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Wild Asia Awards

Finalists Announced for Wild Asia Awards

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Now in their ninth year, the Wild Asia Responsible Tourism Awards, has just announced its 2015 finalists.

The Wild Asia Awards was the first of its kind to identify Asia-based sustainability superstars in the travel industry, and remains the only regional award program for responsible travel. The awards are based on the Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s criteria, and provide a unique opportunity for tourism businesses and projects to benchmark their work against international standards. Participants also benefit from gaining third party verification from the panel of esteemed expert judges.

This September, winners will be officially announced and celebrated at the 2015 PATA Travel Mart in Bangalore. “Sustainability is one of the main advocacy themes of the Association and an important issue to address when we talk about the responsible development of travel and tourism,” said Mario Hardy, PATA CEO. “We are therefore delighted to host the Wild Asia Responsible Tourism Awards at this year’s Travel Mart and share in the celebration of tourism organizations that truly exemplify what it means to be sustainable. Wild Asia is a valued PATA Sustainability partner and a special partner of the Responsible Travel Pavilion at PTM, a space where like-minded organizations can gather, share knowledge and build business.”

Best in Community Engagement and Development

This award recognizes exceptional commitment to supporting the local community and economy in which your business operates.

Best in Protection of Natural Areas & Wildlife Conservation

This award recognizes tourism businesses’ consideration of their local environment and biodiversity by actively supporting and protecting their natural assets.

Best in Resource Efficiency

This award recognizes excellence in waste, water and energy management and sustainable architectural design to minimize environmental impact.

Most Inspiring Responsible Tourism Operator

This award recognizes an innovative tourism operator that excels by taking into consideration key principles of responsible tourism (maximum positive impacts to the local community and minimum negative impacts to the environment).

Most Inspiring Responsible Tourism Initiative

This award recognizes grass-roots initiatives championing local responsible tourism.

Over the next couple of months, all finalists will undergo further rigorous investigation to determine the 2015 Winners. During this time, thorough open-source articles will become available on the Wild Asia website for each of these businesses or projects. The purpose of sharing their successes, challenges and lessons learned is to inspire and influence the industry to adopt measures to become more socially and environmentally responsible.

For those wishing to join the PATA Travel Mart and celebrate alongside the winners, the deadline for applying to showcase your business at the Responsible Travel Pavilion is June 30th, 2015. Full details can be found here.