Professor Steve Noakes has been involved in the travel and tourism industry for 40 years, and is a long term advocate for sustainable tourism practices across the Asia Pacific region. He is founder of Pacific Asia Tourism, an international project management company focused on tourism’s capacity to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism. Steve has been an active participant on the UNWTO Panel of Tourism Experts and the World Committee on Tourism Ethics, contributing to a number of UNWTO projects in Asia and East Africa.

In the past two decades, Steve has served as Adjunct / Visiting Professor at University of Queensland, Griffith University and Bond University in Australia, University of Lapland (Finland), and UiT the Arctic University of Norway.

As an experienced business leader, Steve serves as a Director/part-owner of Ecolodges Indonesia & EcoSafari Indonesia, operating ecolodges and inbound tours with a wildlife and biodiversity conservation focus across Indonesia, and is the Chair of the Board of Binna Burra Lodge in the world heritage listed Lamington National Park in Australia. He is also the Director of the Lamington Natural History Association at Lamington National Park.

In 2008, Steve was honoured with the inaugural Ecotourism Australia Medal, recognizing his active engagement in the Australian and international ecotourism industry. He was the lead Asia Pacific representative in the development of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, serving on the GSTC Board, the Education & Training Working Group, the Election Committee, the GSCT Trainers Selection Committee and as a Trainer.