Greenloons is committed to providing trusted, transparent information about authentic, responsible, sustainable and certified ecotourism travel experiences available around the world. Our goal is to make it easy to directly connect travelers with meaningful, unique and awesome vacations.
We do this by working with certified guiding companies and ecotourism accommodation owners that have been independently verified as focusing on the triple bottom line of social empowerment, economic viability, and environmental responsibility.
Greenloons provides three services to our clients:
Hi there! My name is Irene Lane and I am the Founder & President of Greenloons. I’m also a Mom – an eco-conscious Mom who loves to plan vacations and travel to exotic and inspirational places in an environmentally responsible manner.
Before I started doing mommy time, I completed my MBA in International Finance and was in the corporate world for 12 years as a consultant for federal government agencies as well as private information technology companies. I also worked for eBay in their information technology department specifically focused on customer service solutions. In addition to being a dual EU citizen and living in 5 countries, I have had the pleasure of extensively traveling through 37 more countries in Asia, Oceania, South America, Africa and Europe.
I started Greenloons in May 2010 while completing my Certificate in Sustainable Tourism Management and after I realized that there was a lot of misinformation about ecotourism and very little transparency about the industry. Of course, I wanted to create a site that would present the facts about ecotourism, let consumers decide for themselves, and supply a forum to share their experiences. But, I wanted to go one step further and only offer safe, educational and fun vacation packages provided by certified or accredited tour operators.
The success over these last years has been phenomenal with a long list of repeat clients, expanded partnerships, and even speaking engagements about the value and challenges of ecotourism for organizations such as the Adventure Travel Trade Association, the United States Department of State, and George Washington University. It’s only going to get better!
Happy and safe eco-travels!
The inspiration for the name actually came about because I wanted to signify a migratory bird that lives lightly on the land. An animal that needs to explore to survive. When I read up about the loon, immediately I recalled how so many people who are environmentally-conscious are called “loonies” or “loons”. So, I thought I would flip the pejorative term sideways and say to the world “very well then, we’ll be loons calling out in the name of conservation education, we’ll be greenloons!”
Greenloons only lists vacation experiences from guiding companies and lodges that have dedicated nature and wildlife tours, established energy and wildlife conservation policies, commitment to host destination economic prosperity, and adherence to environmental standards as set forth by recognized third parties including: Australia’s ECO Certification Program, Botswana’s Ecotourism Certification System, Costa Rica’s Certificate for Sustainable Tourism (CST), Green Globe Certification Program, and Fair Trade in Tourism (FTT). Additionally, the guiding company or accommodation needs to have received a conservation or environmental award by a legitimate organization – you would be surprised how many organizations arrange awards and then award themselves!
