Home Our Experts Martha Honey

Martha Honey, Ph.D., is CEO of Responsible Travel Consulting (www.responsibletravelconsulting.com) based in Rhinebeck, New York. She is also Director Emeritus and was co-founder and Executive Director (2003- 2019) of the Center for Responsible Travel (CREST), headquartered in Washington, DC.

Martha brings 25 years of sustainable tourism experience in leading field projects around the world; directing teams of experts; conducting research; writing and publishing studies, articles, and books; public speaking and university lecturing; organizing conferences, symposiums, and think tanks; leading training workshops; and curating and leading international and domestic ecotourism trips. Martha has written and lectured widely on responsible and sustainable travel, including on ecotourism, climate change, overtourism, Travelers’ Philanthropy/Impact travel, cruise and resort tourism, coastal and marine tourism, and certification issues. Her books include 0vertourism: Lessons for a Better Future (Island Press, 2021); Caribbean Cruise Tourism: Selling Sunshine (Routledge Press, 2019); Coastal Tourism, Sustainability, and Climate Change in the Caribbean, Vol. 1 & 2 (Business Expert Press, 2017), Ecotourism and Sustainable Development: Who Owns Paradise? (Island Press, 1999 and 2008), and Ecotourism and Certification: Setting Standards in Practice (Island Press, 2002). She was Executive Producer of CREST’s documentary films, Caribbean ‘Green’ Travel: Your Choices Make a Difference, (2016). Cracking the Golden Egg: Coastal Tourism in Costa Rica (2013), and Travelers’ Philanthropy: Giving Time, Talent, and Treasure (2010). In 2019, Martha was awarded CREST’s first annual Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to responsible tourism.

Previously, Martha worked for 20 years as a journalist based in East Africa and Central America. She holds a Ph.D. in African history from the University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.