Executive Director of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the first President of the World Travel Council (WTTC) and Assistant Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). He has served on public and private sector boards in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Canada, as well as on the EU Commission on Aviation Liberalization and Tourism Employment.

As Executive Director of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in the 1970s, he helped drive a new liberalization agenda in response to airline deregulation. As the first Chairman of the WTTC throughout the 1990s, he worked to pioneer a new system for measuring the industry's performance, creating (CSR) certification and supporting China's efforts to liberalize its tourism market. As Assistant Secretary General of the UNWTO, in the first decade of the century he spearheaded new development support systems, including the ST-EP program, and led the Davos Climate Summit, launching the G20 Summit Recognition Program. Since the early 1990s, Jeffrey Lipman has worked closely with the World Economic Forum (WEF) on its competitiveness and smart tourism programs.

Jeffrey has written and lectured extensively on tourism strategy, sustainable development and liberalization. As a visiting professor at Victoria University in Australia and Hasselt University in Belgium, he has co-edited two books and several journal articles on green growth and tourism. He is the co-author of two major studies on airline liberalization for the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Jeffrey is also a volunteer for the China Foundation for Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development (CFBCGD).On July 10, 2018, Professor Jeffrey Lipman, President of the International Council of Tourism Partners and former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), officially became a volunteer for CFBCGD. This was after he was deeply moved by Dr. Zhou Jinfeng's introduction of the outstanding efforts made by Green Council volunteers for cliff sand swallows, protection of striped mud wetlands and biodiversity conservation, and took the initiative to apply to become a licensed China Green Development Council volunteer.