From travel to strategy: the story behind Sherpa’s Stories

Since 2015, Isabel has been helping places develop future-oriented tourism strategies through Sherpa’s Stories. She translates complex tourism challenges into clear positioning, creative concepts and compelling storytelling, and guides organisations through change and innovation. Her focus is on traveller behaviour and the influence of technology, sustainability and shifting expectations.

The inspiration for Sherpa’s Stories came during a trek through Sikkim, India, where she met Mingma Sherpa. His calm guidance, resourcefulness and creativity, and an unforgettable chocolate cake at 5,000 metres, gave shape to her approach: providing clarity, direction and momentum, even when the terrain gets complex.

Thinking, speaking and making

Isabel works with destinations in three ways.

As a tourism strategist, she develops integrated tourism strategies and destination policies for DMOs, municipalities and provinces. She guides complex multi-stakeholder processes and combines vision with practicality. Not advising from a distance, but building together with policymakers, entrepreneurs and communities at the table. Stakeholder support is not an afterthought but a prerequisite for strategy that actually works.

As a travel trendwatcher, she goes beyond identifying trends. She analyses what trends reveal about traveller behaviour, destination dynamics and the future of tourism, so organizations and destinations can actually act on them. Through Sherpa’s Stories, she publishes strategic trend analyses for tourism professionals, policymakers and destination marketers.

As a keynote speaker, Isabel speaks at national and international conferences on the future of tourism, trends, innovation and changing travel behaviour. Drawing on her experience across more than 50 destinations and personal travels through 98 countries, she brings a sharp, strategic and human perspective to tourism. Her presentations are energetic, substantive, practical and always tailored to the context of the audience.

Leading in AI and technology

Isabel is at the forefront of applying new technology in tourism. She uses AI daily, from trend analysis and strategic advice for clients to innovative forms of storytelling and content development. Her journey to Socotra was transformed into an international AI podcast. She actively experiments with new applications, from vibe-coding to new ways of working, and brings that knowledge directly into her work with destinations and organizations.

98 countries as an analytical compass

Isabel has travelled through 98 UN-recognised countries, from busy European city trips to places where tourists rarely venture: Bhutan, Socotra, Iran, North Korea and Mongolia. That global field experience forms the foundation of her analytical perspective on tourism and destination development.

Her travels are source material. From Bhutan came lessons on sustainable destination marketing. Socotra became a strategic analysis and an international AI podcast. Costa Rica led to insights on what goes wrong when success becomes its own enemy. Understanding tourism in its most extreme and fragile forms gives you a perspective you cannot get from a report. That combination of field experience and strategic thinking is what makes her view distinctive.

In the media

Isabel is regularly approached by national media, from major newspapers and public broadcasters to lifestyle titles, as an expert on tourism and recreation, covering consumer trends as well as broader developments in the sector. International media such as the Financial Times, Al Jazeera and Kathimerini seek her out specifically as an expert on overtourism. She also writes the Reisradar column for Triptalk, a regular feature on the most important developments in travel and tourism.

Education and volunteer work

Isabel has been an examiner for the BUAS tourism programme, one of the leading bachelor’s programmes for tourism in the Netherlands, for seven years, contributing to the quality of the next generation of tourism professionals.

She also volunteers as a tourism expert with PUM, advising SMEs and tourism authorities in emerging economies on sustainable tourism development. Not focused on rapid growth, but on long-term resilience with local ownership at its core. A recent project for the Bangladesh Tourism Board focused on strengthening community-based tourism at national and regional level, from fieldwork in Sylhet to strategic recommendations for national CBT policy.

Work with Sherpa’s Stories

Sherpa’s Stories is where travel trends meet strategic vision. My strength lies in connecting strategy, trends, positioning and storytelling into practical and actionable steps, together with a network of specialists. I help places become more resilient, more relevant and more inspiring, for visitors and for the communities behind the destination. Not just thinking but doing, with genuine commitment and an eye for local context.

For me, tourism is not about visitor numbers alone. It is about meaningful connections between places, people and stories.

Get in touch at isabel@sherpasstories.com for an introduction or first conversation.