50 episodes of The Tourism Reset and we're marking the milestone with a big topic and a very special guest.

My guest today, Gopinath Parayil has spent over 20 years asking one question: how do we create a better place to live? He's the founder of travel company Blue Yonder, an award winning travel company founded in 2004 in Kerala India.

His business and team have been first responders across major climate disasters for over two decades - the Kerala floods, the Nepal earthquake, and Cyclone Aila.

"It's high time that this $10 trillion humanitarian potential of tourism industry is unleashed." Gopi

As disasters hit more destinations, more often, Gopi's case is simple: this isn't a problem that's going away. It's a direct threat to business continuity, wherever you operate. And it's not just about responding once disaster strikes - Gopi argues tourism has a role to play at every stage: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.

This conversation is about what that actually looks like on the ground, what agency means in practice, and why tourism's $10 trillion economy might be the most underused resource in building resilience today.

Here's what stayed with me long after this conversation

🌍 Why a dying river and the loss of his father became the starting point for a completely different way of building and running a travel business

🌍 How a village of flood-damaged saris became a doll, a global movement, and $132,000 raised - without a single cent of it being donated and why that matters

🌍 Why Gopi's team trained 1,500 people to swim - and how it became part of a wider disaster-response system

Episode 50 is powered by Tiger Mountain Pokhara (Nepal), one of The Tourism Reset's partners helping keep expert-led insights and solutions open access for all, zero barriers for travel pros and business owners around the world to get in the know.

Find out more about Blue Yonder here.

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