Professional Details
1984 to 1996 : International Career in the Fashion Industry.
1996 to 2003 : Publisher magazine with women and social issues.

Political career
She entered politics in 2004 and has been elected Member of Greek Parliament six times in the First District of Athens.

She was appointed Minister of Tourism of Greece in the government of Alexis Tsipras from Jan 2015 to May 2019.

In the European elections in May 2019 she was elected MEP with the SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance party.

Social activities
Elena Kountoura develops strong social and philanthropic activities in Greece and abroad. She is President of the organization «EUROPA DONNA HELLAS«, which deals with the prevention and awareness of breast cancer, and claiming rights to better services for patients with cancer.

She has also been honored for her support in spreading the Greek Paralympic Volunteers, while in December 2007 she was honored by Greek Goverment as a Goodwill Ambassador for Social Volunteering.

Ufi Ibrahim is the Founder and Chief Executive of the Energy & Environment Alliance, where she leads initiatives to decarbonise the hospitality sector and promotes adoption of sustainable investment, asset management, development and operations. Under her leadership, the Alliance provides strategic direction and fosters collaboration between governments, businesses, and academia, to accelerate the transition to a net-zero economy. Ufi also currently serves on the Boards of the Lamington Group and the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission.

Previously, Ufi served as the Chief Executive Officer of the British Hospitality Association (BHA), where she played a pivotal role in shaping policies and strengthening the voice of the UK’s hospitality industry. During her tenure, she championed workforce development, sustainability initiatives, and strategic partnerships, contributing to the sector’s growth and resilience.

Ufi has also held senior roles within the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), where she spearheaded initiatives focused on socio-economic development and promoting tourism as a force for good.

Andrew Agius Muscat is an entrepreneur and an experienced management practitioner. Holding a BA honours degree in Business Management and a Masters degree in European Studies, he is a regular speaker at management and leadership training seminars and conferences, and is the founder of the Mediterranean Hotels and Restaurants Academy.

His practical experience was gained in public sector change management initiatives as a consultant within the Office of the Prime Minister for 8 years and later another 10 years (to-date) in the private sector, as CEO and Board Director of various organisations in different sectors, namely food production and distribution, construction, tourism, and as an independent consultant, specialising in strategy and international business development, marketing and media production.

Throughout his career Andrew has also been appointed on various public sector boards and committees including Chairman at the Public Broadcasting Services Ltd, policy consultant to various Ministries, and advisor to the World Bank and the European Parliament.

As a firm believer in developing intellectual capital through education, he has throughout his career introduced programmes of professional development for his various work teams, namely in EU food safety practices and HACCP procedures, benchmarking, ISO quality standards, international business development, facilities management, leadership and marketing. He is currently the CEO at the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association.

In 1992 Lyn Hughes and her late husband, Paul Morrison, were bored on a flight to South America and so schemed out their dream travel magazine on the back of a sickbag. The idea stuck and, returning to the UK a few months later, they launched Wanderlust magazine from their spare bedroom, with Lyn as editor and Paul as publisher.

The magazine gradually grew through word of mouth, and went on to be one of the UK’s leading travel magazines, with numerous awards under its belt. In time it led to this website and to all the other things we do at Wanderlust Travel Media.

After a long fight with cancer, Paul Morrison died in December 2004. In 2007 and 2008, Lyn was Highly Commended as Publisher of the Year. The Times lauded Lyn as one of the “50 Most Influential People in Travel.” In 2012, Lyn was presented by an Outstanding Contribution Award in the British Travel Press Awards. In 2014, Lyn was awarded one of the ‘Top 60 Most Influential Women in Travel in the Last 60 Years’ by the AWTE. She regularly appears on lists of Top UK Travel Journalists / Influencers.

A fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Lyn is still an award-winning writer in her own right. She is regularly consulted by tourist boards and governments on travel-related issues, especially regarding sustainable tourism. She sits on several committees, including the Latin American Travel Association (LATA). She judges many competitions and awards.

Lyn strongly believes in tourism as a force for good, benefiting local communities, wildlife and the natural world. During the course of Lyn’s own travels she has been attacked in the night by soldier ants in Africa, spent the night in a sailor’s bar in the Azores, and been chased over a barbed-wire-topped 6ft-bank by an angry Irish bull. Her passions include wildlife, wilderness and wine. Her idea of hell would be a week on a crowded beach.

Jay Rosen is the CFO for The Red Sea Development Company, a closed joint stock company wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. He oversees finance, investment, and asset management for a new international luxury tourism destination set along the Red Sea as part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. He is responsible for driving long-term strategic value by planning, implementing, managing, and controlling all financial and investment related activities of the Company.

Jay is an accomplished real estate investment and finance executive with broad experience in acquisitions, development, asset management, corporate finance, capital raising, and strategic planning. Over the course of his career he has participated in over $5.5 billion in real estate investments including large, integrated resort developments, single asset and portfolio acquisitions, and corporate mergers and acquisitions. Jay has extensive experience in hospitality and mixed-use assets in addition to residential, retail, gaming, and office investments in North America, the Caribbean, and Middle East.

Jay holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration where he concentrated on real estate finance.

Lee joined the Bournemouth University Disaster Management Centre on the 1September 2015. Lee is an international relations scholar, educated at the Universities of Lancaster, Birmingham and Hull, receiving his PhD in Politics from the University of Hull (1999), and awarded a Docent in Political Science by Karlstad University in Sweden (2004).

Lee has enjoyed an extensive career working in departments of politics and international relations (Hull and Karlstad universities), politics and communication studies (University of Liverpool), and business school settings (Lincoln and Loughborough universities) in the UK and Sweden. At Bournemouth, he is Programme Leader of the Masters (MSc) in Disaster Management.

Professor Miles is a distinguished scholar, holding Professorships at the universities of Liverpool (2006-2009), Karlstad (2009 – 2017), Loughborough (2011-2015) and now Bournemouth (2015 – ) as well as holding honorary professorial positions at Lancaster and University College London (UCL). Lee has also twice been awarded the prestigious title of Jean Monnet Professor by the European Union (in 2003 (Hull) and in 2004 (Liverpool)) in recognition of his expertise in European foreign policy and crisis management. He has been editor of prestigious peer-reviewed academic journals, including Cooperation and Conflict (2010-2014) and the Journal of Common Market Studies (JCMS) Annual Review (2001-2004), and presently is a member of editorial boards of prominent journals, such as Foreign Policy Analysis.

Lee is an award-winning commentator on disasters in the national/ international media. He featured on Hurricanes Irma and Maria (2017) on premier media outlets, such as (radio): BBC R4 Today Programme, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC World Service News Hour Programme, Good Morning Scotland Programme, Radio Scotland, R4 Austria, BBC Radio London and BBC regional stations, and Talk Radio as well as (TV): BBC News Channel, CNN International, Good Morning Britain (ITV) and STV.

Dr. Wu is the Chief Operating Officer of CBN which has a precise slogan “Bring the world to China and Take Chinese to the world”. The slogan summarizes the activities of CBN which now focuses on outward investment and outbound travel from China. As a consortium of organizations CBN specializes in facilitating business and investment for a large number of Chinese and foreign authorities, commercial companies and investors.

Dr. Wu have been instrumental in leading CBN to support many Chinese official delegations, investors and business groups going overseas to explore investment opportunities and/or to find business partners as well as to experience high quality travel.

Adam was privileged to be chosen to study overseas more than 30 years ago with government scholarship when China was just opening to the world with economic reforms thus, Adam has been having direct experience in dealing with Chinese and foreign authorities, businesses and other organizations. Thirty years later China has become a major source market of ODI.

This is reflected by the current focus of CBN on supporting outwards investment from China by developing vertical portals on the China Wide Web called “China Invests Overseas with English demo home page of www.China-Invests.net of which Adam is the CEO.

Adam has been leading the team behind China Invests Overseas in supporting investment promotion authorities and projects owners to reach Chinese investors both state owned enterprises ( SOE) and private businesses across China including Hong Kong. Adam has also been an experienced investor with investments in a number of countries.

Dr. Wu has been invited to speak on various investment conferences and international summit as well as being interviewed by news media both online and offline as well as on the radio that one can see some podcasting.

Muna Haddad is the founding CEO of BARAKA, a social enterprise in sustainable tourism development that provides consulting services for governments, NGOs, and private sector looking to utilize tourism as an economic development tool. BARAKA operates Baraka Destinations, a cluster of community owned, locally embedded tourism experiences in secondary tourism destinations including two bed and breakfasts that offer a unique taste and experience of Jordan’s villages.

Muna has been contributing new models of community-based tourism, revitalizing secondary tourism destinations in 9 countries, engaging women in rural areas in the workforce and developing community driven micro-enterprises that are creating thousands of jobs and restoring dignity to marginalized communities. Muna is the Founding President of the Jordan Trail Association, and was instrumental in the creation of the Meaningful Travel Map of Jordan.

She sits on the board of the Global Ecotourism Network, bringing the world’s regional and national ecotourism associations, networks and destinations, together with indigenous and rural peoples, global operators, professionals and academics, to grow the industry, provide advocacy, encourage thought leadership and innovation, and add greater authenticity to ecotourism. She is the recipient of the Tourism Cares Agent of Change Award and King Abdullah Bin Al Hussein Royal Decoration of the Second Degree for excellence and recently Business Woman of the Year in Jordan.

HRH Princess Dana Firas serves as the President of Petra National Trust and is a liaison with the The Royal Hashemite Court and Jordanian government ministries.

She worked in the office of H.M. Queen Noor of Jordan on projects promoting sustainable development, peace, and human rights. Since 2008, Princess Dana has chaired the Board of the Petra National Foundation. She was named a UNESCO Goodwill ambassador in June 2017 by the UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova. Her advocacy for the cause of cultural heritage preservation and awareness resulted in their inclusion in two World Tourism Organization declarations. In 2016 she joined the Board of the Fulbright Commission in Jordan.

She earned a BA in International Relations and Economics from Boston University, a MSc in International Development from the London School of Economics, and an MPA in Public Policy and Development from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, where she was a Fulbright scholar.

In 2003, Princess Dana co-authored an article entitled “From the Environment and Human Security to Sustainable Security and Development” in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities. In 2006, she authored an article for the 2007 State of the World Report and participated in the launch of the report in Washington DC. In 2012, she contributed to a publication entitled “Tourism and Archaeological Heritage Management at Petra: Driver to Development or Destruction.”

For nearly 15 years, Chris has served an influential role in the strategic direction and innovative development of the Adventure Travel Trade Association. A global organization with more than 1,300 members in 100 countries worldwide, ATTA Members share a commitment to the responsible development of tourism.

In addition to overseeing the ATTA’s development efforts throughout Europe and Central Asia, he serves as a strategic advisor to public and private organizations, tourism boards and ministries, DMOs, NGOs and development agencies worldwide. Recognized as an inspirational speaker and innovator, he also serves as an AdventureEDU facilitator/instructor of best practices and long-range responsible tourism development planning.

Chris is based in Gothenburg, Sweden.