Catherine Evans is an educator, consultant, entrepreneur, and explorer with over 35 years of local and international experience. Through her work, Evans has gained extensive knowledge while developing domestic and global relationships with regional destination-marketing organizations, tourism service providers, and local and national government representatives. She has built nature discovery programs for zoos, museums, aquariums, and educational institutions. She has been lead, and co-lead on a wide array of business and community projects on the Sunshine Coast BC, and international destinations in Latin America and Asia. Personal journeys have taken her to five continents in roles ranging from tour escort, conference presenter, family holidaymaker and independent explorer. She enjoys writing Stories and Blogs that focus on green development, nature and wildlife, and culture and communities.
As the tourism industry has shifted post-pandemic, and in the wake of shifting environmental and cultural landscapes, she is keenly interested in emerging trends found in:
*Community-based development;
*Biologically-respectful tourism; and
*How sustainable practices lessen the impact on the places, wildlife, and peoples.
Experience
Catherine Evans teaches in various degree, diploma and certificate programs. She has led multi-day student-learning excursions in British Columbia, Mexico and China, and has designed curricula for strategic resort management, tourism product development, strategic planning, and ecoliteracy (field school, and in-class courses).
She spent four terms at Jinhua Polytechnic in China from 2012 to 2018 as faculty in the International Hotel Management program assisting with instruction, mentorship, and program development. Before coming to Royal Roads as Associate Faculty in 2012, she instructed at Capilano University for 10 years.
She has consulted on projects and missions on community development in Costa Rica, Guyana, Colombia, Guatemala, Trinidad & Tobago, Peru, Honduras, and Greenland as well as British Columbia. Her consulting work included developing plans to establish a Sunshine Coast destination-marketing organization, co-creating the Malibu arts retreat in remote BC, contributing to whale research, and working with the World Wildlife Fund on ecolodge development in Costa Rica.
Education
2012
Master of Arts in Tourism Management
Royal Roads University
2010
Provincial Instructor Diploma
Vancouver Community College
1984
Honours Bachelor of Science in Zoology
University of Toronto
Awards
2012
Beadle Family Award
For excellence and innovation in tourism, Royal Roads University
Research
Research interest
Community-based development
Biologically-respectful tourism
How sustainable practices lessen the impact on the places, wildlife, and peoples
Publications
Evans, Catherine & Paradi, Szilvia (2024). Marketing strategy for business recovery in Tourism and hospitality management in practice: a case study collection. Rebecca Wilson-Mah ed. NY: Routledge
Evans, Catherine (2012). Biologically Respectful Tourism: Examining environmental NGO campaigns of the Sunshine Coast BC, https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/24609240/biologically-respectful-tourism-linkbc/htm1
Evans (nee Smith), Catherine. (1988) Reducing cultural barriers through travel – Latin America, Africa & Asia in Tourism a vital force for peace. First Global Conference. Louis J. D’Amore & Jafar Jafari eds.