WTTC: Tomorrow’s destination is Botswana

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is delighted to announce the Winners of the 2017 Tourism for Tomorrow Awards.

The Tourism for Tomorrow Awards celebrate inspirational, world-changing tourism initiatives from all over the globe. Awards are presented in five categories, which reflect the WTTCโ€™s aim of โ€˜balancing the interests of people, planet, and profitsโ€™.

In keeping with the United Nationโ€™s International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, and with the WTTCโ€™s firm commitment to a greener, more sustainable sector, the 2017โ€™s Awards winners are notable for their forward thinking and eco-positive approach. The Winners are also all contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) laid out in the UNโ€™s 2030 Agenda.

This yearโ€™s Tourism for Tomorrow Awards ceremony took place on 27 April, during the 17th WTTC Global Summit, held in Bangkok, Thailand.

The 2017 Tourism for Tomorrow Awards winners are:

  • Community Award โ€“ Ol Peteja Conservancy, Kenya
  • Destination Award โ€“ Chobe, Makgadikgadi, and Okvango delta Ramsar site, Botswana Tourism Organisation, Botswana
  • Environment Award โ€“ Misool, Indonesia
  • Innovation Award โ€“ Mapping Ocean Wealth, The Nature Conservancy, USA
  • People Award โ€“ The J Willard and Alice S Marriot Foundationโ€™s China Hospitality Education Initiative (CHEI), China

The Awards are judged by a panel of independent experts. Academics, business leaders, NGO and governmental representatives all join forces to whittle down the finalists to just five Winners. Becoming a Tourism for Tomorrow judge is not a task to be taken lightly โ€“ the stringent, three-stage judging process includes a thorough review of all applications, followed by on-site evaluations of the Finalists and their initiative.

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David Scowsill, President & CEO, WTTC, said: โ€œI am delighted by the high standard of all our finalists. Those taking away the Awards this year represent the very best in sustainable tourism, and we hope that their example will both educate their peers and lead the sector forward.

The Travel & Tourism sector is growing fast, and we have to ensure that this growth does not see short-term gains prioritised over the longer-term health of local environments and communities. This yearโ€™s Award Winners demonstrate not only that tourism can be sustainable, but that it can bring tangible improvements to both the environmental and cultural surroundings in which it operates. We will see the Travel & Tourism sector driving forward to ensure a more sustainable world.โ€

Fiona Jeffrey, OBE, Chair, WTTC Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, said: “This yearโ€™s Tourism for Tomorrow Winners continue to push the sustainability agenda and walk the talk in terms of developing a better, more responsible, and accountable sector, better tourism experiences and a protected planet. None of this is achieved through a short term initiative.

These companies have all proven that sustainable development sits at the heart of their DNA and they live and breathe these values with outstanding economic, environmental and social results. They are great role models we can all learn from and apply to businesses all over the world.”

Jeff Rutledge, CEO, AIG Travel, the headline sponsors of the Awards, said: โ€œThe 2017 Tourism for Tomorrow Award Winners are an inspiration to us all. By actively empowering the communities in which they are based through their conservation and educational initiatives, our Winners and finalists are proving that sustainability really does make practical sense for the Travel and Tourism industryโ€

For more information on the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards and all the winners, please visit www.wttc.org/tourism-for-tomorrow-awards

About the author

Avatar of Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen Thomas Steinmetz has continuously worked in the travel and tourism industry since he was a teenager in Germany (1977).
He founded eTurboNews in 1999 as the first online newsletter for the global travel tourism industry.

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