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Tourism for tomorrow – 2017 finalists announced
City of Bydgoszcz, Poland
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has announced its longlist for Community, Destination, Environment, Innovation and People awards for 2017
Awards Lead Judge, Graham Miller, Executive Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Surrey, said: "The 2017 Finalists illustrate how widespread the notion of sustainable tourism has become. While sustainability used to be focused around the preservation of nature, this year, the organisation’s missions are, amongst other things, centred around innovative value creation for societies, travel technology for those with accessibility needs, and empowerment of the young workforce."
Community Award Finalists, whose organisations are committed to sustainable tourism leadership in local community development, empowerment and cultural heritage
- Cinnamon Wild Yala, Sri Lanka
- G Adventures, Canada
- Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya
Destination Award Finalists, who show commitment to supporting and delivering sustainable tourism best practices in their destinations:
- Botswana Tourism Organisation, Botswana
- City of Bydgoszcz, Poland
- Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park, Finland
Environment Award Finalists, whose organisations and companies achieved environmental best practice through biodiversity conservation, protection of natural habitats, addressing climate change, and green operations:
- Biosphere Expeditions, UK
- Caiman Ecological Refuge, Brazil
- Misool, Indonesia
Innovation Award Finalists, who provided innovative solutions to overcoming the challenges faced by Travel & Tourism in implementing sustainability in practice:
- NATIVE Hotels and Accessible Tourism, Spain
- Soel Yachts, Netherlands
- The Mapping Ocean Wealth initiative led by the Nature Conservancy, USA
People Award Finalists, who are dedicated to the development of capacity building, training and education to build a skilled tourism workforce for the future:
- Desert & Delta Safaris, Botswana
- STREETS International, Vietnam
- The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation’s China Hospitality Education Initiative (CHEI), China
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