New Member Introduction: Astrid Jirka from Discover Cayuga Lake

Astrid Jirka is the Director of Tourism Initiatives at Discover Cayuga Lake, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to cultivate informed and equitable relationships between people and watersheds, with an emphasis on the Finger Lakes. DCL works toward this mission by offering a variety of narrated cruises for visitors, by hosting specialized cruise programs for locals, and by providing educational programs for local children. DCL's tourism efforts are meant to serve its mission by educating tourists and residents alike, and by generating revenue to offer free or reduced-fare programming to locals to raise awareness about the importance of their local waters and watershed. The organization runs Floating Classroom and Trout in the Classroom Programs that serve nearly 3,000 children per year and hosts over 11,000 people on their boat each season. They host a Youth Guide Program and the Cayuga Lake Watershed Internship Program which provide opportunities for teens and young adults to explore careers in tourism, boating, and environmental education and conservation. 

In her position, Astrid oversees DCL's Eco-Tourism Program, which includes tasks such as product design and implementation, tour guide training, customer relations, bookings, reservation system management, and marketing - with a constant eye toward sustainability and community impact. She's responsible for community outreach and inclusion efforts, including diversity and equity, and hosting community events on DCL's boat.  She also manages and leads the multi-organizational, summer-long, internship program.

Astrid currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce and the Cayuga Lake Scenic Byway and holds a Professional Certificate for the Global Sustainable Tourism Council's Sustainable Tourism Criteria Program. DCL is a member of the NYS Tour Boat Association, the Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance, and the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail, and partners with dozens of organizations to design and deliver their diverse programs. In addition to tourism fares, they receive funding from local donors and a variety of foundations including the Tompkins County Tourism Program funded by the County Legislature.

Astrid grew up in Ithaca, attended Cornell University, and received a Master's in International and Intercultural Management with an emphasis on managing natural resources in an intercultural context. With a multi-lingual family and the great privilege of having travelled to multiple countries for work, study, and play, she became interested in the concept of eco-tourism and sustainable travel, which has formed the basis of her career. She has applied these concepts to her work as the Outreach Director for International Studies at Ithaca College, the Director of the Language House at Cornell, and as a Yoga Instructor for her business called Vahana Yoga & Eco-Tours. Her work is centered around understanding how people can learn from their travel experiences while having minimal impacts on the planet's resources, creating meaningful connections with people, and providing maximum benefits to host communities. When she travels she prefers to stay in funky, locally owned eco-lodges, explore the outdoors, and learn about local history and cultures. She also loves raptors and birds as you can see in the photos taken at Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania where she took a course in Raptor Management Techniques and got to hold birds that had been netted for tagging. That was definitely a highlight for the year!

Tourism is one the of the largest industries in the world with billions of people travelling annually and billions of dollars changing hands. Astrid is interested in working with others in the industry to promote all the wonderful things that result from people traveling while balancing the impacts on our precious planet. There are so many areas where sustainable practices can still be implemented. She looks forward to working with colleagues to find every opportunity to streamline programs and operations, to make it easy for visitors to travel lightly, and to ensure we're all taking care of local and global resources and communities. Please reach out to her if you are interested in collaborating on this subject.