VISTA Africa Sustainable tourism award announced at Indaba 2011.

Africa’s leading travel and trade show, Indaba 2011 saw the announcement of VISTA Africa – Vision on Sustainable Tourism’s International Sustainable Tourism Award on 8th May at the Responsible Tourism networking event.

VISTA Africa is the second step of a global roll out of the original VESTAS (Vision European Sustainable Tourism Awards) announced at last years ITB Berlin. The VISTA Asia Pacific awards were announced earlier this year.

Announcing the awards, Gopinath Parayil, global coordinator of VISTA awards and founder of The Blue Yonder said that "The nominations will be collected from eco-labels, verification and certifying agencies across Africa.”

“The VISTA Africa awards are launched to support and provide a powerful showcase for sustainable tourism initiatives throughout Africa. We will accept nominations from agencies and organisations that have evaluated organisations and initiatives in the region. We now are in the process of identifying partners for the awards and will be announcing the categories and dates for nominations in the coming weeks."

“The nominations will classify themselves according to the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria of effective sustainability planning – maximizing social and economic benefits for the local community, enhancing cultural heritage, and reducing negative impacts to the environment."

As in the case of the VESTA European awards, VISTA Africa will also see the announcement of a ‘rusty nail’ award, which will be nominated for irresponsible practices and a special award for peace through tourism.

The first VESTA European award ceremony took place at the Responsible Tourism Networking at ITB Berlin 2011 on 11th March as part of the Responsible Tourism Networking event and as part of the ITB sustainable tourism programme.

The VESTA European awards have already now partnered with 20 of the 30 European certifying agencies who have nominated over 100 of their certified tourism initiatives from small scale accommodation to full service destinations. See: VESTAS for full European story.

Jennifer Seif, Executive Director of Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa (FTTSA), stated that "VISTA African will boost the profile of local and national initiatives across Africa while also helping to build a network of likeminded organizations. In southern and East Africa there exists already a strong degree of collaboration amongst certification organizations and VISTA could assist us to build ties with peers in other parts of the continent. “

“It is important to acknowledge and support businesses and operators investing in responsible and sustainable business practices. The award provides a platform of global exposure and recognition and will help to illustrate to the industry that it is not just the right thing to do, but makes business sense to embrace responsible tourism as the corner stone of tourism, whether niche or mainstream,” says Mariette du Toit-Helmbold, CEO of Cape Town Tourism.
 

Valere Tjolle
Valere Tjolle is the editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suite latest special offer HERE