Twenty sustainable tourism winners – two from each ASEAN member state – will receive a package of benefits that will raise their business profile substantially.
Bangkok, Thailand – ASEAN has announced that the second ASEAN Sustainable Tourism Awards is now open for submissions until 30 October 2019. Results will be announced in early December and the awarding ceremony will take place during the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2020.
Under the theme. “culture & heritage tourism,” the awards encourage sustainable tourism operators in Southeast Asia to showcase how they plan to bring more tourism to this region while thinking of the environmental impact.
Mr. Sounh Manivong, Director General of Tourism Marketing Department, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, Lao PDR, said some of the key objectives of the awards were to boost the profile and importance of sustainable tourism businesses in Southeast Asia, promote responsible tourism in all ASEAN countries, combat seasonality, and rebalance tourist flows towards best practice tourism experiences.
He said: “The diversity and quality of ASEAN’s sustainable tourism options are amazing. The aim of the awards is to prove it and empower green tourism practitioners.”
Twenty sustainable tourism winners – two from each ASEAN member state – will receive a package of benefits that will raise their business profile substantially.
Applications will be assessed by the tourism authorities in the applicant’s country. Of the two winners in each country, one will be “rural”, one will be “urban” to reaffirm that city operators can be sustainable as much as rural ones.
Winners will be highlighted on their tourism authorities’ website and will receive exposure as a national best practice operator during press conferences and trade shows such as ATF, TRAVEX, ITB and WTM.
In addition, winners will be highlighted on ASEAN’s website. They will receive a trophy and recognition during the ASEAN sustainable tourism awards event, which will be part of the ATF 2020 in Brunei.
Sirima is the Editor-in-Chief of TravelDailyNews Asia-Pacific, responsible for the editorial aspects of the online news portal.
