THE JUDGING PROCESS

The foundation of the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards is a rigorous three-step judging process that includes an international team of 15-20 judges representing a wide range of professional backgrounds and expertise in the field of Travel & Tourism from all around the world.

Step One

All award applications are collected by WTTC during the call for entries period. The applications are then checked by WTTC to see that they are completed properly and comply with the application rules and guidelines before going to the judges for review.

1st round of judging - selecting the finalists

The finalist selection committee has 12 international judges and is divided into four sub-committees with three judges each - one sub-committee for each award category. Each committee member evaluates the applications for the award category using a score sheet based on a set of key criteria reflecting the sustainable tourism practices for that specific award category. The finalist selection committee judges then participate in a series of teleconferences to review the ratings of individual applications, discuss each candidate's merits, and decide on the three finalists for each award category. Where an otherwise excellent company or project is deemed close to being a finalist by the judges but does not reach finalist status, the judges may officially designate them with "Honourable Mention" status in recognition of their significant sustainable tourism efforts.

2nd round of judging - on-site evaluation visits

A unique and fundamental part of the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards' judging process includes an on-site inspection visit for each of the 12 finalists. This visit, conducted by sustainable tourism experts, is focused on verifying the information presented by each finalist in their award application to make sure it is true in practice. In addition, on-site evaluators seek out meetings with local community representatives, company employees, project partners, government officials, and also tourists and guests of the finalist to gain further insights into the finalist's sustainable tourism efforts, practices, and the quality of guest experience. This information is compiled into a confidential finalist evaluation report, which is submitted as part of the winner selection process.

3rd round of judging - selecting the winners

After making it through the first two rounds of judging, the shortlisted finalists then move into the third and final stage of the judging process - the selection of the winners. A five-member winner selection committee meets after a careful review of the finalist selection committee judges' recommendations, the award applications, and the on-site evaluation report. During this stage of the judging process, the winner selection committee judges may also request additional information from finalists under consideration and may conduct further research on finalists as part of their decision-making process - selecting one winner in each Award category. The selection of winners is carried out by consensus decision-making by the winner selection committee. If consensus is not possible, then the final decision regarding the winners is by a majority vote.