Gwendal Castellan

Sustainable Destination Specialist at Tourism Vancouver

My experience and deep interests:

• Climate Change & Environment

• Urban Planning

I am based in: Vancouver

In 2012 with Tourism Vancouver and sponsorship from the local electrical utility I implemented an energy conservation outreach program is believed to have been worldwide first among destination marketing organizations. The program provided energy management education and consulting services to the 1,000+ member tourism businesses. The program aligned to support the City of Vancouver’s Greenest City by 2020 and the 100% renewable by 2050 goals. 

In 2016 the program lost its sponsorship and I had to develop & pitch a proposal to address sustainable destination development.

Before joining Tourism Vancouver in 2012 I worked in the aerospace industry at MDA as a satellite acquisition planner programming geospatial satellite data for international for projects such as oil seepage monitoring, offshore fishing vessel detection and forest cover mapping.  In 2004 I set off on an 18-month life changing adventure; cycling from Patagonia to the Inuvik in the Canadian Arctic. I produced an award-winning documentary film of the journey that had a transformative impact on my world-view. This marked a transition over the last 12 years driven by a desire to enable a lighter footprint for cities, for the businesses that operate in them and travellers that seek to visit them.

I have studied Geography at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Sustainable Energy Management with the British Columbia Institute of Technology and an Association of Energy Engineers accredited Certified Energy Manager.