Tourisk has been the main supplier to the World Tourism Organization of work on sustainable development and use of indicators for tourism destinations. This project, lasting over a decade has involved development and practical testing of community/destination level program for indicators of sustainable tourism development in impacted destinations on five continents. At the community level, the program has involved implementation of local level pilot studies and participatory workshops for destination specific issue scans, indicator development and support for integrated destination planning processes in e.g., Cozumel Mexico, Keszthely Hungary, Beruwala Sri Lanka, Kukljica Croatia, Phuket Thailand, and Yangshuo China as well as specific site applications in Prince Edward Island Canada and Peninsula Valdes Argentina a new Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site. The program has developed methods to mobilize local communities, park managers,and the tourism industry in developing a vision of sustainability for destinations, identifying key issues and development of consensus indicators to respond to the key issues of a destination. It has been catalytic in the formation of partnerships in delivery of programs involving the mangers of the key natural and cultural assets, the local populace, different public authorities, and a broad range of tourism enterprises in destination planning and management.

The project has produced publications on indicators development for each destination, as well as the book Indicators of Sustainable Development for Tourism Destinations: A Guidebook, Madrid, World Tourism Organization, 2004, a compendium of international experience in development and use of indicators for the tourism industry. This 500 page Guidebook (Chief Author Ted Manning, editor Margo Manning) mobilizes the work of more than 60 authors to address indicators use for key issues and to showcase best practice. New indicators workshops are in the planning stage for other destinations in all world regions.

This project involved and the provision of environmental training and capacity building to government agencies and factory managers in Jiangsu Province China. More than 100,000 chemical metal and food producing factories were in non-compliance, dumping waste (including toxics) into the Yangtze system, including the major lakes of Tai Hu and Hongze Hu, as well as hundreds of other watercourses in the lower Yangtze basin. One quarter of the freshwater fish eaten in China come from that water; lake Tai Hu is the largest domestic tourism destination in China.

Dr. Ted Manning and Margo Manning led the project definition and the development of technical and outreach curricula, training of trainers, and the development of methods for technical assistance outreach for officials and factory managers. Training sessions have involved more than 30,000 managers, and a cadre of trainers have been established in centres throughout the province. Training covers a range from problem solving, cleaner production systems, environmental management and certification, ISO 14000, enforcement methods, use of economic instruments and profit from pollution. As well, specific modules address issues such as cleanup of heavy metals, HACCP methods for food factories, EMS systems for hotels and resorts, and means of fostering awareness in local populations. The project also manages a successful revolving environmental fund for factory cleanup and demonstration projects. More than 100 training modules have been developed in both English and Chinese, including a custom capacity to meet specific factory needs. The project was considered to be a signal success; this resulted in its extension for three more years in 2004. Dr. Manning continues to lead the planning and curriculum/training component of the project, as well as the performance measurement. Margo Manning carries out environmental audits and teaches workplace health and safety for the project. Tourisk has also identified and involved a number of topic specific specialists in project delivery.

Dr. Manning served as carrying capacity specialist for the development of this major GEF project for Coastal Tourism development for African countries. In the capacity of international advisor on planning and carrying capacity, he provided direction to a team preparing analysis of key issues for nine countries of Africa, the identification and evaluation of potential demonstration projects, the facilitation of workshops in both English and French in participating countries aimed at enhancing public participation and generating consensus projects for donor funding. He also provided the integration of issues and development of logical frameworks for the project elements.

Analysis was done of key barriers and opportunities in each country, leading to an integrated proposal for GEF funding with delivery elements at a regional scale and demonstrations in each participating country.

This project involved an assessment of the state of tourism in Black Sea Countries following the economic collapse of the East Block countries. The study involved field assessments and dialogue with tourism managers, infrastructure providers, and the planning community in all of the countries, involving the assessment of barriers and challenges for the industry in each country to deal with environmental issues, economics, marketing, human resource issues and assessment of any opportunities for partnership and new investment to resurrect degraded tourism enterprises. Training seminars were also held in each of the participating countries on the concepts of tourism sustainability, risk assessment, state of environment and rehabilitation planning.

The project results fed into regional workshops held in Istanbul, Sochi and Yalta with key tourism and planning personnel from these countries and was a component in the broader GEF Black Sea program. Dr. Ted Manning and Margo Manning led the field research and training components of the project. Additionally, related training and specific course curricula on e.g coastal zone management, tourism development planning, project and program planning and wetland protection, and program evaluation methods, was provided at the Black Sea University in Mangalia Romania for key personnel and university staff from participating countries.