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Dorset picks up global tourism award
WTTC Summit Special: A UK destination has beaten competition from projects in Indonesia and Ecuador at this year’s prestigious Tourism for Tomorrow Awards.
The Jurassic Coast in Dorset and east Devon won the destination award, presented at the WTTC Summit in New Delhi. The region, which has secured World Heritage Site status, involves a partnership between 200 stakeholders at the local, national and international level.
Other winners were Damaraland Camp in Namibia, one of the Wilderness Safari group lodges, which won the Conservation Award; Haciendas del Mundo Maya in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, a resort part-owned by Starwood Hotels and Resorts, which won the Investor in People Award for its close work with local Mayan communities; and Casuarina Beach Club in Barbados, which won the Global Tourism Business Award for its sound environmental management system, which includes water and energy saving schemes and education of guests and staff in sustainable practices.
On the panel of judges was: Costas Chris, chief executive for Bar Harbor Marine Chamber of Commerce and an expert on sustainable tourism, the Hon John Brinceno, deputy prime minister of Belize, Hitesh Mehta, director of ecotourism and environmental planning for Landscape Architects, Planners and Graphic Designers, and Graham Boynton travel editor of the Daily Telegraph.
The judges selected the winners following visits to the nominated projects by sustainable tourism experts. Other projects that reached the finalists list included the Manda Widerness project in Mozambique, Rinjani Trek Ecotourism project in Indonesia and Xel Ha theme park in Mexico.
The Tourism for Tomorrow Awards were launched in 1991 by British Airways but have been organised by WTTC since last year. Sponsors include BA, Avis, Octopustravel.com, InterContinental Hotels Group, Opodo, BBC World, Daily Telegraph, Time, and Wanderlust.
Report by Ginny McGrath
Ginny McGrath
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