Panelists: Janet Mackay, Roger Robinson, Lisa Choegyal, Moderator Sam Newton
Lisa Choegyal has over 30 years experience in the tourism sector. Lisa is a specialist in planning, operating and marketing pro‐poor sustainable tourism (ecotourism). She has undertaken tourism consultancy roles in Australia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PDR, Nepal, New Zealand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sabah, Sarawak, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Vietnam and throughout the countries of the South Pacific including Fiji, French Polynesia, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu. Lisa is a senior associate at TRC Tourism, and Honorary New Zealand Consul to Nepal.
Sam Newton is the Outdoor Sector Advocacy Manager at the New Zealand Recreation Association. His previous roles include Parliamentary Advisor and General Manager of the New Zealand Alpine Club. He currently serves on the Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board, the Board of the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council and is a Trustee of the Graeme Dingle Foundation. In 2015 he was awarded a fellowship by the Sir Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and undertook a study tour of the major Alpine Clubs of Europe and the UIAA.
Janet Mackay is the owner and managing director of TRC Tourism a consultancy firm based in New Zealand and Australia and working across Asia and the Pacific. Janet specialises in destination planning, national park visitor management and planning and product development. Janet has lived and worked in the mountains for 35 years with the head office of her global business based in the Snowy Mountains in Australia. Before establishing her planning company Janet managed Kosciuszko National Park containing Australia’s highest peak, and was the program manager for the Australian Alps Cooperative management program which sees the alpine national parks of three states managed as one geographic unit. Janet is a keen skier, walker and mountain bike rider.