Zane Smith

Zane’s Eco and Adventure Tourism career has spanned more than 20 Years. Starting as a teenager in New Zealand’s Adventure Tourism sector he found his passion for the environment had a strong voice in the interpretation of natural history, ecology, culture, and environmental science. During the 1990s and the early 2000s, Zane owned and operated adventure tourism companies in New Zealand and traveled widely working in Eco and Adventure Tourism operations around the world. In 1997 he aptly named his white-water rafting company ‘eco-rafting’ and used the rafting journey to bring out the stories of nature's surroundings. Zane has been actively engaged in bringing the theory of Ecotourism to practice and thus has been working in the tertiary education sector for the past 20 years in tandem with his operational workload. This work has taken him to many places and had him involved in a variety of tourism and education operations in Australia, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, China, Philippines, Malaysia, USA, Hawaii, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Scotland, and Sri Lanka. Zane is a dedicated communicator and shares his enthusiasm openly for sustainable tourism across all sectors. He operates a tourism consultancy business and is co-founder and COO of Sunset Points – Transformational Retreats. Zane also sits on the board of the Asian Ecotourism Network (AEN). He has a Masters in Science (Entrepreneurial Leadership) from Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland. 

Email: zane@vation.co.nz;zane@sunsetpoints.com