Shannon Guihan
Shannon Guihan
BRM '01
Director, Bannikin Travel & Tourism http://www.bannikin.com
Sustainable Tourism Consultant in Toronto, ON
Shannon is a Director of Bannikin Travel & Tourism, a Toronto-based consulting company specializing in building and marketing experiences for niche tour operators, emerging destinations and hotel properties. On behalf of Bannikin, Shannon also manages The TreadRight Foundation, a foundation created to encourage sustainability within The Travel Corporation’s family of brands and the destinations they visit. Through her work with TreadRight, Shannon collaborates on projects worldwide with the World Travel & Tourism Council, The Travel Foundation and a number of other destination based organizations. Shannon is a member of the executive for Sustainable Travel International - Canada, and is a board member of Transportation Options an Ontario based non-profit, focused on supporting cycle tourism development innovations and ideas, and former Executive Director of The Icarus Foundation, which sought to address the relationship between climate change and the tourism industry.
Shannon quickly discovered the secret to career happiness when she took the helm as a lead sea kayak guide in her home province of Newfoundland. Now with more than 15 years in the industry, she has completed a Masters in Tourism & Environmental Management and has been collaborating and pushing for ways to enhance sustainability in the tourism industry from Iceland to Canada to China, and many parts in between. Shannon has worked with destinations, tour operators and not for profits. Most recently, Shannon led TreadRight & Uniworld Boutique River cruises in a partnership with The Travel Foundation that resulted in a guide for best practice for the river cruising industry.
What I Learned
My BRM was essential in providing me with the necessary tools and experience I needed to become a self starter. There is no template for the multitude of projects and positions available to students of the program, what is essential is the understanding that this industry is a place for individuals to establish themselves in unique, often tailor made roles. The RM program also prepared me with the academic background I needed to further my education with an MSc in Tourism and Environmental Management, thus allowing me to find my niche working first in adventure and active travel, and now in sustainable tourism development.
My Acadia Highlights
Apart from leading me into the work that I love, my time at Acadia gave me my absolute closest friends, and my husband!