WTM Africa has had an excellent response to the WTM Responsible Tourism Awards this year — with some inspiring, innovative and scalable solutions from the African region to tackle the challenges of sustainability.
The best African entries will be included in the Global Gold Awards that are currently being assessed by the global judging panel.
Although the global awards will be announced on 01 November in London during a virtual event, the Gold winners from Africa will only be announced in April next year during the WTM Africa show in the host City of Cape Town.
“With so many valuable contributions, we are proud to share that there will be a second edition of the WTM Africa Responsible Tourism Award, with the winners announced on 13 April 2022 during our live event,” says Megan Oberholzer, RX Africa (Reed Exhibitions) South Africa Portfolio Director – Travel, Tourism & Creative Industries.
“Those applying for the global award are automatically put forward for the Africa edition. But we want to hear even more stories. There are so many incredible initiatives in Africa that deserve to be showcased as leading examples of responsible tourism. And you now have until 28 February 2022 to share your initiatives with us,” Oberholzer adds.
This year’s categories reflect the relationship between tourism, responsibility and COVID-19:
• Decarbonising Travel & Tourism
• Sustaining Employees and Communities through the Pandemic
• Destinations Building Back Better Post-Covid
• Increasing Diversity in Tourism: How Inclusive is our Industry?
• Reducing Plastic Waste in the Environment
• Growing the Local Economic Benefit
“The ambition of the Responsible Tourism Awards is to encourage businesses to learn from the leaders and to be inspired to do what they can to make tourism better — better for our environment and local communities. The WTM Responsible Tourism’s Platform for Change is being developed to show businesses and destinations the proven solutions which have been tried and tested,” says Harold Goodwin, WTM’s Responsible Tourism Advisor.
Launched in 2002, the awards seek to recognise and reward businesses and destinations which are contributing to a more sustainable and responsible tourism industry, based on the simple principle that all types of tourism, from niche to mainstream, can and should be organised in a way that preserves, respects and benefits destinations and local people.
“Africa is a leading example for responsible tourism, and the awards provide a platform for worthy initiatives to get well-deserved international and regional recognition,” concludes Oberholzer.
