Writing by Kevin Majoros
Inspired by nature and built through community, Eco Escape Travel has produced a platform where travelers can share, explore, and contribute sustainable travel and purpose-driven adventuring content.
Following the thought process that collaboration over competition is the path to raising awareness, they are utilizing the globetrotting community to build a database for like-minded travelers.
Their mission is to provide reliable ecotourism and adventuring content that is filtered through four unique pillars.
Ecotourism Content Filtered Through a Pillar System
The sustainability content in the database is supplied by contributors who have had an eco-experience or volunteer experience, ecolodge, product or other content to contribute.
It is then filtered through the following pillar system:
Environmental Stewardship is protecting the environment for those after you by implementing conservation and sustainable practices. It is committing to the protection and responsible use of the surroundings for future enjoyment.
Ecological Connection is immersion and engagement with land, flora or fauna in the environment. This is disconnecting to reconnect all while being responsible and conscious of the impact that is being made.
Community Empowerment is having a direct socioeconomic impact on the community by diversifying, donating or employing locals. Community Empowerment grows community leaders and is change leading, bold and entrepreneurial.
Cross-Cultural Engagement is having a direct interaction with the culture you are visiting. You are learning from them, whether it be textile skills, about their history or staying with a local family in a homestay. Cross-cultural engagement with another culture will have a lasting impact long after a trip.
“The pillars are alignments for me and anyone I work with to make sure I stay true to my values and brand,” says Jonny Bierman, founder of Eco Escape Travel. “I want to drive awareness with content and use storytelling to inspire purpose-driven travel.”
The Path to Ecotourism and Destination Marketing
After graduating from high school in Okotoks in the Province of Alberta, Canada, Bierman was given the opportunity to travel before attending college. His parents put him on a plane to Thailand and four months turned into 18 months. He found himself working in Australia after visiting multiple countries.
When he returned, he knew that his path would be tourism and travel. Bierman points to a memory from that trip that has significant meaning regarding his own road to sustainable tourism.
“I will never forget standing on a beach in the Philippines and finding a plastic water bottle with Thai writing on it,” Bierman says. “Nine years later, I look back and think about the crisis we are currently in. I would view that bottle differently now.”
Bierman graduated from Vancouver Island University with a degree in Tourism Management. His interest in ecotourism came from a professor that was spearheading a community empowerment project in Costa Rica that diversified farming communities through the introduction of sustainable agritourism.
After completing his college studies, including a co-op in Mexico, Bierman launched his career with Banff and Lake Louise Tourism. After years of formulating and evolving a plan, he coupled his passions for media, content and ecotourism to create Eco Escape Travel.
“I saw an opportunity to start a media hub in the industry I love that has purpose, and an impact on the community,” says Bierman. “The result is an actual feeling of doing something good for the environment.”
Raising Awareness and Promoting Purpose-Driven Travel
Bierman recently spent a month in Ecuador working in the media marketing aspect of Eco Escape Travel.
He provides responsible guiding on social responsibility and worked with ecotourism operators to help them produce content through filmmaking, photography and storytelling.
EcoAndes Travel runs multiple ecotourism adventures including yachting, Galapagos Islands tours and a hotel built in the Puerto Ayora harbor with a focus on sustainability and protecting the environment. Their Yacuma EcoLodge in the Amazon rainforest is an initiative run jointly with the Kichwa Indigenous Community of Chontayacu.
Tren Ecuador is a train tour experience built on a model of social co-responsibility in which communities and natural heritage are at the heart of the experience.
“All the operators I worked with in Ecuador have incredibly high employee retention and are run like ‘mom & pop’ shops with great heart,” Bierman says. “Everything is locally sourced, education driven and operated with sustainability measures. They have created companies that people are inspired to work for.”
Travel with Purpose for a Better Tomorrow
When Seven Seas caught up with Jonny Bierman, who is based in Vancouver, he was preparing to leave for Victoria in British Columbia, Canada to participate in the Impact Sustainability Travel & Tourism conference.
The programming explored ecology and the environment, community and sense of place, culture and heritage, and the economy.
“This is a personal journey for me, and I want to do more in a tangible way including having a physical presence,” says Bierman. “Meeting real change opportunities will help lead the work I do with purpose. I want to drive change that will result in a better tomorrow.”
Check out Eco Escape Travel online.
Eco Escape Travel on Instagram.
Kevin Majoros shares stories on sports, ocean adventuring and conservation. He is based in Baltimore/Washington and travels the world as a competitive swimmer.