SUNDERBANS JUNGLE CAMP, INDIA

Finalist Community Benefit Award 2007

Linking protected areas and heritage with people's livelihood by giving them ownership through tourism is the first step towards conservation.

Help Tourism was founded in 1991 as a tour operator, consultant and promoter. Business stretches over a number of areas, including the East Himalaya, particularly West-Bengal and the Northeastern States of India. Some cross-border initiatives cover the adjoining states of Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar/Burma. The area is diverse and stretches from the world's third highest peak, Mount Kanchenjunga, to the Bay of Bengal, and it is homeland to several hundred ethnic groups and a unique flora and fauna.
Help Tourism addresses communities' tradition of conservation, and enables them to establish alternative means of livelihood using tourism as a tool. Flanking tourism projects, other community development processes are initiated. So far, Help Tourism has participated in the implementation of 21 community tourism projects.
Help Tourism has gained substantial international recognition, and in 2007 the Sunderbans Jungle Camp - a Help Tourism community project - was shortlisted for the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, under the stewardship of the World Travel & Tourism Council.