World's greenest destination
New Zealand has been named as the overall winner of this year's Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism awards...
New
Zealand has won this year's Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism
Awards, run in association with the Daily
Telegraph.
The panel of judges, which includes Professor Harold Goodwin, co-director of
the International Centre for Responsible Tourism at Leeds Metropolitan University, Justin Francis, Managing Director of responsibletravel.com and Graham Boynton, Group Travel Editor of Telegraph Media Group, declared New Zealand the overall winner for
"proving that it is possible to develop a national strategy which uses
tourism to help make better places to live and to visit".
At a ceremony hosted at World Travel Market in London, the Southern Hemisphere country also
took the best destination award for its national, strategic approach to
responsible tourism.
The judges said, "New
Zealand has implemented many of the
principles of the Cape Town Declaration on responsible tourism in destinations
and demonstrated what national Government can achieve - working with the
private sector, local communities and local Government - by harnessing tourism
to benefit their people and their environment. If more national Governments
followed their example, tourism would make a much more positive contribution
around the world."
A total of 13 awards were presented across a range of categories, which
included best for poverty reduction (Gambia), best volunteering organisation
(Camps International), best personal contribution (Jane Ashton, head of
sustainable development, TUI Travel PLC), best large hotel (Kingfisher Bay,
Fraser Island, Australia) and best cruise or ferry operator (Holland America
Line).
"In this, the fifth year of the Awards, the bar has been raised for
responsible tourism yet again," said Justin Francis. "What inspires
me is the efforts that businesses and destinations are making to ensure that
responsible tourism lies at the heart of their strategies and plans. Without a
doubt, this is the only way to plan for the future - responsible travel is not
a passing fad or a niche travel trend for marketing purposes. It is an entire,
holistic approach to tourism operations."
Launched in 2004, the Awards are run in association with partners The Daily
Telegraph, World Travel Market, Geographical Magazine and BBC World News.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk