It’s that time of year again when I call on all green girls around the world to get nominating in our annual Responsible Tourism Awards!

The Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards, founded and organised by responsibletravel.com in association with our partners, Telegraph Travel, Geographical Magazine and World Travel Market, need your help in scouring the globe for interesting, unusual, innovative but above all worthy nominees for this year’s Awards.

In 2007 we received over 1700 nominations from travellers around the world and we’d love to use your responsible travel know-how to find operators, accommodations, low carbon transport, tourism organisations and individuals who you think are the best of the best in responsible tourism for 2008.

The New Forest – 2007 overall winner

Last year’s overall winner, best destination, and best personal contribution (for destination manager, Anthony Climpson) award winner was the New Forest in the UK in recognition of the work they have been doing for over 15 years with visitors, industry and the community to look after the environment and promote sustainable local development. Find out more and watch a video about overall winners, the New Forest.

What does it mean to win a Responsible Tourism Award?

If you’re not sure whether it’s worth making a nomination, take a look at some of these comments from last year’s winners:

Mark Jacobs of Azafady, winner of the Best Volunteering Organisation Award said:

‘Winning the award has clearly increased the profile of Azafady and its work out in south-east Madagascar.

When potential volunteers look at our website, the knowledge that we have been named “Best Volunteering Organisation” provides an extra assurance that our work has been vetted independently and found to be the best in its field.

We have already received applications from volunteers who have cited the Responsible Tourism Awards as the reason they have applied to us and I’ve no doubt that winning the award will result in an overall increase in the numbers of volunteers going out to Madagascar.’

While Arugam Bay, in Sri Lanka, Highly Commended in the Best Destination category said:

‘Arugam Bay has been rewarded for its unique community tourism offers, most of all, Arugam Bay people are now very proud of their achievements. The Award has helped them to get international publicity and for a long time to come they will cherish this Award. The formal tourism sector and the tourism authorities are now taking more interest in our work and want to help us.’

Read more interviews with our 2007 Responsible Tourism Award winners.

Nominate and you could win a holiday!

You can nominate in any of 13 categories – all we need is the name of the nominee and how to contact them, and a few lines explaining why you think they deserve to win an award. If you nominate an eventual Award winner, you could even win a prize holiday for 2 to India courtesy of Real World Adventures!

In support of the Responsible Tourism Awards

Support for the Responsible Tourism Awards is growing every year. Read what some of our supporters have to say:

Michael Palin
Getting to know more about each other remains one of the most important hopes for the peaceful future of the planet.

If we are really to understand each other better, then we need to be reminded to travel carefully and thoughtfully,
listening to people along the way and respecting the world we are privileged to travel through.

The Responsible Tourism Awards are one of the most important ways in which we can understand how to travel better.
Photograph by Basil Pao

Ben Fogle
The Responsible Tourism Awards scheme is now widely recognised around the world for leading the way in celebrating individual achievements in responsible tourism. This unique Awards scheme, run by responsibletravel.com, inspires travellers and travel companies to tackle the environmental, social and cultural issues that tourism faces, head on.

During my travels in the next few months I’ll be looking out for worthy nominees and encourage all passionate travellers to get on board: dig out those travel journals, tell your travel-mad friends and if you’re on the road, keep your eyes peeled for tourism ventures that are really making a difference. For me, the future of tourism is inextricably linked with this more thoughtful path of travel.

Pen Hadow, Explorer
The significance of each single step towards our shared worldwide goal of sustainable tourism is greater than you
may imagine – and these hesitant early steps are the most important as with any journey.

Your nominations for those that are our pathfinders are of inestimable value in building everyone’s confidence this really is the direction we must all be heading. Support our pathfinders and multiply the value of their efforts by encouraging others to follow their superlative example.
Photograph courtesy Pen Hadow

Alain de Botton, Writer & Philosopher
Over the last few years, we’ve become painfully aware that tourism isn’t just about passively observing a place,
it’s also about changing it – and usually for the worst. Most often we literally destroy the beauty or interest we have come to witness.

It’s therefore paramount that we learn to come up with forms of travel businesses that don’t destroy their host organisms
and The Responsible Tourism Awards sound like an admirable way forward.
Photograph by Charlotte de Botton

Responsible Tourism Awards magazine

Find out about all last year’s winners and read other interesting features on responsible tourism issues in our dedicated Responsible Tourism Awards magazine, r:travel.

I can’t wait to read your nominations!

Happy travelling…

Katie
responsibletravel.com