Travel businesses and tourism destinations are being encouraged to showcase their sustainable credentials by entering the WTM World Responsible Tourism Awards 2022.
Launched in 2004, the awards recognise and reward businesses which are contributing to a more sustainable and responsible tourism industry. Winners are chosen by a group of industry experts, who meet online to enable the judging panel to be internationally diverse.
The judging panels are led by Harold Goodwin, WTM’s Responsible Tourism Advisor.
The 2022 awards are split into four regions, with the winner of each region going forward to compete in the Global Awards – and those global winners will be announced at WTM London 7-9 November 2022.
Entries are now closed for Africa and Latin America, as those regions are being judged first, and the winners will be announced at regional WTM shows in Latin America (5-7 April) and Africa (11-13 April).
However, entries can still be made for India until 30 June 2022 and Rest of the World until 31 August 2022.
The same assessment process is followed across all regions and categories to ensure that each entry is judged on the same basis. The 10 categories for 2022 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
- Access for the Differently-Abled: as Travellers, Employees and Holidaymakers
- Increasing Tourism’s Contribution to Natural Heritage and Biodiversity
- Conserving Water and Improving Water Security and Supply for Neighbours
- Contributing to Cultural Heritage
Businesses can enter on their own behalf or be nominated by partners, peers or customers. Gold and Silver Awards are given to the first and second placed entries in each category in each region.
The judging panel will also name one business in each category and region as “one to watch”.
Each region also has a discretionary “Judges’ Award” available for businesses whose area of expertise falls between the categories or who have been previous winners.
Harold Goodwin – WTM’s Responsible Tourism Advisor said:
“Since their launch at WTM London, the World Responsible Tourism Awards have grown in stature and prestige.
“Each year, we uncover remarkable case studies of responsible businesses and destinations and the awards mean their efforts are recognised globally – and they inspire others too.
“I would urge all who have been working to improve sustainable and responsible tourism to enter and spread the word about the great efforts that are being made around the world.”
Juliette Losardo, Exhibition Director of WTM London, said:
“We know that thousands of businesses and organisations around the world are forging ahead with important responsible initiatives and it’s vital for WTM as a global brand to showcase these programmes, large or small.
“At COP26 in Glasgow during November 2021, the scale of the problem that we face was made clear – and many pledges were made within the travel and tourism sector to build back better after the pandemic.
“We’re determined to build on that momentum – and the legacy of the past 18 years of the WTM Responsible Tourism Awards – to recognise the great strides forward that are being made and encourage others to follow suit.”
Ends –
WTM Responsible Tourism is a programme of interviews, panels and debates at four trade shows in the World Travel Market (WTM) Portfolio, including WTM London, Arabian Travel Market, WTM Latin America and WTM Africa. WTM acts as an international forum to drive the responsible tourism agenda forward, through seminars at several of the portfolio’s travel trade exhibitions, World Responsible Tourism Day, and working with responsible tourism experts to provide insight through the WTM blog. WTM Responsible Tourism aims to unite travel companies, organisations and individuals interested in spreading sustainable practices and ethical methods within the travel industry.
https://www.wtm.com/responsible-tourism/en-gb.html
WTM London, the leading global event for the travel industry, is the must-attend three-day exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry. Around 50,000 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international media visit ExCeL London every November, generating over £3.71 billion in travel industry contracts.
Next live event: Monday 7 to 9 November 2022 at ExCel London
WTM Latin America takes place annually in São Paulo and attracts around 19,000 tourism professionals during a three-day event. The show offers qualified content, as well as networking and business opportunities. In its ninth edition – the first 100% virtual – WTM Latin America followed its focus on effective business generation and reached the milestone of 4,200 meetings held between buyers, travel agents and exhibitors.
Next event: Tuesday 5 to Thursday 7 April 2022 – Expo Center Norte, SP, Brazil
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About ATW Connect: Africa Travel Week’s digital arm, is a virtual hub packed to the seams with interesting content, industry news and insights, and the opportunity to hear from experts on a variety of topics in our new monthly webinar series. All with the aim to keep all of us in the travel and tourism industry connected. ATW Connect focuses on inbound and outbound markets for general leisure tourism, luxury travel, LGBTQ+ travel and the MICE/business travel sector as well as travel technology.
Arabian Travel Market (ATM), now on its 29th year, is the leading, international travel and tourism event in the Middle East for inbound and outbound tourism professionals. ATM 2021 showcased over 1,300 exhibiting companies from 62 countries across nine halls at Dubai World Trade Centre, with visitors from more than 140 countries over the four days. Arabian Travel Market is part of Arabian Travel Week. #IdeasArriveHere
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Next virtual event: Tuesday 17th and Wednesday 19th May 2022
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Arabian Travel Week is a festival of events taking place within and alongside Arabian Travel Market 2022. Providing a renewed focus for the Middle East’s travel and tourism sector, it includes ATM Virtual, ILTM Arabia, Arival Dubai, Influencers’ events and activations, as well as Travel Forward. It also features the ATM Buyer Forums, ATM Speed Networking Events as well as a series of country summits.
https://www.wtm.com/arabian-travel-week/en-gb.html
London Travel Week, brought to you by WTM London, is the one-stop-shop for event hosts and visitors to be able to shape the next 12 months of travel together. The festival of events supports the global travel and tourism industry through capturing invaluable news and enhancing industry connections.
Next event: Friday 4 November – Friday 11 November 2022 – Around London
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