2010 Tourism for Tomorrow Awards

Global Tourism Business. Representing international companies with at least 500 employees, entrants' achievements marry corporate success with sustainable principles and practices. The winner is:

• Accor, France, www.accor.com

Accor is one of the world’s leading hospitality groups, and the leader in Europe, as well as the global leader in services to corporate clients and public institutions. It operates in nearly 100 countries with 150,000 employees, offering its clients over 40 years of expertise in two core businesses – Accor Hotels and Accor Services.

Accor’s philosophy is based on hospitality and respect for diverse cultures, incorporating environmental best practices in all its operations. The group’s approach to holistic, sustainable management is based on two pillars: EGO, including programmes for local development, protecting children, combating epidemics and promoting healthy eating; and ECO, including the reduction of water and energy consumption, and the improvement of waste sorting and recycling, as well as the preservation of biodiversity.

Conservation. Entrants have made a tangible contribution to the preservation of nature, including the protection of wildlife, expanding and restoring natural habitat, and supporting biodiversity conservation. The winner is:

• Emirates Hotels & Resorts, United Arab Emirates, www.wolganvalley.com/wolgan-valley/en/

Launched in 2006, Emirates Hotels & Resorts (EH&R) is Emirates Airline’s premier hospitality management division. EH&R’s philosophy centres on the two most critical global environmental issues: declining bio-diversity and emissions reduction. This conservation-based philosophy has been successfully showcased through Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa in Dubai, UAE, which was directly responsible for proposing and now managing, the surrounding 225 km2 Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve (DDCR). The same conservation-based philosophy was replicated at Wolgan Valley Resort & Spa in Australia’s Blue Mountains, which is only resort in recent history to receive permission to be built adjacent to a World Heritage Area and is the first hotel in the world to be internationally accredited as carbon neutral.

Community Benefit. Entrants directly benefit local people, supporting community development and enhancing cultural heritage. The winner is:

• Whale Watch Kaikoura, New Zealand, www.whalewatch.co.nz

Whale Watch Kaikoura (WWK) is New Zealand’s only marine-based whale-watching company operating year round, and offering visitors an exciting and up-close encounter with whales. WWK is a 100% Maori-owned and locally operated company located in the small coastal town of Kaikoura. Through generating profits, WWK has been able to secure the land of Kaikoura peninsula for the Maori population, which has lived there for 1,000 years and was under threat of displacement through railroad developments and poverty.

WWK not only operates a profitable business providing direct and indirect employment, it also provides tangible community benefits through complimentary annual whale-watching school trips, donations to Kaikoura hospital, the coastguard and fire brigade, and funding of marine research projects – to name a few.

Destination Stewardship. Entrants have successfully managed a sustainable tourism programme at the destination level, incorporating social, cultural, environmental, and economic benefits as well as multi-stakeholder engagement. The winner is:

• Botswana Tourism Board, Botswana, www.botswanatourism.co.bw

The Okavango Delta Ramsar Site (ODRS) is a unique 55,374 km2 water- and game-rich area within Botswana’s desert environment. It includes the Tsodilo Hills (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), the Moremi Game Reserve, Wildlife Management Areas and community lands.

Botswana’s approach to tourism is based on a ‘low-volume – high-yield’ strategy, which was devised and supported through a series of legislations promulgated by the country’s government. The core of this strategy is the setting of conservative limits to bed and vehicle density. Some 34% of the adult population in ODRS now work in tourism and wildlife, contributing to the conservation of fragile habitat and a number of IUCN red-listed threatened species, as well as generating income and employment in the region.