Catherine Germier-Hamel

For over 25 years, Catherine Germier-Hamel has built an international career dedicated to global and local sustainable development in a variety of sectors including tourism, hospitality and leisure, and water, sanitation, and waste utilities.

After working for 9 years as a consultant for a French company specializing in technical assistance and operational support to environmental utility management in developing and emerging countries, she decided to embrace a career dedicated to sustainable tourism.

In 2005, Catherine started a new life in South Korea where she creates the initiative Wine & Women Korea and promotes wine and sustainable wine tourism then serves as F&B Marketing Manager at Novotel Gangnam hotel (2007-2008). From 2008 to 2013), she joins the UNWTO ST-EP (Sustainable Tourism for Eliminating Poverty) Foundation as Director of Global Programs & Sustainable Tourism Consultant before becoming an independent Consultant and Trainer in 2014.

​In 2016, she launched Millennium Destinations, a Seoul-based enterprise providing consulting services and innovative solutions to small businesses and organizations in the travel, tourism, and hospitality sectors for their sustainable tourism development and marketing.

In 2019, she co-founded Herost, an impact platform designed as an online travel guide and toolkit promoting sustainable, community-driven travel places, experiences, and practices. Since 2020, she has acted as the CEO of Herost.

In 2021, Catherine was appointed CEO of Destination Mekong, ​a private-sector-led DMO aimed at championing the Greater Mekong Sub-region as a sustainable tourism destination creating value for all.

Catherine holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration and Management from Neoma Business School (1992) and a post-degree in Sustainable Tourism Development from University Paris Nanterre (2004).