Sustainable Tourism | Ecotourism | Destinations & Communities
EplerWood International (EWI) builds value-added sustainable tourism economies which invest in improved local well-being.
EWI has a substantial track record working in the field together with the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, USAID, and GIZ. We work closely with industry associations; destination management organizations; city, county and state governments; academic institutions; and NGOs in the United States; Canada; Cambodia; Thailand; Vietnam; India; Sri Lanka; Bangladesh; China; Samoa; Fiji; Honduras; El Salvador; Costa Rica, Ecuador; Colombia; Brazil; Mexico; Puerto Rico; the Dominican Republic; Tunisia; Egypt ; Cyprus & Sierra Leone. See details here.
THE INVISIBLE BURDEN:
Groundbreaking Reports
& Analysis
SPEAKING:
Speaking & Strategic
Destination Evaluation
KEY AFFILIATIONS:
Cornell University
FEATURED PROJECTS
Tunisian Tourism and Environmental Health in a Changing Climate
Latin American Tour Operators Plan for Sustainable Tourism
Community-Based Tourism in Bangladesh’s Protected Areas
Developing a Sustainable Tourism Economy in El Salvador
The Gems of Brazil’s Nature Tourism along the Estrada Real
Social and Environmentally Responsible Tourism in Sierra Leone
Sri Lankan Model Rainforest Ecolodge
EplerWood International helped to develop, create and finance the online, self-paced Sustainable Tourism Destination Management course from Cornell University in 2022. Over 1000 enrolled and 750 completed the course as of 2026 with the most recipients from Africa, such as Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda; Asia, such as India, Indonesia and the Philippines; and South America, such as Colombia and Peru. It is evidently changing the way students and professionals think, learn and act on the challenges of managing destinations sustainably. Course alumnae have now stepped up to explain why this course is fundamental to their thinking, what their course experience has been, and why it will guide thinking about sustainable destination management in future.
What's New?
EplerWood International (EWI) develops ecotourism and sustainable tourism destination plans through rigorous research and strategic planning. Explore our Projects page to learn more about how EWI is shaping the future of sustainable tourism around the globe.
EWI’s strength lies in transforming research into effective data-based frameworks to manage tourism’s impacts and develop ground-breaking infrastructure and baseline carbon emissions planning for destinations worldwide, which can be fully replicated locally.
Our leadership, in countries which seek to protect their natural, social and cultural capital, has led to a wide range of efforts to protect destinations and support local residents. Our goal as a company is to provide technical assistance to the essential process of designing better destination management systems at the local authority level. We seek to help ensure the costs to manage the Invisible Burden of Tourism are covered. This would change the way tourism is managed, and create feasible fiscal plans which take advantage of advanced, global systems for monitoring both the benefits and impacts of tourism at the destination level worldwide.
The company has worked in some of the world’s most pressing conservation and social equity cases to preserve and protect some of the earth’s most important biodiversity and wildlife destinations, generating local opportunity and social equity worldwide.