Alternative Travel Group wins AITO Responsible Tourism Award

Alternative Travel Group, the speciliast operator for walking holidays, won the top award in AITO’s first Responsible Tourism Awards.

Desmond Balmer made the presentations on behalf of AITO on January 7th. The winners included five tour operators and a destination.

Commenting on the awards, John Gillies, AITO’s Responsible Tourism Chairman said: “The Association has been “banging on about Responsible Tourism for the past four years, so these presentations mark the culmination of a long process of putting Responsible Tourism at the top of AITO’s agenda, trying to emphasize that it is the small, independent operators who actually set the standards in Responsible Tourism.”

Mr Gilies pointed out that currently AITO is the only UK travel industry organisation which makes adherence to the principles of Responsible Tourism a fundamental requirement of membership.

“Lots of people think that Responsible Tourism means making less money in a more virtuous way. That’s not the way AITO sees it” said Mr Gillies.

He continued: “The point about Responsible Tourism is not that it’s virtuous, but that it makes sense.”

According to Mr Gillies, “It [Responsible Tourism] is the only way to ensure that our products are sustainable, so that we, and our partners, and our destinations, can continue to make money out of them year after year.”

Mr Gillies added: “I’m not going to pretend that AITO has a monopoly on responsibility, but we have made it a major ingredient of the AITO recipe. These Awards have demonstrated a remarkable depth of activity and strength of conviction amongst our members, and should certainly demonstrate to our customers that AITO companies have something special to offer that sets them aside from the rest of the industry.”

The Judging panel for the Awards consisted of two “green gurus” and two journalists. Dick Sisman, founder and MD of Green Flag International, has long been associated with AITO’s RT efforts, and both he and Dr Harold Goodwin, Director of the Centre for Responsible Tourism at the University of Greenwich, have worked closely with AITO on the development of their Guidelines and Advice Notes.

Journalist Desmond Balmer is no stranger to Awards, having run the Guardian and Observer Travel Awards for some years while he was the Observer’s Travel Editor. Beside these three stalwart AITO supporters was the well-known writer, journalist and broadcaster Libby Purves, who has had little involvement with AITO in the past, and so has provided an invaluable independent voice.

Between them the judges worked through fifteen tour operator applications (ten percent of AITO’s membership) and several others from AITO destinations and suppliers.

This year’s main Responsible Tourism Award was dedicated to the late Travers Cox, who died this autumn. Founder and until recently MD of Explore Worldwide, Travers was a highly successful businessman who believed strongly in the philosophy of sustainability and responsibility in tourism. A long-time member and enthusiastic supporter of AITO, he had in recent years provided advice generous financial sponsorship for its RT initiatives.

Results of the 2002 AITO Responsible Tourism Awards

The Travers Cox Award for Outstanding Achievement in Responsible Tourism

“A single award for an AITO member company which has incorporated the principles and practices of Responsible Tourism as a part of its core management function. The winner of this award will be able to show that it has a comprehensive RT policy in place in its systems and procedures, a record of significant improvements in good practice over time, and an involvement in practical RT initiatives in some aspect of its tour operations”.

The Winner
Alternative Travel Group, Oxford (“Giving Something Back”)
ATG is a tour operator specialising in the most environmentally friendly form of travel – walking holidays. ATG was founded on principles of conservation and sustainability, and in recent years has focussed its marketing strategy on the concept of “giving something back”, concentrating on the environment not as something to be exploited, but as a resource to be conserved as a direct result of ATG’s business activities. The judges felt that ATG has demonstrated total commitment to the theory and practice of Responsible Tourism in both its core policy and its practical initiatives.

Highly Commended:
1.Guerba World Travel (Kilimanjaro Village Education Project)
2. Sunvil Africa (Tourism Aid Campaign)

Tour Operator Commendation Awards – “to one or more AITO member company/ies which have in the judges’ view initiated or developed a particular area of good Responsible Tourism practice which is relevant to its own operations and may have a wider application for others in the industry”.
1. Explore (“Earth Matters”)
2. Naturetrek (Code of Conduct for Clients)

Destination Commendation Award
Western Cape Tourism Board, Republic of South Africa (Community-based initiatives and education projects)