Jane Crouch This is Me

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1. 1. The International Ecotourism Society

   www.ecotourism.org/webmodules/ - [Cached]

   Published on: 6/9/2008   Last Visited: 7/1/2008

   Tours of a Lifetime: Jane Crouch of Intrepid Travel

2. 2. ECOCLUB, International Ecotourism Monthly, Issue 89

   www.ecoclub.com/news/089/inter - [Cached]

   Published on: 9/5/2007   Last Visited: 6/10/2008

   Intrepid's Jane Crouch: "Awards can have a very positive impact on the highly competitive tourism industry"
   
   ECOCLUB, International Ecotourism Monthly, Issue 89
   
   ECOCLUB
   ...
   Intrepid Travel's Jane Crouch:"AWARDS CAN HAVE A VERY POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE HIGHLY COMPETITIVE TOURISM INDUSTRY"
   
   The ECOCLUB InterviewIndex of Interviews
   
   Jane CrouchJane Crouch is the Responsible Travel Manager (RTM) for Intrepid Travel, passionate about travelling in a way that's positive and rewarding for all those involved.Jane has been at Intrepid for 10 years - starting as a group leader in Vietnam and Borneo in 1996.After about 65 trips and some brilliant experiences, she hung up the backpack in early 2000 to take up the position of RTM based in the company's Melbourne office, responsible for preparing RT guidelines, training staff and ensuring Intrepid Travel are practicing what they preach.Last year Jane took a long service leave to pursue a passion of hers, Timor-Leste as a volunteer through Australian Volunteers International, to work on tourism development based at their Government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.After instability, she was evacuated and then later returned to Dili into a new role as personal assistant to Timor-Leste's First Lady and based at the Alola Foundation which was established to help support women and their families.
   
   (The Interview follows:)
   
   ECOCLUB: As the Responsible Travel Manager of a most successful responsible tour operator, what do you consider as irresponsible travel and is there something you would like to do to it?
   
   Jane Crouch: Irresponsible travel to me is where the focus is entirely on the visitor, to the neglect and detriment of the host and their community.
   ...
   Jane Crouch: I'm generally not supportive of very short-term volunteer placements, unless the volunteers have very specific skills that can be used in training.The most productive volunteering is where you are working in a close partnership that is empowering local people to do it for themselves - not creating a dependency.I certainly learnt that I had to listen very carefully to my local colleagues as they had so much to teach me - particularly when it came to decisions as to what was the most culturally suitable way to implement change.
   
   ECOCLUB: From your experience working as a group leader and manager in South East Asia, can a private Tour company, however benevolent and responsible, be strong enough to make a visible difference, if a government is indifferent in terms of poverty reduction, education and people empowerment?
   
   Jane Crouch: It can be terribly frustrating when you are 'pushing against the tide', but sometimes you have to take the attitude that if you can make a difference and change the attitude of a few by positive example, then this difference can grow.E.g.I have climbed Mt. Kinabalu in Sabah many times in the last 20 years.
   ...
   Jane Crouch: I am not sure that the consumer necessarily pays so much attention to these awards, but I do think that they can have a very positive impact on the highly competitive tourism industry.
   ...
   Jane Crouch: We established The Intrepid Foundation Inc. (TIFI) as a separate entity from Intrepid Travel, to help ensure total transparency - to ensure we use donors' monies as intended - it cannot go through Intrepid Travel's books.The other reason we chose to have the Intrepid Foundation quite separate, is so that if Intrepid Travel has a 'difficult' year, like when SARS struck, we can still consistently support our charitable commitments, without a dependence on the profitability of Intrepid Travel.TIFI is still 'housed' under Intrepid's roof and receives administrative resources from Intrepid Travel.
   
   ECOCLUB: Please name the most important ingredient for responsible tours, and explain why you chose it, through an example you have experienced as a tour guide.
   
   Jane Crouch: Making friends with local people, on their terms, in their environment, living their usual way of life.
   ...
   Jane Crouch: Experienced this dilemma frequently.
   ...
   Jane Crouch: The approach we have taken and I would encourage all the industry to do, is to direct resources to the experts who understand the myriad of complexities of the issue - ECPAT or ChildWise as they are known in Australia.
   ...
   Jane Crouch: Operate a good product, practise what you preach, and then your customers will advertise for you.
   ...
   Jane Crouch: We have plenty of room to grow in the newer regions for us of Africa and Central & South America.

3. 3. Articles - Intrepid Travel

   www.intrepidtravel.com/inspira - [Cached]

   Published on: 10/16/2006   Last Visited: 10/16/2006

   To cut a long story short, Jane Crouch, our Responsible Travel Coordinator,established The Intrepid Foundation, with the assistance of the CharitiesAid Foundation.In less than four years The Intrepid Foundation has distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to needy recipients.We have also built up a sizeable 'corpus' which will be the base for ongoing donations for many years to come.
   
   This would not have happened with the tireless work of Jane Crouch and one