Avoid tourism overcrowding backlash says tourism for tomorrow boss

In making a call for entries for this year’s event, Fiona Jeffery chairman of Tourism for Tomorrow said tourism must step up to its responsibilities.

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is calling on Travel & Tourism organisations to showcase their sustainable best practices by entering in the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards 2018.

Fiona Jeffery OBE, Founder and Chairman of the international water aid charity Just a Drop and Chairman of the WTTC Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, said: "I am very much looking forward to the 2018 Awards programme, which I shall be chairing for the fourth year. The development towards an enhanced focus on sustainable tourism through the IY2017 and the SDGs is an extremely important and encouraging one.

However, 2017 has also been the year when the impact of growing tourist numbers has been called into question, with backlashes against overcrowding in some key European destinations. Now, more than ever, it is vital that the industry steps up and accepts its wider responsibilities. Our Tourism for Tomorrow Awards winners help highlight solutions, based on successful and innovative business models built around, empowering local communities, inclusiveness, and the preservation of environment and cultural heritage. Their leadership and commitment is an example for all to follow."

Gloria Guevara President & CEO, WTTC said: "We are pleased to announce that the call for entries for the 2018 WTTC Tourism for Tomorrow Awards has opened today. The 2017 UN International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development (IY2017) and the advancement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have enhanced the focus on how Travel & Tourism can drive growth at the local level, but also – and importantly so – how this growth needs to be inclusive and environmentally sustainable.

The WTTC Tourism for Tomorrow Awards celebrate the best in sustainable tourism business leadership and I encourage all those organisations operating in this field to apply for the Awards programme. Through applying, they take the opportunity to help further educate government bodies and other tourism businesses with their inspirational stories."

This year applicants can enter in the following five categories: Community; Destination; Environment; Innovation; and People.

The 2018 Finalists will be announced in January 2018 and the winners will be announced during next year’s WTTC Global Summit, which will take place in Buenos Aires, 18 – 19 April 2018.

The 2017 Award winners were; Community Award: Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya; Destination Award: Botswana Tourism Organisation, Botswana; Environment Award: Misool, Indonesia; Innovation Award: The Nature Conservancy, USA; People Award: The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation’s China Hospitality Education Initiative (CHEI), China

Award applicants can apply online via http://wttc.org/tourism-for-tomorrow-awards/apply/ Entries open today and the closing date is 14 November 2017. #T4TAwards

Valere Tjolle

@ValereTjolle