Please join us at the RISE Travel Institute Annual Conference on Thursday, June 11th, 2026!
 

 

 

 

 

This year’s RISE Travel Institute Annual Conference brings together alumni, partners, educators, tourism professionals, and members of the broader RISE community for an afternoon of reflection, learning, and dialogue.
 

While our Annual Conference has historically centered on Flagship Program alumni capstone presentations, this year’s gathering will take a more expansive format. Alongside selected alumni capstone showcases, we will feature a keynote by John Sutherland, Senior Director of Community Impact at Tourism Cares; a special partner session with the Transformational Travel Council featuring capstone projects from alumni of their Signature Experience Design Program; and expert panels exploring destination stewardship, regenerative tourism, justice, peace, and the responsibilities of travel and tourism in a changing world.
 

Together, we’ll consider how travel can move beyond consumption toward deeper practices of relationship, accountability, and care for people, animals, and place.

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Date: Thursday, June 11th, 2026

Time: 12 noon - 4:30 pm EDT

Format: Virtual

Registration: Link

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Program:

12:00-12:15pm   Opening Remarks + RISE Impact Report

12:15-12:35pm   Keynote by John Sutherland, Senior Director of Community Impact, Tourism Cares

12:35-1:20pm     RISE Capstone Showcase: Part I

1:20-2:05pm       Expert Panel 1: Travel, Justice, and Peace: Expanding the Circle of Responsibility

2:05-2:50pm       RISE Capstone Showcase: Part II

3:00-3:40pm       Transformational Travel Council Capstone Feature

3:40-4:25pm       Expert Panel 2: Beyond Destination Marketing: Story, Stewardship, and Responsibility

4:25-4:30pm       Announcements+Closing Remarks​

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Panel 1: Travel, Justice and Peace: Expanding the Circle of Responsibility

Travel is often framed as a way to broaden our horizons, build connections, and experience the world more deeply. But what does justice ask of us when we move through places shaped by conflict, inequality, displacement, ecological harm, or human and nonhuman suffering? This panel invites us to expand the circle of responsibility in travel. What does it mean for tourism to support communities facing harm, or animals facing exploitation? How can travel help shift narratives, redistribute power, and create conditions for dignity, safety, and belonging? Together, we’ll explore how tourism can support peacebuilding, community agency, animal justice, and more accountable forms of encounter.

Panel 2: Beyond Destination Marketing: Story, Stewardship, and the Responsibility to Place
What does it mean to approach a place not simply as a “destination” to be promoted and managed, but as lived, relational, ecological, and shaped by community agency? This panel invites us to move beyond traditional conversations about destination marketing and management toward deeper questions of narrative, stewardship, accountability. Together, panelists will explore who gets to shape the story and future of a place, how tourism should support community agency, and how the regenerative framework can challenge us to rethink our relationships, responsibilities, and roles within the places we visit and promote.

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Speakers: