The Asian Institute of Management, Asia’s pioneer school of management, and Asia Pacific Projects Inc., a tourism management consulting firm headed by former Tourism Secretary Narzalina Lim, have joined forces to offer a new executive program called “Developing Responsible Tourism.”

To be held at the AIM campus on Feb. 16 to 20, the program seeks to provide tourism managers, local governments, academe and non-government organizations with a basic foundation in responsible and sustainable tourism development. Specifically, its objectives are to provide tourism managers with a common framework for developing tourism destinations; to introduce tourism managers to the key principles, challenges and best practices related to sustainable tourism development and to highlight the multi-sectoral challenges of responsible tourism development from the perspective of public tourism agencies, private tourism enterprises and community-based tourism objectives.

The program was designed taking into consideration the fact that Asia and the Pacific now make up the fastest-growing tourism region in the world. Given this huge potential, appreciation is growing for the tourism industry’s contribution toward the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in the region. These include the sustainable development of a country’s natural and cultural resources, reducing extreme poverty in and around tourist destinations and mitigating the negative effects of development on the environment and culture.

“Developing Responsible Tourism” is a program of AIM’s Executive Education and Lifelong Learning Center (EXCELL), which transforms executives in Asia into skilled and well-versed global managers and leaders. EXCELL provides a wide array of executive education courses, including public programs, in-house programs and a degree program called the Executive MBA.

Now, AIM EXCELL joins forces with Asia Pacific Projects Inc., which has 17 years of experience behind it, to train public, private and community-based managers who can effectively manage and coordinate the issues at the heart of the tourism industry within a highly complex and competitive environment.

Information on the program may be downloaded from the following Web sites: www.asiapacificprojects.com and www.execed.aim.edu.

For information, contact Yola Genuino and Apple Ani at 893-2050; 892-4011; fax (632) 893-2031; 892-3260 and e-mail: excell@aim.edu