PSC Faculty Dr. Kelly Cerialo Co-hosts UNESCO Workshop on Responsible Tourism

Dr. Kelly Cerialo, an associate professor and program coordinator in the Business and Hospitality Department at Paul Smith’s College, co-chaired a responsible tourism workshop at EuroMAB, a biennial conference hosted by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) at the Nock Resort—a popular resort for outdoor recreationists in Nockberge, Austria, in September.

Dr. Cerialo co-hosted the session with Simone Beck, President of the National Commission for UNESCO for Luxembourg, and the focus was on tourism management and monitoring strategies in biosphere reserves to protect natural and cultural heritage. They provided examples from six UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, US, UK, and Austria.

EuroMAB is an international network for biosphere reserve managers such as Dr. Cerialo to collaborate with elected officials, policymakers, and scientists, to collectively explore and share sustainable development best practices through the lenses of ecosystem management and economic development.

“Tourism is an essential economic engine for many regions, but if it’s not collaboratively planned for and managed with input from the local community, it can have negative social and ecological impacts,” said Dr. Kelly Cerialo. “We designed this workshop to provide biosphere reserves with innovative approaches from leading tourism experts to effectively manage and monitor visitor use and look forward to emerging best practices.”

Dr. Cerialo, a leading expert in the field, serves as co-chair of the UNESCO Champlain-Adirondack Biosphere Reserve. Because of her extensive experience working on sustainable tourism projects in the United States, Italy, and South Africa, Dr. Cerialo was invited to co-host the session by the coordinators of the EuroMAB 2022 conference.

Dr. Cerialo is also the program coordinator for Paul Smith’s College’s new sustainable tourism master’s program set to launch in Fall 2023. She plans to incorporate lessons learned from tourism experts in the field from the EuroMAB conference into the curriculum for the new MPS program and her current undergraduate courses.