Rest Of World Responsible Tourism Award Winners Unveiled

Tuesday, Oct 15, 2024 0

Completing the shortlist for the Global Responsible Tourism Awards

Community experiences in Borneo, an iron age museum in Scotland, accessibility services delivered by a major tour operator and a sustainability tool to help travel businesses reduce greenhouse gas emissions have all won gold in the Responsible Tourism Awards, rest of the world regional awards.

Emeritus professor Harold Goodwin, managing director of the Responsible Tourism Partnership and chair of the judges said: “All our Rest of the World Responsible Tourism Award winners competed in a very tough field and are all outstanding examples of initiatives which will provide inspiration for other destinations and organisations to learn from.”

The Rest of The World gold winners now go onto be considered for a prestigious Global Responsible Tourism Award sponsored by Sabre which will be announced on 4 November. They will be competing against gold winners from Africa, Latin America, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia and the full shortlist can be read here: 2024 Global Award Finalists – ICRT GLOBAL

The Rest of the World Responsible Tourism Award winners unveiled today are:

Borneo Adventure, a specialist tour operator based in Malaysia has won a gold Responsible Tourism Award for working with the local Iban communities in Sarawak in a way which has increasing local sourcing and created shared value. In the award submission the company said: “there is no point talking about conservation when communities are trying to overcome poverty.” Forty families in the region are now involved in tourism in a way which visitors are welcomed as guests on their terms. Tours to the area focus on conservation and the environment and Borneo Adventure also contributes to a community longhouse fund through a tourist tax and headman levy for each tourist that visits Ulu Ai. The money from tourism has broken the subsistence agriculture cycle and stimulated a cash economy in the area. www.borneoadventure.com

The Scottish Crannog Centre wins a gold Responsible Tourism Award for creating shared value. This open-air museum recreates an Iron Age village on the banks of Loch Tay and sources as much as possible from within the travelling distance of the museum.

The museum is growing its own food for the café and developing coppice sites to harvest natural materials to maintain the building. Four apprentices work on site, ensuring that skills are available locally to maintain the museum. Crannog Centre said: “We are owning our future ourselves as a community—exactly what people 2,500 years ago would have done.” www.crannog.co.uk

Tour operator TUI wins a gold Responsible Tourism Award for making tourism inclusive. TUI UK and Ireland serves more than six million holidaymakers a year. Its dedicated Accessible Holidays Strategy team has partnered with AccessAble to survey hotels and develop detailed access guides which are now available online. It has also partnered with Sign Live to provide interpreting services for British sign language users via video relay. The TUI specialist team regularly achieves 9.5/10 customer satisfaction scores. The judges were pleased to see a major tour operator address the needs of those with access needs and hope that others will follow their example. Accessible Holidays | TUI.co.uk and Assisted Travel with TUI | TUI.co.uk

Wise Sustainability wins a gold Responsible Tourism Award for its work in tackling climate change. Wise Sustainability assists businesses in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by “turning the invisibility of energy, water, food, and materials use into visible, measured, monitored, and controlled consumption that reduces the use of finite supplies.” Applying the principle that you can only manage what you can measure, Wise Sustainability uses technology to measure use, identify the profligate use of resources and enable management to reduce resource use. The company has developed subscription-based services, including a live reporting widget that provides real-time, transparent, and independently verified sustainability progress. www.wisesustainability.com

The judges also awarded two silver awards:

Six Senses, Zighy Bay in Oman wins a silver Responsible Tourism Award for employing and upskilling local communities. The hotel has worked in partnership with the Dibba Women’s Association to create a new immersive experiences for called “Sense of Oman through a Woman’s Eyes”. Guests can learn the tactile art of date palm weaving, and how to create intricate designs of pottery decorating and henna painting. Funds raised contributes to Dibba Women’s Associations work including the sponsorship of a local school. Zighy Bay demonstrates what an enlightened resort can achieve when it upskills its staff and empowers the community. www.sixsenses.com

Costa Navarino in the southwest Peloponnese of Greece is awarded a silver Responsible Tourism Award for its nature-positive approach. This collection of five-star hotels, golf courses, conference and spa facilities, funds activities which could be replicated by similar developments. Examples include the Navarino Environmental Observatory collaboration with Stockholm University and the Academy of Athens. Since 2009 more than 1,800 students have visited, and more than 200 scientific papers have been published. Through the observatory, research projects have been supported on the Natura 2000, Gialove Lagoon. www.costanavarino.com

In addition, the judges commended three “ones to watch” with award finalists who are showing great promise for the future. These are:

Pitchup.com is commended for its work surveying 2000 disabled people to understand their thoughts experiences and challenges in accessing outdoor holiday accommodation such as camping, caravanning and glamping. More than half of disabled travellers said they avoid outdoor holidays all together and 39% said authentic photos of accessibility features and users reviews would improve their ability to decide on a trip. As a result, Pitchup, which is an outdoor accommodation booking platform offering more than 5,600 campsites and parks in 67 countries has now launched 13 accessibility filters, an accessibility hub and accessibility guides. www.pitchup.com

Broughton Sanctuary in Yorkshire is commended for the scale of its vision and ambition to be a regenerative space though rewilding including plans to introduce rare breeds and reintroduce beavers. The rewilding project at Broughton Sanctuary began five years ago with native tree planting and habitat restoration at a scale of 1000 acres and by the reintroduction of iron-age pigs. A “ Lens on Nature” and “Guided Star Gazing” engage visitors and guests with nature, complementing the hospitality provided in the Hall and the spa. www.broughtonsanctuary.co.uk

Vegan Travel Aisa is a Texas-based company offering culturally immersive and responsible vegan travel experiences across Asia. It is commended as one to watch for the significant effort it is taking as a niche company to measure and reduce its greenhouse gas emission. Vegan Travel Asia uses land transportation to reduce emissions, low impact accommodation, reusable water bottles. It estimates that an 8-day tour with an omnivore diet would emit approximately 46 tons of CO2, whereas its vegan tours emit only 23 tons. www.vegantravelasia.com

Detailed citations for all winners can be read on The Responsible Tourism Partnership website https://responsibletourismpartnership.org/2024-row/