Ahead of UN International Toilet Day on 19 November, MyTravelResearch.com announces the “Toilet Tourism Awards” to highlight the close link between toilets and successful tourism.
MyTravelResearch.com will launch the “Toilet Tourism Awards” on 19 November, UN World Toilet Day.
The aim of the awards is to show the link between adequate provision of good toilets and success in a visitor economy reliant on tourists, and to raise awareness of sanitation and toilet provision, especially in developing economies.
The UN says that inadequate toilet facilities cause disease, environmental health challenges, increased mortality, lack of productivity at work and security compromises for women. One in ten people still resort to open defecation daily. The UN is seeking to create adequate toilet provision for everyone by 2030.The availability and quality of toilets impacts tourism in developed and lesser-developed economies, says MyTravelResearch.com, a tourism industry research consultancy. “Our focus is strictly on the overlap between toilets and tourism. That’s where we can make a positive contribution,” says Bronwyn White, co-founder of MTR.
In the Toilet Tourism Awards, the winners will be in six categories: Overall Winner, Best Tourism Economic Contributor (for when people stop at a toilet in a destination and stay on to spend more than a penny), Best Location (where the toilets have views and maybe considered an attraction in themselves), Best Design (architectural brilliance in toilets, visual design and creativity), Best Accessible Toilet, Quirkiest Toilet Experience (relating to local heritage, fun, or otherwise noteworthy).
Public Toiolets in Petra, JordanFrom 19 November, toilet owners in tourism destinations around the world can express their interest in the awards here and MTR will send out the forms. Submissions close 1 April 2017. The winners will be announced at the Travel and Tourism Research Association international conference in Quebec, Canada, 22 June 2017.
The Overall Winner will receive a AU$2000 donation contributed to World Toilet Day in their name and a copy of every MTR research publication in 2017 (worth AU$8000) and access to tourism research events.
Other category winners will receive the same, minus the donation to World Toilet Day.
“This is the chance for toilet owners in tourism to wipe the floor with the competition,” says White. “I like to think of the Toilet Tourism Awards as the tourism industry’s own Game of Thrones.”
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales. She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
