winners of our Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards 2009
Our panel of expert judges had a difficult job when it was time to choose the winners:

"Working our way through this year's long lists, we were impressed by the willingness of so many organisations to take responsibility and to do what they can to help make better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit. Despite the economic difficulties being faced by the travel and tourism industry, responsible tourism continues to move ahead and I'm continually impressed as more is achieved by more people. As judges we are all very aware of the great work that is being done by so many and our decisions are often very difficult and sometimes long debated."

Dr. Harold Goodwin, Director, International Centre for Responsible Tourism and Chair of Judges

Want to read more about our 2009 winners?

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overall winner: Whale Watch Kaikoura, New Zealand
Watch an amazing whale watching video from Whale Watch Kaikoura, overall winners of the Responsible Tourism Awards 2009:



The judges declared Whale Watch Kaikoura, New Zealand the overall winner with the following statement.

"Rarely do we see a tourism initiative developed from the ground up by a local community to such a successful and grand scale – growing from modest beginnings to securing in a joint venture with Sea World on the Gold Coast of Australia to provide their whale watching.

Whale Watch Kaikoura provides consistently responsible whale watching tours with minimal impacts. The founding of the enterprise by four Maori families has demonstrated that the local Maori community can not only grow a considerable tourism business, but, more significantly, use that business to buy back their ancestral land for the benefit of the indigenous people and their cultural identity."

Contact details: Whale Watch Kaikoura. Kauahi Ngapora, Chief Operating Officer, Kauahi@whalewatch.co.nz, +64 3 3197732

Photograph courtesy of Whale Watch Kaikoura
Best tour operator for cultural engagement sponsored by Tourism Western Australia

Winner: Village Ways, India
These community-owned and managed projects in the Indian Himalayas offer unique and authentic cultural experiences by facilitating mutual cultural engagement at every level. Their work has brought previously vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals from the Dalit community into focus as porters and committee members, while enabling tourists to experience and become part of rural landscapes in non-intrusive and rewarding ways and make a significant contribution to local economic development in the villages they walk through.

Highly commended: Estrela, Brazil and Tropic Journeys in Nature, Ecuador

Contact details:
Village Ways. Julia Spence, at JSPR, juliaspence.pr@gmail.com, +44 1491 824524 or +44 7802 443113

Estrela. Julia McNaught da Silva turismo@estrela-brasil.com / juliamcn@atarde.com.br / +55 71 3322 3854 or mobile - +55 71 8877 3625

Tropic Journeys in Nature. Jascivan Carvalho, General Manager, +593 2 2225907, manager@tropiceco.com
Best large hotel / accommodation (more than 50 rooms) sponsored by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts

Winner: YHA Wellington City, New Zealand
With a host of innovative initiatives in place YHA Wellington goes above and beyond regular hotel practice to engage and communicate with their guests around issues of sustainability in an upbeat and inspiring way, putting the onus back on the guest to exercise, and even enjoy, responsible practices. Their Green Footprint Project includes a ‘Tree Planting Day’ for guests, they invite school groups to take part in a sustainable living quiz, and host the annual National Youth Environment Forum.

Contact details:
YHA Wellington City. Chris Sperring, YHA Area Manager, chris.sperring@yha.co.nz, +64 21 141 3757
Best small hotel / accommodation (fewer than 50 rooms) sponsored by Discover Dominica Tourism Authority

Winner: Rivertime Resort and Ecolodge, Laos
Rivertime Resort and Ecolodge established themselves in what was, once again, an incredibly competitive category this year. The ‘Agreement of Cooperation’ between the Lodge and the three local villages is a real rarity in this sector – a contract that sets out the rights and responsibilities of the company to maximising benefits for the local community, making contractual obligations of key responsible tourism principles.

Highly commended: Beechenhill Farm, England, Napo Wildlife Center, Ecuador

Contact details:
Rivertime Resort and Ecolodge. Philip Gibson, Director, rivertimeresort@yahoo.com, +856 020 5513672

Beechenhill Farm. Sue Prince, Owner, Beechenhill@btinternet.com, +44 1335 310274

Napo Wildlife Center. Mariela Cárdenas, Sales (593-9)8 01 8253, sales@napowidlifecenter.com
Best low carbon transport & technology sponsored by The Quito Visitors Bureau, Ecuador

Winner: Alcatraz Cruises, US
While the Hornblower Hybrid provides a convincing flagship vessel for Alcatraz Cruises’ innovative approach to sustainable tourism practices (an energy efficient vessel, constructed from a reused diving vessel, and with fuel savings of over 29,000 gallons per year) it is their commitment to the reduction of carbon use across the rest of their product range, decreasing particulate and NOx emissions by 95 per cent with the installation of Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) units, that proves their commitment to minimising their environmental impacts.

Highly commended: Swiss Travel System, Switzerland, Seat61.com, UK

Contact details:
Alcatraz Cruises. Tegan Firth, Corporate Public Relations Manager, tfirth@hornblower.com, +415 983 8208

Swiss Travel System. Heidi Reisz Product Manager, +44 20 7845 7683, Heidi.reisz@switzerland.com

Seat61.com. Mark Smith, Owner/founder, +44 1296 640950, mark@seat61.com
Best in a mountain environment sponsored by World Expeditions

Winner: Upland Escapes, UK
Upland Escapes is leading the way with their ‘No-Frills Escapes’ (30 per cent cheaper than regular trips) - proof that it is possible to negotiate the effects of the economic downturn while still preserving the benefits of tourism to local communities. They have also achieved an increase of guests arriving by train, from just two percent in 2006, to 19 per cent just three years later.

Highly commended: Wilderness Journeys, Kenya, Ecocamp Patagonia, Chile

Contact details:
Upland Escapes. Edward Granville Managing Director, egranville@uplandescapes.com, + 44 (0)1367 851 111 or +44 (0)77121 88545

Wilderness Journeys. Neil Birnie, neil@wildernessjourneys.com, 0131 625 6635

Ecocamp Patagonia. Daniel Sanhueza Lira, Communications Manager, 56-2-2329878, daniel@ecocamp.travel
Best in a marine environment sponsored by
Tourism Fiji

Winner: Whale Watch Kaikoura, New Zealand
This 100 per cent Maori-owned whale watching operator has demonstrated the ability, at scale – they carry an impressive 90,000-100,000 passengers per year- to offer a very high quality whale watching experience from energy-efficient craft which have a very low impact on the marine environment, and provide ground breaking interpretation which enables passengers to understand what is happening below them. They are the largest financial contributor to the Department of Conservation’s research on the effects of marine mammal watching in Kaikoura, and demonstrate that marine tourism development can go hand in hand with the careful progress of marine conservancy.

Highly commended: Blue Ventures, UK, Misool Eco Dive Resprt and Conservation Centre, Indonesia and Camel Dive Club and Hotel, Egypt

Contact details:
Whale Watch Kaikoura. Kauahi Ngapora, Chief Operating Officer, Kauahi@whalewatch.co.nz, +64 3 3197732

Blue Ventures. Richard Nimmo, Managing Director, +44 203 176 0548, Richard@blueventures.org
Misool Eco Dive Resort and Conservation Centre. Andrew Miners, Managing Director, +62 (0)81344934934, andy@misoolecoresort.com
Camel Dive Club & Hotel. Clare Mucklow, Marketing Manager, +20 121467348, c.mucklow@cameldive.com
Best cruise or ferry operator sponsored by Tourism Malaysia

Winner: Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, US
Last year was the first year for this category, and responsible tourism continues to be a new area of concern for the cruise sector. This year we are pleased to recognise an organisation demonstrating an exhaustive approach to environmental initiatives. Royal Caribbean have reduced emissions in their newest ships by 50 per cent over ships built around 10 years ago, providing a unique insight into what can be achieved by the rest of the cruise sector if it shared this level of commitment.

Highly commended: SeaFrance Ltd , France

Contact details:
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Briony Peters, Public Relations Manager, bpeters@rccl.com, +44 1932 834378

SeaFrance Ltd. Rachel Rissbrook, Marketing Development Manager, 01304 828300, rrissbrook@seafrance.fr
Best for poverty reduction
sponsored by PromPeru

Winner: Guludo Beach Lodge, Mozambique
The work of Guludo Beach Lodge, through their charitable foundation ‘Nema’ has had an unprecedented and undeniably positive impact on the immediate community, working towards major improvements in children’s health care and education conditions. Their portfolio of projects in the local area is exhaustive, having improved school attendance by 350 per cent, providing access to safe drinking water for 15,000 people, supplying over 10,000 women and children with mosquito-nets, and working closely with the local community for the sustainable continuation of their projects by providing water committee training, hygiene and sanitation workshops and much more.

Highly commended: Tribal Voice Communications , Kenya, Rekero , Kenya

Contact details:
Guludo Beach Lodge. Amy Carter-James, Managing Director, amy@guludo.com, +44 207 1274727

Tribal Voice Communications. Dr Cheryl Mvula, Managing Director, 01227 272078, cdmvula@aol.com

Rekero. Gerard Beaton, Managing Director, +254721486272, gerard@rekeroconservation.org
Best for conservation of wildlife & habitats sponsored by
South Australian Tourism Commission

Winner: Great Plains Conservation, South Africa
For incorporating a range of innovative projects across five African countries. Their work in the Maasai Mara is particularly impressive, facilitating the creation of an 80,000 acre conservancy, and guaranteeing regular payment to the local communities for the use of their land for tourism purposes – regardless of the number of guests. On an unequivocal basis, they provide protected revenue for the indigenous peoples of the Mara, reducing the negative social and economic impacts of tourism.

Highly commended: Chimpanzee Sanctuary & Wildlife Conservation Trust (CSWCT) , Uganda, Way Out Experiences, Malaysia, Indonesia & Borneo

Contact details:
Great Plains Conservation. Hilton Walker, Sales, Marketing and PR Manager, hilton@greatplainsconservation.com +27 31 765 3947 or +27 82 579 9055

Chimpanzee Sanctuary & Wildlife Conservation Trust (CSWCT). Lilly Ajarova, Executive Director, +256 414 320662, director@ngambaisland.org

Way Out Experiences. Afzaal Mauthoor, Director, 0845 371 3070, Afzaal@w-o-x.com
Best for conservation of cultural heritage sponsored by Jamaica Tourist Board

Winner: Selena Travel LLC, Mongolia
In 2004 Mongolian inbound operator Selena Travel worked with the nomadic community in Tuv to found and establish a nomadic cultural festival, recognised by the Mongolian Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism in 2007. In 2008 the festival attracted 300 locals, nearly double the local attendance in 2007 and 65 international visitors. The festival, which would not exist without tourism, fosters the local culture. Selena Travel has worked with the nomads to develop itineraries around Gun-Galuut making a significant difference to local livelihoods.

Highly commended: Rivers Fiji, Fiji

Contact details:
Selena Travel LLC . Zola, PR and sales,sales@selenatravel.com, +976 7018 3499

Rivers Fiji. Steve Markle, Marketing Director, (209) 736-4677 (USA), stevem@oars.com
Best volunteering organisation sponsored by Kenya Tourist Board

Winner: People and Places, UK
People and Places has exercised leadership in a sector bedevilled by poor practice and established a replicable business model. Committed to reporting transparently on the money that volunteers pay, they ensure that the volunteers meet their full costs and are not a burden on the community; and carefully match the skills of volunteers to the needs of that community without replacing local labour. They have taken the ground breaking step of having their work externally audited and publishing it online. These four principles set not only a practicable standard for operators to aspire to, but offer valuable guidelines for tourists seeking legitimate and socially beneficial volunteering experiences.

Highly commended: Coral Cay Conservation, UK, Peru's Challenge, Peru

Contact details:
People and Places. Sallie Grayson, Programme Director, sallie@travel-peopleandplaces.co.uk, + 44(0) 1795 535718

Coral Cay Conservation. Peter Mandara, PR and Communications Coordinator, 020 7620 1411, pm@coralcay.org

Peru's Challenge. Brugh O’Brien, Sponsorship Manager, +51 84 272 508, sponsorship@peruschallenge.com
Best destination sponsored by Conservation International

Winner: City of Cape Town, South Africa
The City of Cape Town has taken responsibility for identifying and prioritising local issues from a responsible tourism perspective. The City’s Tourism Department has worked in conjunction with its colleagues in the city administration and the industry to develop a Responsible Tourism Charter which commits both the industry and the city government to address the local priorities and to report on progress. Signatories have committed to define measurable goals and to monitor and report publicly on progress.

Highly commended: Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, UK

Contact details:
City of Cape Town . Mansoor Mohamed, Executive Director: Economic, Social Development and Tourism, Mansoor.Mohamed@capetown.gov.za, + 27(0) 21 400 2589

Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Nick Johannsen, Director AONB Unit, 01303 815 170, nick.johannsen@kentdowns.org.uk

Best personal contribution sponsored by Tourism Ireland

Winner: Gavin Bate - Founder of Adventure Alternative and the Moving Mountains Trust
Gavin has proven with a number of projects that it is possible to share the benefits of responsibly run adventure travel with local communities in developing countries. His dedicated ethos lead him to found and hand over the reigns of adventure travel projects in Kenya, Nepal and Tanzania to local individuals, providing them with a minimum of ten years full employment, and the training, guidance, and inspiration necessary for a new vanguard in responsible tourism. As a serial entrepreneur, Gavin has worked hard to put local individuals at the heart of local initiatives.

Highly commended: Chris Thompson, Travelife Sustainability Manager, ABTA Ltd, UK and Manda Brookman, Director, UK

Contact details:
Gavin Bate, Founder of Adventure Alternative and the Moving Mountains Trust, gavin@adventurealternative.com, + 44 (0)2890 701476 or +44 (0)28708 31258

Chris Thompson, Travelife Sustainability Manager, ABTA Ltd. chris@fto.co.uk

Manda Brookman, Director, CoaST. 01872 562 057, manda@coastproject.co.uk

further information
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