responsibletravel.com was co-founded by Justin Francis and
Harold Goodwin in April 2001 to enable travelers to buy real vacations from the growing number of travel companies that are economically, socially and environmentally responsible. We are based in Brighton, England, one of the birth places of beach tourism!
responsiblevacation.com was launched in 2010, taking UK-based sister site responsibletravel.com's 10 years of outstanding tourism experiences to a new generation of responsible travelers.
Directors
Justin Francis, Chief Executive and Co-Founder
Justin previously worked in advertising and marketing with J. Walter Thompson and The Body Shop before completing a MSc in Responsible Tourism and co-founding responsibletravel.com in 2001. Justin founded The Responsible Tourism Awards and IKnowAGreatPlace.com – all part of our family of sites. Read
Justin's biography » 
Richard Skinner, Operations Director
Richard has over 20 years industry experience, including particularly tough assignments in the Maldives, and here in the Milford Sound, New Zealand! Richard undertakes the search engine optimisation of the site and manages relationships with new and prospective members of responsibletravel.com & responsiblevacation.com.
Destination partnerships
Trudi Pearce (
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Since graduating in Tourism Trudi has worked in the industry with experience in product, contracting, marketing and sales with Thomas Cook, Kuoni and First Public Relations. She has also worked overseas in Andalucía and the Middle East. Trudi now heads up our Destination partnerships department, building relationships with tourist boards and agencies to help them enhance their reputation as advocates of green and responsible tourism and increase sales.
Olly Wheatcroft
Olly is our Destination Projects Manager. He previously worked in the charity sector and has a strong interest in overseas development. Olly spent some time working in Malawi and is keen to explore more of Africa. He is looking forward to meeting more of our members, especially in places where the paragliding is good.
Bianca May (
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Bianca is our Destination Partnership Executive, bringing with her a great deal of passion for responsible travel. She has travelled 3 continents, including most of North America, becaming an Island ambassador for Hilton Head Island following her dissertation project on the impacts of tourism on the Island. She is a travel enthusiast and has been since completing her 2:1 BA (Hons) degree in International Tourism Management. Next on her wish list is Papua New Guinea.
Public relations
Lara Solomon (
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Lara has spent the last 12 years living and working in Australia where she got to explore much of the country. Lara has been running her own social media consultancy for the last 2.5 years is very passionate about travel and online. She moved back to the UK to join the responsibletravel.com team as Head of Communications, and be closer to family.
Alex Lyons (
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Alex recently finished his MA in English Lit at Sussex Uni, where he aimed his brain in the direction of Queer Theory, Feminism and Creative Writing. Previously, Alex spent 10 months in New Zealand volunteering for a gay youth group. Alex is Manager for the
Responsible Tourism Awards and assists with PR.
Krissy Roe (currently on maternity leave)
Krissy has travelled in Asia and Latin America; lived in Sydney; taught English in a Japanese village; volunteered in Guatemala and learnt Spanish in Honduras. She has been inspired by the people she has met along the way. She now looks after our PR and campaigns, combining her love of travel with her experience in Marketing Communications for brands such as Rough Guides, BA and Expedia. Krissy is currently on maternity leave.
Customer services
Amelia Shepherd (
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Passionate about travel and people Amelia started her 10 years travel industry experience as cabin crew in order to travel and use her languages. Over the years she has travelled extensively in Asia, South and Central America and is never far from her camera. Passionate about photography Amelia has recently completed a BA Hons degree in Photography. Amelia’s diverse skills are put to use as our Customer Services Manager.
Rosy Everitt (
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After years of traveling throughout the world, visiting each of the continents but not quite making it to Antarctica Rosy was finally able to put her knowledge to the test and began work in the travel industry with Virgin Vacations. More recently she joined our Customer Services team on our Help Desk, combining her love of travel and her passion for responsible tourism.
Account managers
Alison Brookes Day
Having spent over 13 years in the travel industry, Alison is passionate about Asia and Australasia. Alison has lived and travelled extensively in both Australia and New Zealand and loves the outdoors. A recent trip to Bhutan has reignited her passion for photography and painting. Alison is part of our Account Handling team.
Alycea Lamb-Horth
Alycea likes to be involved in both working and undertaking the various areas of tourism and travel. She counts amongst her assets, having walked the Appalachian Trail, cycled from Argentina to Alaska, been a sous-chef in a 2-star Michelin hotel, managed various accommodation, developed tourism associations and marketed a city. Alycea is part of our Account Handling team.
Ellie Rodriguez
Ellie always dreamed of traveling and other cultures and languages, such as English and Italian. She came to the UK then travelled and lived in different countries around the world, Nepal and Cambodia being closest to her heart. She has worked in the language and travel industry managing accounts and customer service and has now come back to Brighton as one of our Account Managers for sunsets by the beach and to nice walks with a great pub meal at the end!
Suzanne Piggott
After finishing her degree in International Tourism Management at Brighton University (many moons ago) Suzanne headed off to see the world teaching English along the way. She has now worked in the travel industry since 2000 is part of our Account Handling team. Her main passion in life is still travel although yoga, meditation & complementary therapies follow closely behind.
Web team
Nicola Keen
Nicola loves travel and languages; she spent 2 years living in France and briefly worked as a tour leader for school trips abroad before deciding she wanted to do something more responsible! She has an MSc in Computer Science, and is our IT projects manager.
Lisa Joanes
Lisa is our web editor & graphic designer. After a few months inter-railing and camping round Europe post sixth form, she pursued a BA in Illustration at the Arts Institute at Bournemouth. Before coming to responsibletravel.com in 2007 Lisa spent 2 years working as a web designer for another travel company. She brings to Responsible Travel her love of wildlife, travel and design in nature.
Abbie Soar
Abbie graduated from Portsmouth Uni with BA in Geography and has always been interested in environmental issues and ecotourism. She's volunteered on turtle and rainforest conservation projects in Costa Rica, travelled around Thailand & Malaysia and worked on a banana and teak plantation in Queensland. She loves spending time at the beach, whether that be walking, swimming, watching the sunset or surfing the waves. Abbie is one of our web editors.
Holly Foat (currently on maternity leave)
Holly is our policy & web content manager and has a passion for wildlife, the environment and conservation. She has previously worked in animal care and web development and she has also volunteered in dolphin research and researching badger population dynamics. She has a BSc in Zoology and an MSc in Ecotourism and she is a trustee for a children’s charity. Holly is currently on maternity leave.
More fantastic people
Lyn Hill
Lyn is our finance and office manager. After becoming ACCA part-qualified, Lyn decided to leave her job and travel for eight months visiting Thailand, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. She has a passion for anything wood and trying to tame her allotment!
Kate Shepherd
Kate's passion in landscape storytelling led to her career as a travel writer then editor of one of the first books on European green places to stay. She soon found herself on the campaign trail and has lead several global comms. campaigns on sustainability. All of her energy is now channelled into her first love, the British countryside, as project manager for
Our Land.
