New Zealand has won the 2008 Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards. The country also scooped the Best Destination Award for its national, strategic approach to responsible tourism.
Responsibletravel.com is the world's leading online ethical travel company, selling over 3,000 holidays from over 270 specialist operators and 550 accommodations. All the holidays meet specific responsible tourism guidelines and aim to create better places for people to live and to visit. Launched in 2001 the website is for travellers who want more real and authentic holidays that also benefit the environment and local people. The organisation - based in Brighton, England - also campaigns for positive change in the travel and tourism industry.
The Awards are the most prestigious and competitive of their kind in the world and are a collaboration between online travel directory responsibletravel.com, UK media partners The Daily Telegraph, Geographical Magazine and BBC World News, and World Travel Market who host the event. Now in their fifth year, the central tenet of the Awards is that all types of tourism - from niche to mainstream - can and should be operated in a way that respects and benefits destinations and local people. This year a record 1,976 nominations were received from travellers around the world voting for tourism ventures that provide outstanding holidays that also benefit local people and destinations.
The panel of judges declared New Zealand the overall winner for "proving that it is possible to develop a national strategy which uses tourism to help make better places to live and to visit. New Zealand has implemented many of the principles of the Cape Town Declaration on Responsible Tourism in Destinations and demonstrated what national government can achieve - working with the private sector, local communities and local government - by harnessing tourism to benefit their people and their environment. If more national governments followed their example, tourism would make a much more positive contribution around the world."
An additional 13 awards were presented in a range of categories which included Best for Poverty Reduction, Best Volunteering Organisation, Best Personal Contribution, Best Large Hotel and new for 2008 - Best Cruise or Ferry Operator. The winners are outlined below.
Justin Francis, founder of The Responsible Tourism Awards and managing director, responsibletravel.com, organisers of the Awards said:
“In this, the fifth year of the Awards, the bar has been raised for responsible tourism yet again. What inspires me is the efforts that businesses and destinations are making to ensure that responsible tourism lies at the heart of their strategies and plans. Without a doubt, this is the only way to plan for the future - responsible travel is not a passing fad or a niche travel trend for marketing purposes. It is an entire, holistic approach to tourism operations."
Amanda Wills, managing director, Virgin Holidays, headline sponsor of the Awards said:
“As headline sponsor for a second year, I have been both moved and inspired by the winners this year. Certainly there is much to learn from them, and it was a privilege to recognise and celebrate their efforts in this arena. It’s in the doing not the saying that we as an industry will make a difference, the winners lead the way.”
Launched in 2004, the Awards are run in association with partners World Travel Market, The Daily Telegraph, Geographical Magazine and BBC World News.
VIRGIN HOLIDAYS RESPONSIBLE TOURISM AWARD WINNERS 2008
Overall Winner: New Zealand
The judges declared New Zealand the overall winner for proving that it is possible to develop a national strategy which uses tourism to help make better places to live and to visit. New Zealand has implemented many of the principles of the Cape Town Declaration on Responsible Tourism in Destinations and demonstrated what national government can achieve - working with the private sector, local communities and local government - by harnessing tourism to benefit their people and their environment. If more national governments followed their example, tourism would make a much more positive contribution around the world.
Best Tour Operator, sponsored by The Adventure Company
Winner: Explore, UK
A leader in implementing responsible tourism principles for many years, Explore has been recognised for training and employing local tour leaders, pushing its suppliers to deliver, investing £300k into energy-efficient projects including cooking stoves in Cambodia and most recently for appointing a full-time responsible tourism manager.
Best Large Hotel / Accommodation (more than 50 rooms), sponsored by Hyatt Hotels & Resorts
Winner: Kingfisher Bay Resort, Fraser Island, Australia
For demonstrating that a large resort accommodating 60,000 guests per year and with 100,000 day visitors can be managed to have a low environmental impact; and for educating its guests about conservation, engaging positively with the indigenous people enabling them to share their culture and skilling them for employment.
Best Small Hotel / Accommodation (less than 50 rooms) sponsored by VisitBrighton
Winner: Nkwichi Lodge, Mozambique
For demonstrating what a small, privately-owned, luxury eco-tourist lodge can contribute through a $5 bed night levy, and for their role in the creation of the Umoji Association representing 20,000 local people through their chiefs and elected representatives. One of the first large community associations in Mozambique, it has enabled six communities to secure their land rights certificates from the Government.
Best Low Carbon Transport & Technology sponsored by Maison de la France
Winner: Bycyklen - The Foundation City Bikes in Copenhagen (Denmark)
With more than 2,000 city bikes for free public use by locals and tourists alike, Bycyklen demonstrates the potential scale and replicability of an initiative which reduces carbon emissions in the city and promotes exercise. The Foundation works with non profit organisation Incita to provide local people with skills and enable them to gain employment.
Best in a Mountain Environment sponsored by Exodus
Winner: Community Action Treks & Community Action Nepal, UK/Nepal
For the example they have set in using tourism for the economic and cultural benefit of communities, for the provision of health and education services, and for their work with porters which contributed to the development of the International Porter Protection Group.
Best in a Marine Environment sponsored by Royal Caribbean
Winner: Ecoventura, Ecuador
For contributing scholarships for education, and developing micro-business for local women, converting a fishing boat into a restaurant and boutique providing alternative livelihoods for the wives of fishermen. Ecoventura was also among the first cruise operators to be independently environmentally audited.
Best Cruise or Ferry Operator sponsored by The Passenger Shipping Association
Winner: Holland America Line, USA
For recognising that the industry has negative environmental impacts and accepting responsibility for doing something about it. They have reduced dockside emissions by 20%, developed and implemented an “Avoiding Whale Strikes” training programme, increased recycling by 50% and introduced new scrubber technology.
Best for Poverty Reduction sponsored by PromPeru
Winner: Gambia is Good Project, The Gambia
For demonstrating that it is possible for local farmers, 1,000 growers, 90% of them women, to produce 20 tonnes of vegetables and fruit in the tourism season to supply the tourism hotels and make a real contribution to the reduction of poverty in The Gambia – this is a local project of international significance.
Best for Conservation of Endangered Species or Protected Area sponsored by
South Australian Tourism Commission
Winner: Gamewatchers Safaris & Porini Camps, Kenya
For demonstrating that a high revenue, low impact tourism development approach can benefit the local Maasai, enabling them through developing conservancies and tourism in partnership with safari companies to create employment and community income and to conserve their land for wildlife.
Best for Conservation of Cultural Heritage sponsored by Jamaica Tourist Board
Winner: Shigar Fort-Palace Restoration Project, Pakistan
For the sensitive restoration of this historic building and its development as a hotel which has placed the property once again at the heart of the community as a cultural and economic asset bringing employment, microenterprise opportunities, and social and cultural empowerment for men and women.
Best Volunteering Organisation sponsored by Intrepid Travel
Winner: Camps International, UK
Highly Commended in 2007, Camps International has now integrated their ‘pledge to the planet’ into their business plan and responded to the recent post-election violence in Kenya - which resulted in radically reduced tourist numbers - by maintaining local staffing levels and expanding their commitment to Kenya projects as a contribution to recovery.
Best Destination sponsored by Conservation International
Winner: New Zealand
For developing an integrated approach to tourism development at the national level and managing it: identifying and then attracting those tourists who contribute most to the economy, focussing on yield rather than merely on numbers of arrivals, spreading the benefits of tourism and fully integrating environmental issues into its quality standard Qualmark Green.
Best personal contribution sponsored by Tourism Ireland
Joint winner: Jane Ashton - Head of Sustainable Development - TUI Travel PLC For successfully advocating the case for sustainable tourism in First Choice since the mid-nineties and for taking responsibility for securing change and providing leadership in First Choice and now TUI Travel, and across the large operator sector as demonstrated through the ground breaking People and the Environment report and the World Care Fund.
Joint winner: Diana McIntyre-Pike - Chair/CEO - Countrystyle Community Tourism Network
An innovator and leader for many years in Jamaica, Diana McIntyre-Pike has worked with communities to develop village stays and community experiences, as well as with the larger resorts and operators to market them, developing the Countrystyle Institute for Sustainable Tourism (CIST) to provide training to communities in basic hospitality skills, entrepreneurship and environmental awareness.