TIES – Doing Your Due Diligence

Please help us help people aware about the risks of getting involved with “TIES” and spread the word in your networks

Since we officially left in 2015 (see the statement we released then at the end), we have received many complaints about “TIES”, that concern us. These complaints are related to financial losses suffered or false representation of expertise.

So we would like to warn you to do your Due Diligence:

1) TIES, the non profit United States organization that was founded in 1990, apparently does not legally exist anymore in the USA .

What evidence is there for this ? We have searched the relevant databases.

“TIES “ was removed from UNEP´s 10YFP program for Sustainable Tourism, because it was unable to provide legal paperwork.

A case involving an ecoresort development plan in Beaufort County, SC also found no valid registration of TIES as a non-profit organization.

If you want to check for yourself: every organization in the USA must have an employer identification number (EIN), even if it will not have employees. The EIN is a unique number that identifies the organization to the Internal Revenue Service. The EIN number for The International Ecotourism Society was 03-0343403.

2) The Ecotourism Expertise that you see on the current website, was built up from 1990 to 2014, by ecotourism professionals with long track records. They are NOT associated with TIES anymore, but are at organizations like Global Ecotourism Network, Training Aid, Epler Wood International, etc. The people now using the TIES brand name are just hoping to make money, but they have never contributed to the intellectual property and hard work that built the brand.

Take Note: TIES website still shows links to members, sponsors, ecotourism associations and media partners, that are links to the webarchive of the old TIES website and do not mean that this information is up to date. Many are not aware of this and those who are are having difficulty in contacting TIES and removing the link.

3) The complaints we have received have to do with :

  • Unpaid bills for conferences,
  • products and services paid-for, but not delivered and
  • offering services as “experts” in ecotourism and sustainability based on TIES pre-2015 history.

We can put you in touch with people, who were directly involved in these cases. Some of them you can find directly through googling.

4) The people using the TIES brand name are now trying to get people, who are unaware of the situation, to participate in TIES Chapters and participate in TIES Awards. If you are serious about ecotourism, do not get involved.

5) The ecotourism professionals that were members of the TIES  Advisory Board until the end of 2014  formed the Global Ecotourism Network and have severed all connections and relationships with TIES due to their lack of transparency, credibility and false claims of expertise.

And if the above does not convince you, please do your due diligence:

  • Contact people who knew TIES before 2015.
  • If you are considering organizing an event with “TIES”, it might be prudent to contact the organizers of recent TIES events and ask about their experiences working with TIES.
  • Ask “TIES” for attendance and media statistics of the last conferences, preferably audited and ask “TIES” for their most recent annual report, including financial data.
  • If you are considering sponsoring “TIES”, it might be prudent to contact other sponsors listed on the website about their experiences. We also recommend that you reach out publicly to ask other non-sponsors about their personal experience with TIES since 2014.
  • If you are considering membership in “TIES”, it might be prudent to contact other members in your category about the perceived benefits.
  • If you are considering participating in a “TIES” event, it might be prudent to ask about their refund policy before committing to payment or contact the main partner organization to verify if the event is confirmed and what the cancellation policy is.
  • If you are considering representing “TIES” as a Chapter Head, it might be prudent to evaluate if this is a worthwhile investment of your time and money.

Please help us help people aware about the risks of getting involved with “TIES” and spread the word in your networks

 
In February 2015, the entire Advisory Board of TIES resigned and formed GEN. We said then: “As an Advisory Committee, we had worked diligently and tirelessly, and in some cases we invested our own money to support the advances and survival of The International Ecotourism Society and subsequently, the ITC’s TIES program. We reinforced the initial vision and fundamental work of the founding members and more recently of the chair, Dr. Kelly Bricker. We are honored to have participated in the growth and past success of this important global organization that began in 1990. However, in recent years we have had concern regarding access to important ITC held information. Despite numerous requests over the years by the ITC’s TIES Advisory Committee for information about the organization’s status (complete financials, accounting, operations, etc.), the ITC has been unwilling to share what we, as members of the Advisory Committee, consider essential information that we felt we had a right to see. In 2014, the ITC removed, without notice or explanation, the TIES program Advisory Committee’s involvement and participation in ITC’s programs, by among other things, removing each of the below identified members from the ITC/TIES website. As a result, the entire Advisory Committee of the ITC’s TIES program decided unanimously that resignation from the ITC was the appropriate response to our current situation, consistent with our beliefs.”

GEN, February 2015