Responsible Tourism Awards partners and sponsors
Responsible Tourism Awards partners and sponsors
To help make the 2013 World Responsible Tourism Awards our biggest yet and to ensure that they promote the winners, finalists and issues in responsible tourism we have partnered up with a wide range of organisations.
The Sultanate of Oman’s Ministry of Tourism is committed to developing a range of quality tourism products that not only promote cultural integrity and environmental protection but that also lead to a diverse and sustainable tourism industry both at home in the Sultanate and overseas. Read more about the headline sponsor.
responsibletravel.com
Justin Francis, Managing Director, responsibletravel.com
“The tourism industry is polarising between those that actively support communities and conservation and the silent majority who do not. With each passing year tourists, local communities and destination managers are pushing harder for responsible tourism. Our job for the past 8 years with The Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards is to find and celebrate the best of the best. The winners are the guiding light for the industry and hotly in demand by tourists.”
World Travel Market
Fiona Jeffery is Chairman of World Travel Market, the premier event for the global travel industry, hosting the Responsible Tourism Awards, which take place in November. Fiona said the awards, now in their ninth year, are a momentous day for the global travel and tourism industry.
"Responsible tourism is slowly climbing to the top of the travel and tourism agenda but we still have a long way to go.The plain fact is that unless we ALL take responsibiility for our actions - that's the industry, developers, travel companies, operators, governments, tourist organisations and consumers - we will gradually erode and may be even destroy what we have."
"The world is not ours to keep, its just on loan to us; it's the heritage of future generations who also have a right to enjoy everything the world has to offer. But these are just words and I realise how difficult is the challenge that is before us. That's why we all need to help and support one another in the fight to change global mindset and why WTM World Responsible Tourism Day, of which the Responsible Tourism Awards plays a crucial part, are supremely important."
"The awards are crucial in bringing a message of hope, a beacon of enterprise, ethical focus and genuine caring. But above all, showing us just what can be achieved, demonstrating new ways and ideas that help to guide the industry to a better future."
International Centre for Responsible Tourism
The judging panel is chaired by Professor Harold Goodwin, ICRETH, Leeds Metropolitan University. Harold has chaired the judges since the inception of the Awards. The idea for the Responsible Tourism Awards emerged from discussions amongst the students on the Masters course when it was at Greenwich. Associates and staff of the International Centre for Responsible Tourism each year undertake the onerous work of sifting through the nominations to determine the shorter lists of nominees, a process supervised by Harold Goodwin as chair of the panel of judges.
Harold is passionate about the awards: “The most impressive thing about the Virgin Holiday Responsible Tourism Awards is seeing what so many businesses are doing to use tourism "to make better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit." We see what businesses are actually doing. The companies that we recognise in the Awards are those who are able to document the difference they are making to people’s lives and their cultural and natural environments. Responsible Tourism business and destinations offer travel experiences which are better for local people and their places. The Awards go beyond certification – we get to see what companies and destinations are actually doing.” It is much harder each year to win an Award and the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards have contributed to sharing and encouraging better practices in Responsible Tourism.
Harold adds “the ICRT is proud to be associated with the Awards.”
Headline sponsor: Oman Ministry of Tourism
The Sultanate of Oman’s Ministry of Tourism is committed to developing a range of quality tourism products that not only promote cultural integrity and environmental protection but that also lead to a diverse and sustainable tourism industry both at home in the Sultanate and overseas. Read more about the headline sponsor.
Our Partners
responsibletravel.com
Justin Francis, Managing Director, responsibletravel.com “The tourism industry is polarising between those that actively support communities and conservation and the silent majority who do not. With each passing year tourists, local communities and destination managers are pushing harder for responsible tourism. Our job for the past 8 years with The Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards is to find and celebrate the best of the best. The winners are the guiding light for the industry and hotly in demand by tourists.”
World Travel Market
Fiona Jeffery is Chairman of World Travel Market, the premier event for the global travel industry, hosting the Responsible Tourism Awards, which take place in November. Fiona said the awards, now in their ninth year, are a momentous day for the global travel and tourism industry. "Responsible tourism is slowly climbing to the top of the travel and tourism agenda but we still have a long way to go.The plain fact is that unless we ALL take responsibiility for our actions - that's the industry, developers, travel companies, operators, governments, tourist organisations and consumers - we will gradually erode and may be even destroy what we have."
"The world is not ours to keep, its just on loan to us; it's the heritage of future generations who also have a right to enjoy everything the world has to offer. But these are just words and I realise how difficult is the challenge that is before us. That's why we all need to help and support one another in the fight to change global mindset and why WTM World Responsible Tourism Day, of which the Responsible Tourism Awards plays a crucial part, are supremely important."
"The awards are crucial in bringing a message of hope, a beacon of enterprise, ethical focus and genuine caring. But above all, showing us just what can be achieved, demonstrating new ways and ideas that help to guide the industry to a better future."
International Centre for Responsible Tourism
The judging panel is chaired by Professor Harold Goodwin, ICRETH, Leeds Metropolitan University. Harold has chaired the judges since the inception of the Awards. The idea for the Responsible Tourism Awards emerged from discussions amongst the students on the Masters course when it was at Greenwich. Associates and staff of the International Centre for Responsible Tourism each year undertake the onerous work of sifting through the nominations to determine the shorter lists of nominees, a process supervised by Harold Goodwin as chair of the panel of judges. Harold is passionate about the awards: “The most impressive thing about the Virgin Holiday Responsible Tourism Awards is seeing what so many businesses are doing to use tourism "to make better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit." We see what businesses are actually doing. The companies that we recognise in the Awards are those who are able to document the difference they are making to people’s lives and their cultural and natural environments. Responsible Tourism business and destinations offer travel experiences which are better for local people and their places. The Awards go beyond certification – we get to see what companies and destinations are actually doing.” It is much harder each year to win an Award and the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards have contributed to sharing and encouraging better practices in Responsible Tourism.
Harold adds “the ICRT is proud to be associated with the Awards.”
2012 winners
