With high environmental awareness these days, it would be great to see good practices in every aspect of our lives – even when we’re on vacation. Wild Asia keeps a tab on things.
THE Wild Asia Responsible Tourism Awards are back, and any Asia-based accommodation provider or tour operator committed to sustainability are eligible to submit their entry, until May 23.
Launched in 2006, and now in their seventh year, Wild Asia’s Responsible Tourism Awards 2013 are open to accommodation and tour operators of all shapes and sizes, budgets and locations, across Asia.
Wild Asia is legally chartered as a Malaysian company and operates as a “social enterprise”; that is to say a business with primarily social or environmental missions and not geared towards maximising shareholder returns.
The awards are grounded in the UN World Tourism Organisation’s Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria and remain the only Asia-wide awards committed to recognising sustainable tourism. To date, the 2013 edition has seen more than 200 entries.
For the finalists of the awards, the accolade and recognition validates their efforts in practising responsible tourism. The 2013 Awards’ winners will be announced at Asia’s biggest business-to-business travel trade show, ITB Asia, in Singapore this October.
An international panel of judges, all with a minimum of 10 years’ experience in the tourism business, will select the winners. The panel includes representatives from prestigious platforms such as the International Ecotourism Society, the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, Sustainable Travel International, and the Pacific Asia Travel Organisation or PATA.
Each one of the finalists will undergo rigorous judging and have a full report published on the Wild Asia website highlighting their achievements and why they were selected. There are six categories and all but one are for accommodation providers.
The categories include Community Engagement and Development; Cultural Preservation; Protection of Natural Areas and/or Wildlife Conservation; Resource Efficiency; Most Inspiring Responsible Tourism Accommodation Provider (which recognises the accommodation provider that excels in all of the above categories).
Last but not least is the Most Inspiring Responsible Tour Operator, which is a new category.
n Go to tourism.wildasia.org to download the application form.
– S.S. Yoga
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