BEST DESTINATION sponsored by GAP Adventures
Winner: New Forest National Park (see Walk in the enchanted forest)
Highly commended: Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka (00 94 773 251 088, www.responsibletourismsrilanka.org),
which has developed small-scale community-based tourism to help the region
recover from the tsunami. Costa Rica (www.visitcostarica.com),
which has built on its reputation as Central America’s eco-tourism capital
to develop a more wide-ranging strategy throughout its industry.
BEST LARGE HOTEL (more than 50 rooms), sponsored by Hyatt Hotels and
Resorts
Winner: Apex Hotels (0845 365 0000, www.apexhotels.co.uk).
A chain of four-star hotels - three in Edinburgh, one in Dundee and one in
London - that show how large city-centre hotels can be greener. The group
has introduced environmental initiatives, such as energy-efficient lifts and
boilers, and fixing flow regulators on showerheads. Three of its hotels have
reduced energy consumption per room by more than 20 per cent since 2006.
Highly commended: Evason Phuket & Spa (00 66 76 381010, www.sixsenses.com/evason-phuket),
a 160-room hotel in Phuket, Thailand, which is working with ECPAT
International to help protect children from sexual exploitation. Radisson,
Edinburgh (00 800 3333 3333, www.edinburgh.radissonsas.com).
Radisson’s flagship green accommodation, which has increased local sourcing
from lowland Scotland and helped to train homeless people to gain work in
the hospitality industry.
BEST SMALL HOTEL (fewer than 50 rooms), sponsored by Tourism Queensland
Winner: Finca Esperanza Verde (00 505 7725003, www.finca
esperanzaverde.org). A 26-bed eco-lodge on an organic coffee farm in the
mountains of Nicaragua. It is owned by a nonprofit organisation run by
volunteers in North Carolina and provides income for local people and
financial resources for projects near San Ramón. The lodge is run on
renewable energy sources and 10 per cent of its income is invested in rural
water projects and local schools.
Highly commended: Lamai Homestay (00 66 862 585 894, www.thailandhomestay.com),
a small group of homestays that encourage visitors to explore one of the
least-visited regions of Thailand. Papillote (001 767 448 2287, www.papillote.dm).
Dominica’s first eco-inn has supported its local community for more than 30
years and established a tropical garden.
BEST MODE OF LOW-CARBON TRANSPORT AND TECHNOLOGY sponsored by Virgin
Trains
Winner: Eurostar (0870 5186186, www.eurostar.com).
The high-speed rail operator is committed to reducing carbon dioxide
emissions by 25 per cent per passenger journey by 2012. It plans to do this
through environmental initiatives such as e-ticketing to save paper,
recycling onboard waste and reducing energy consumption of its trains.
Following the move to its new home at St Pancras International, Eurostar has
also begun offsetting all its journeys.
Highly commended: Green Tomato Cars (020-8568 0022, www.greentomatocars.com),
a London minicab firm that runs a fleet of hybrid cars. NatureAir (00 506
299 6000, www.natureair.com), a Costa
Rican domestic airline that has helped to protect more than 130ha (320
acres) of tropical forest by encouraging local communities to conserve the
area.
BEST IN A MOUNTAIN ENVIRONMENT sponsored by Blacks
Winner: Explorandes (00 511 445 0532, www.explorandes.com).
This South American travel company runs adventure, cultural and special
interest tours in Peru and Ecuador. It has worked with a group of 30 local
families in Llachon to develop a rural homestay lodge complex with kayaking
tours on Lake Titicaca.
Highly commended: Peregrine Adventures (0844 7360170, www.peregrineadventures.com),
a small-group adventure travel company with a 30-year record in running
responsible mountain-trekking trips. Shaktihimalaya (00 91 11 4173 4788, www.shaktihimalaya.com),
an Indian specialist upmarket travel company that runs small-group walking
tours in Uttaranchal and Sikkim.
BEST IN A MARINE ENVIRONMENT sponsored by Tourism Tasmania
Winner: Blue o two (01752-480808, www.blueotwo.com).
A specialist dive-tour operator that runs scuba-diving holidays in the Red
Sea, Thailand, US Virgin Islands and Malta. It has developed an
ethical-awareness programme for employees on its liveaboard holidays that
has led to more responsible diving practices in the Red Sea.
Highly commended: Blue Ventures (020-8341 9819, www.blueventures.org),
which runs marine conservation expeditions in Madagascar.
BEST FOR POVERTY REDUCTION sponsored by Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Winner: Borana Lodge, Kenya (www.borana.co.ke),
an eight-bedroom lodge in the Laikipia-Samburu region on the northern slopes
of Mount Kenya, which has funded a mobile medical clinic providing HIV-Aids
awareness, vaccinations and medical support for the neighbouring Masai.
Highly commended: Guludo Lodge (01483-288769, www.guludo.com).
An exclusive eco-lodge that has helped to provide sanitation to 12 local
villages in an area of extreme poverty in northern Mozambique. Charity
Challenge (020-8557 0000, www.charitychallenge.com).
A UK adventure travel company that has worked with Habitat for Humanity in
Sri Lanka to help local families to build new homes posttsunami.
BEST FOR A PROTECTED AREA sponsored by Conservation International
Winner: La Ruta Moskitia (00 504 443 1276, www.larutamoskitia.com).
A community-owned travel company in the isolated region of La Moskitia in
Honduras. It works with four different indigenous communities to run
small-group adventure tours, creating 150 jobs in and around the Rio Plátano
Biosphere Reserve.
Highly commended: Chalalán (00 591 2 231 1451, www.chalalan.com).
An Amazonian eco-lodge owned and managed by the local indigenous
Quechua-Tacana people in the Madidi National Park in Bolivia.
BEST FOR CONSERVATION OF AN ENDANGERED SPECIES sponsored by Sri Lanka
Tourism
Winner: Grootbos Private Nature Reserve (00 27 28 384 8000, www.grootbos.com).
A 1,750ha nature reserve in South Africa that uses tourism in only 5 per
cent of its land to help conserve the other 95 per cent, which is home to
the Cape’s threatened coastal and mountain fynbos plants. According to
Harold Goodwin, chair of the awards’ judging panel: “In African tourism,
flora isn’t as sexy as the big-game animals, but it’s just as important.
Grootbos has managed to conserve a major area of an endangered floral
kingdom.”
Highly commended: Biosphere Expeditions (0870 4460801, www.biosphere-expeditions.org).
A voluntary conservation holiday company that has introduced an education
programme with local communities in Oman to enhance understanding and respect
for the endangered Arabian leopard. Nature World Travel (00 30 697 993 4746, www.natureworldtravel.com),
which has helped to protect the nesting sites of loggerhead turtles on the
Greek island of Zakynthos.
BEST VOLUNTEERING ORGANISATION sponsored by Lonely Planet
Winner: Azafady (020-8960 6629, www.madagascar.co.uk).
A UK charity that sends volunteers to southeast Madagascar to take part in a
range of construction work, conservation research and education. In the past
two years, volunteers have built six schools providing access to education
for 1,800 children who previously had no educational opportunities.
Highly commended: Camps International (0844 8001127, www.campsinternational.com),
which has developed volunteering projects in Kenya before handing them over
to the local community to run. Peopleandplaces (0870 0460479, www.travel-peopleandplaces.co.uk),
a social enterprise volunteering organisation, which matches volunteers with
projects driven by community needs, principally in The Gambia and South
Africa. Quest Overseas (01444 474744, www.questoverseas.com),
which over the past decade has sent volunteers to work on 14 projects in
Africa and South America.
BEST FOR THE PRESERVATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE New award category for a
tourism organisation or initiative working to protect and promote cultural
heritage, sponsored by Jamaica Tourist Board
Winner: Andaman Discoveries (00 66 87 917 7165, www.andamandiscoveries.com).
A travel company that runs adventure holidays, cultural tours and short-term
volunteer placements in villages along the North Andaman coast of Thailand
to facilitate community-based tourism and aid tsunami recovery. According to
judge Harold Goodwin: “They have empowered local communities and worked with
them to create a sense of place, using this information to develop tourist
activities”.
Highly commended: Go Native America (020-8144 4428, www.gonativeamerica.com),
which runs tours to US tribal homelands to promote Native American culture.
Intrepid Travel, Australia (01373 826611, www.intrepid
travel.com), which runs small-group adventure holidays worldwide and has
a policy of working with local partners to hire and train staff and provide
strong links between guests and their hosts.
OUTSTANDING PERSONAL CONTRIBUTION sponsored by the Canadian Tourism
Commission
Winner: Anthony Climpson, destination manager for the New Forest (www.thenewforest.co.uk).
For the past 20 years, Anthony Climpson has worked on shaping environmental
tourism policies of destinations throughout the UK, particularly in the New
Forest, where he has most recently encouraged car-free tourism. According to
Harold Goodwin, the judges were impressed with Climpson’s commitment to
sustainable tourism. “Lots of people have contributed to the success of the
New Forest, but Climpson has led the way on economic, social and
environmental issues. For 20 years he has developed an integrated approach
to managing tourism in the landscape, engaging local communities, local
government and tourism businesses. He has shown what one person prepared to
work on these issues can achieve.”
Highly commended: Dr Cheryl Mvula, who has worked with the UK and
Kenyan travel industry to ensure that communities in the Masai Mara gain
more from tourism. Charlotte Shigwedha, who has helped to develop
responsible township tours in Namibia.
BEST TOUR OPERATOR sponsored by The Adventure Company
Winner: Gecko’s Adventures (0844 7360175, www.geckosadventures.co.uk).
A UK adventure company aimed at younger travellers. It has a policy of using
locally owned accommodation and employing only local tour leaders, ensuring
that the community benefits financially from its tours, and that revenue is
channelled directly into conserving wilderness and heritage.
Highly commended: Imaginative Traveller (0800 3162717, www.imaginative-traveller.com),
which supports health, solar energy and community projects in developing
countries. KE Adventure (01768 773966, www.keadventure.com),
which has helped to install clean water and energy supplies in Northern
Pakistan for more than ten years. Tribes (01728 685971, www.tribes.co.uk),
the overall Responsible Tourism Award winner in 2005, whose commitment to
introducing the principles of fair trade into tourism has, according to
Harold Goodwin, “consistently raised the bar for how to run a responsible
tourism business”.
Judges
Harold Goodwin, chair of judges, Professor of Responsible Tourism
Management at Leeds Metropolitan University and director of the
International Centre for Responsible Tourism
Justin Francis, managing director, responsibletravel.com
Cath Urquhart, former travel editor (1997-2007), The Times
Fiona Jeffery, chair of World Travel Market
Tricia Barnett, director of Tourism Concern
Andy Cooper, director general, Federation of Tour Operators (FTO)
Graeme Gourlay, publisher, Geographical magazine
Richard Hammond, editor of greentraveller.co.uk
Debbie Hindle, managing director of bgb communications
Sue Hurdle, chief executive of The Travel Foundation
Neel Inamdar, Ecotourism business adviser, Conservation International
Ian Reynolds, former chief executive of the Association of British
Travel Agents
Keith Richards, head of business development and consumer affairs at
ABTA
