Award ceremony to include new ITB Earth award

After its major success last year at the Paleis Stage, the Top100 Sustainable Destinations 'Best of the Best' awards will take centre stage again this year - even bigger and better!

The Awards presentation, 6 March 2019 4pm, will be hosted by ITB Berlin, the world's leading travel and trade show. 2018 and 2019 Top 100 destinations have now submitted their success stories in the following categories:

ITB Earth Award: Destination showing global leadership in combatting climate change and environmental degradation.

Best of Culture & Communities: Global leadership in protecting culture and tradition, involving local communities, and avoiding overtourism.

Best of Cities:  City showing global leadership in urban sustainability and avoiding disruptive mass tourism (overtourism).

Best of Nature: destination showing global leadership in protecting wildlife, natural habitats and landscapes.

Best of Ecotourism: destination showing global leadership in offering responsible ecotourism opportunities

Best of Seaside:  coastal or island destination showing global leadership in offering sustainable water-related tourism and leisure opportunities

Best of the Planet: the best green destination of each continent.

Finalists for the Awards are destinations recently selected in the Sustainable

Top100 competition and submitting sustainable tourism success stories. The innovative character of these will be decisive for Award selection.

More info: http://sustainabletop100.org/


Valere Tjolle

Fireflies and picnics in Romagna - how 12 US visitors enjoyed a surprisingly magical day

It looked like tomorrow was going to be fine so we suggested at dinner that our clients may like to have stroll in the valley and a picnic. The suggestion was received with great enthusiasm so now we had to do the work!

When you're organising a picnic everything depends on the weather - you have little time to prepare. So, with only 12 hours notice, we told our clever friends at the Michelin-rated restaurant Dei Cantoni to prepare something local and seasonal for a picnic. Then it was down to us to scout out a particular place in the valley that had a special seasonal plus.

The cherry blossom was in bloom so Tamara and I went to the heart of the ancient cherry valley where we knew there was a lovely spot to check out not too far away for a gentle stroll.

When we got to the tiny little ancient valley church, I told Tamara that I had been there a year ago when my friend Roberta organised an enchanting evening with music and poetry and of course food and wine to see the millions of fireflies.

At that moment, as if by magic a big 4wd vehicle screamed to a halt - it was Roberta. "Hello, what are you doing here" she said. We told her that we wanted to bring our 12 US tourists to the valley the next day. We wondered if Mr Calandrini would let them wander in his beautiful garden and if Dom Fernando would mind if we used his church. "Of course" said Roberta - 'And I have the keys to the church!" OK job done, we only had to check out the walking route all would be organised.

There was another surprise awaiting for me at the little church in the valley when I arrived with the picnic. Roberta and her daughter Nicole were hard at work mowing the church lawn so it would look a beautiful setting. They had already cleaned out the inside of the church so it was sparkling and naturally they had lit candles. Outside they had cleaned the old wooden table and put a tablecloth on it, set it with fresh flowers. For an extra flourish - Roberta had baked an enormous fabulous fruit flan as a gift.

And when our guests arrived, complete with Miss Horse, it soon became the epitome of a country picnic picture. What a luxury they enjoyed - rest and peace in the sun away from all the pressures of life.

They sat and talked, ate some fabulous food, drank some great wine and explored Mr Calandrini's superb garden. And then they walked back to their lovely Italian country house accommodation at Aloggio San Girolamo  and at Casa Grilli  just in time for another glorious sunset, more extraordinary wine - and, of course aperitivo snacks specially prepared by Marisa!

Everyone enjoyed a day of perfect peace that will be remembered for many years. Something different, something special, a real personal experience of kindly, thoughtful hospitality! It's certainly an antidote to stress.

Other group surprises have included visits to artisan fashion factories, local sculptures, visits to ceramicists by invitation only events and many many more…

And there is so much more to discover in Romagna HERE 

More info: http://www.BestofRomagna.com

Are you a travel agent or group organiser? Find out about recently launched small group 2019 FAM trip program http://www.totemtourism.com/agent-fam-visits.html

China's New Silk Road praised by bank - rejected by communities


Whilst Takehiko Nakao the President of the Asian Development Bank welcomed the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), saying that it is nice to build connectivity between countries through the initiative. In Laos villagers are blocking the way to having their land surveyed.


Hailing the Belt and Road Initiative as a good idea, Nakao said "We can cooperate through BRI to support the countries that need our help. Together with other development banks like the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, we have a memorandum of understanding for cooperation with the Belt and Road Initiative,"


Proposed by China in 2013, the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa based on ancient land and maritime trade routes.


But Lao villagers living in the scenic Vang Vieng region north of the capital Vientiane are blocking attempts to survey their land for the foreign-invested development, fearing they will be displaced from their homes by a new Chinese tourism project, sources in the Southeast Asian country say.


The project, managed by the Chinese firm Lao-Vang Vieng New Area Development Company, will affect 22 villages lying to the west of the Xong river and has been given permission from the Lao government to proceed.


But attempts by company employees to survey the area were blocked at the end of December when villagers objected to the plans, the head of one village told RFA's Lao Service this week.


"The company tried to survey the villagers' homes and land, but the villagers objected, and there were verbal confrontations," the village leader said, speaking on condition of anonymity.


"The confrontation ended only when district authorities came by to calm things down," he added.


"Most of the villagers here don't want the Chinese company to survey their land, because they are afraid that their homes and property will be taken from them, and if this happens, where will they go to live?"


It is believed that the proposed special economic zone (SEZ) called the Sustainable Tourism Development Project will cover thousands of hectares of land in Vang Vieng, an area of natural beauty already popular with backpackers and river-goers, but officials have not yet published the exact number, the source said.


"They [the Chinese company] are basically exploring the possibilities now for what can be done," a tourism official for Vang Vieng told RFA, also speaking on condition he not be named.


Signed by the Lao-Vang Vieng Company last year in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Laos, the project will run in three phases over 15 years at a cost of U.S. $5.5 billion, and is expected to create 50,000 jobs, according to Lao media sources.


It is unclear how many of those jobs will go to Lao villagers now living in the area, however.


Meanwhile, Vientiane province has granted another Chinese company permission to survey the area of a former airport in Vang Vieng for construction of an entertainment complex, including a shopping mall, hotels, and other structures on 15 hectares of land at a cost of U.S. $200 million, sources say.


As one of the least developed Southeast Asian nations, Laos has become a target for massive foreign investment, especially from companies from neighbors China, Thailand, and Vietnam, which receive attractive investment incentives from the Lao government.


Laos grants its citizens the right to occupy land, and some can sell the right to use their land if their family has inhabited it for generations.


But citizens cannot officially own property, and the government reserves the right to reclaim land when this is deemed to be in the public interest, such as for national development projects.


At least a dozen active special and specific economic zones have already been created throughout the country to attract foreign direct investment to boost development and job opportunities in rural areas since 2002 when the first SEZ was set up.


Under Lao Decree 84 issued in April 2016, Lao citizens who lose land to development projects must be compensated for lost income, property, crops, and plants.


Project owners must also guarantee that living conditions for those displaced will be as good as, or better than, they were before the project was launched.


However, compensation payments are often delayed, sometimes for long periods of time, or are paid out in amounts lower than those initially promised, with newly assigned land sometimes deemed unsuitable for farming, sources say.


Source:  Ounkeo Souksavanh for RFA's Lao Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.


The 'Belt and Road Initiative' is a massive trillion dollar Chinese initiative involving transportation, infrastructure, development and tourism. 65 countries are committed to the project.


Read more about China weaponizing tourism along the Silk Road in Sustainable Tourism02 www.sustainabletourismreport.com


Valere Tjolle

FAM trips to Romagna will combine visits to Venice and Florence with welcoming unspoiled natural Italy

Next year's FAM visitors to Romagna will be in for some very special treats taking advantage of Romagna's position close to everything and a wonderful place to return home to!

Not only will they stay in a lovely country house in the Romagna Hills, but they will also enjoy a stay in a top hotel in a fashionable seaside resort plus a night in foodie Bologna.

And they'll enjoy some very special experiences too. Keeping up their sustainable credentials as a global top100 destination, Best of Romagna are including two trips by public transport.

The trip to Venice takes the boat across the Adriatic lagoon via the island of Pellestrina and the glorious Venice Lido - right to the heart of Venice a canal crossing on a gondola and a lunch in an exclusive Grand Canal side restaurant. The trip to Florence is by the little mountain train through fabulous scenery, gently descending to the glorious city of Art and romance.

FAM participants will also learn to cook Italian in "Italy's Best Cookery School", they'll experience the magnificent city that was once capital of the Roman Empire - and see the1500 year old mosaics and they will visit the world's smallest republic - mountaintop San Marino.

There will be, of course, much more - including tasting the many specialities that Romagna is famous for - great Sangiovese and Albana wines in organic vineyards, superb olive oils in an olive grove that has stayed in the same management for over 500 years, great meals with local cheeses and breads and phenomenal local meats and vegetables and fruits.

And a lot of FUN - after all Romagna is famous in Italy for having the very best time at the very most festivals! Maybe that's because Romagna with all its great food and wine is like the Garden of Eden!

Find out more about 2019 FAMs HERE http://www.totemtourism.com/agent-fam-visits.html

Fastest growing economy in Africa chooses not to fight the facts

For a long time Botswana has been seen as a peaceful African country and a birthplace for sustainable tourism in the continent. Maybe the fact that it has a very un-warlike past attests to its attitude to sustainability - plus of course the event that created its massive economic success - the discovery of diamonds, allows Botswana to take a firm stance of sustainable tourism.

Botswana is not cheap. If you visit for a holiday you'll pay top dollar but in return you'll get a memorable, maybe life-changing experience worth saving up for.

Largely because it's a peaceful country Botswana has an enormous and increasing population of elephants - the fact is that elephants don't like wars all around them so they've moved into calm, chilled out Botswana where they are left to get on with their lives.

It helps that there is a great deal of wilderness in Botswana too - it's a country of nearly 250,000 square miles (that's twice the size of Germany) with a population of about 2 million (Germany's got 82 million) - so there is no pressure on space. That's great for the 300,000 elephants who live there.

The government has concentrated on tourism and diamonds - which is good for the elephants and the wilderness which comprises of mainly the Okavango Delta and the massive Kalahari Desert, both astonishing, by the way.

This means that farming has rather fallen by the wayside so that Botswana can concentrate on its key assets - one of the world's great wildernesses plus one of the world's great inland deltas. But farming has not fallen out of the picture entirely -it's just by the wayside superb cattle are to be seen by every road. And Botswana's search for excellence reflects itself in its cattle too - its beef, 2 million steers grazing on communal land, is said to be some of the very best in the world and exported to wherever quality is sought.

The discovery of diamonds helped, but basically Botswana has been a leader in sustainable tourism for a long time now and at the forefront of top quality safari holidays.

Tourism and wildlife training is at the top of the agenda together with hospitality training, hence the quality of informed service is astonishingly good - and the opportunities for hospitality staff personal development. Not only does this mean that visitors get real service but also that there are quality tourism job opportunities.

This informed attitude from a centre of excellence has led to businesses like Abercrombie & Kent, & Beyond, Wilderness Safaris and Desert and Delta to prosper sustainably and new initiatives to appear.

Travel for Impact https://travelforimpact.com/ is a local social initiative set up to make the most out of tourism for local people in a multitude of ways from crafts to veterinary services to looking after the elderly - all funded and supported by the tourism industry.

Another example of a sustainable can-do attitude is Chobe National Park - stuffed with wildlife - where an all-female guide team drive all-electric safari vehicles and electric launches. Simply: The decision to employ exclusively women grew organically out of something very practical: the bottom line. Back when the guide team was male and female, the managers quickly noticed a pattern: Vehicles driven by women used less fuel, required fewer repairs and lasted longer over time. Simply put, the women were better drivers. They were saving the company money.

A practical attitude to sustainability that reflects itself in Botswana's sustainably high quality and a reason that the country has not one but two destinations in the Top100 Sustainable destinations.

Valere Tjolle
READ MORE ABOUT SUSTAINABLE TOURISM OPPORTUNITIES IN 2019: 80% off Special Vision offer: Sustainable Tourism Report 80% discount on review copies only 50 available. https://www.sustainabletourismreport.com/

SEE MORE SUSTAINABLE TOURISM NEWS AT VISION ON SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

A small party city that does it holistically

Santarcangelo di Romagna is a little ancient city of just over 20,000 inhabitants. It's set right in the heart of the ancient Italian region of Romagna between the Apennine mountains and the Adriatic Sea, equidistant from both Venice and Florence.

It's a city which hosts modern festivals like the International Festival of Street Theatre and ancient festivals like the 1,000 year old Festa di San Michele (known as the festival of cuckolds and which brings in over 100,000 revellers)

Apart from wild festivals, it's also a city of wild art and home to the the Mutoid Waste Company. Santarcangelo is also very proud of its food and wine and is a Slow Food City.

But its key to sustainable success is its young dynamic female-oriented council who have plenty of challenges to prove their worth including- tourism, immigration, closed minds, gentrification, ageing population and more.

Everybody is included in the sustainable solution - kids, old people, immigrants, local communities and tourists.

It's a modern holistic answer to tourism today.

Every person a poppy in a great field created out of waste land.

Even the city tourism app was created by local kids

Valere Tjolle
READ MORE ABOUT SUSTAINABLE TOURISM OPPORTUNITIES IN 2019: 80% off Special Vision offer: Sustainable Tourism Report 80% discount on review copies only 50 available. https://www.sustainabletourismreport.com/

SEE MORE SUSTAINABLE TOURISM NEWS AT VISION ON SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

Twenty-four Managers from Armenia undertook the Project Management for Sustainable Development Certification Training


Armenia is shaping its future to be a unique sustainable destination, building capacities in effective tourism planning and managing.


A diverse group of tourism and development professionals from across Armenia has joined a blended training program on PM4SD (Project Management for Sustainable Development), and successfully completed the first segment, a 3-week-long tailored online training course.

The participants then undertook an onsite face-to-face training session taking place in Yerevan), to complete their training and to prepare for the PM4SD-Foundation certification.

Before the on site training, on December 19th, a public event, "Armenia, the path to sustainable tourism" was  organized by UNDP, with the aim of bringing key stakeholders of the tourism value chain to build a common vision and an action plan for sustainable tourism development at the destination level.

"Tourism provides important opportunities for Armenia, and in particular for rural communities and undiscovered destinations, but we need to ensure tourism growth is sustainable. That's why it's critical to focus on training and capacity building. With many of our project managers and planners becoming PM4SD certified, we are able to create a pool of experts who will be able to deliver tangible and lasting benefits through our tourism projects." Said Arman Valesyan, Project Coordinator, UNDP Armenia Integrated Rural Tourism Development (IRTD) Project

Delivered by Jlag (PM4SD Accredited Training Organisation) and TrainingAid for UNDP Armenia, this blended training program provides the opportunities for participants to apply best practices in their own project context, helping improve various local and regional projects supporting sustainable tourism development and destination management.

This blended training program has been delivered as part of the Integrated Rural Tourism Development (IRTD) project, which is financed by the Russian Federation and implemented by UNDP Armenia in close partnership with the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Development.

The training will serve a first pilot strategic action to certify sustainable management skills, with the goal of supporting long-term objective of creating sustainable income-generating opportunities to reduce rural poverty, and to empower community members to achieve sustainable development"It has been great to learn about many innovative and forward-thinking project examples from across Armenia, addressing key development challenges and sustainability issues through tourism. With their newly acquired knowledge in effective project management, our training participants will be able to approach their projects in a smarter, more efficient and productive manner, focusing on making a difference for the sustainable development of rural communities." Said Silvia Barbone, PM4SD Trainer, Managing Director, Jlag

Relevant links

UNDP Armenia IRTD project website:

http://www.am.undp.org/content/armenia/en/home/operations/projects/poverty_reduction/integrated-rural-tourism-development--.html

Valere Tjolle
READ MORE ABOUT SUSTAINABLE TOURISM OPPORTUNITIES IN 2019: 80% off Special Vision offer: Sustainable Tourism Report 80% discount on review copies only 50 available. https://www.sustainabletourismreport.com/

SEE MORE SUSTAINABLE TOURISM NEWS AT VISION ON SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
 

IUCN publishes guidelines for sustainability in tourism and visitor management


The International Union for Conservation of Nature   (IUCN) has published guidelines on sustainability for "Tourism and visitor management in protected areas". The publication is part of a series on best practices in protected areas and available for download  on the IUCN website.


IUCN says "Protected areas are a key component of any global conservation strategy. Tourism provides a crucial and unique way of fostering visitors' connection with protected area values, making it a potentially positive force for conservation. Protected area tourism's economic benefits - which depend on beautiful natural areas, healthy wildlife and nature, and authentic cultures - can also be a powerful argument for conservation. Tourism in protected areas is a major part of the global tourism industry - an industry whose scale and impacts are enormous. Such a high volume of visitors implies certain needs for fundamental infrastructure and requirements for employment and human services, all of which have ramifications for the economy, society, culture and the environment. These Guidelines provide guidance on key issues to help managers achieve sustainable tourism in protected areas."


"Done sustainably, tourism can contribute directly to the objectives of global agreements such as the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, and the Muscat Declaration on Tourism and Culture (UNWTO and UNESCO, 2017). However, inappropriate and poorly managed tourism can cause negative impacts on the biodiversity, landscapes, and resource base of protected areas."


The target audience for these Guidelines is professionals working on tourism in protected areas, including administrators, managers, planners, government agencies, non-governmental organisations, community groups, private landowners and Indigenous groups.


Building on two previous editions on the subject of tourism in the IUCN WCPA Best Practice Guidelines series, these Guidelines provide guidance on key issues to help managers achieve sustainable tourism in protected areas: that which is appropriate, well-managed, and contributes to conservation objectives.


Valere Tjolle

UNWTO award finalists announced

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has announced the finalists to win the 15th UNWTO Awards for inspirational projects which have made an invaluable contributions to advance sustainable tourism.


The nominees are praised for contributing to advance the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism   and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).


Initiatives from Canada, Colombia, India, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the Philippines made it to the list of finalists for 2019's UNWTO Awards, ranging from community-based tourism development and innovation-driven nature conservation to heritage tourism and promotion of accessible tourism.


The UNWTO Awards recognize the contribution of public and private institutions, as well as NGOs, in the development of a more competitive, responsible and sustainable tourism sector that works towards achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and its 17 SDGs.


A total of 190 applications from 71 countries were received in the three categories: Public Policy and Governance, Enterprises, and Non-Governmental Organizations.


UNWTO Award in Public Policy and Governance

•     Tourism and Peace Programme, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Colombia
•     Love San Sebastin, Live Donostia, San Sebastian Turismo & Convention Bureau, Spain
•     Sustainability Whale Watching Charter, SPET - Turismo De Tenerife, Spain

UNWTO Award in Enterprises

•     Community Impact by V Resorts, V Resorts (under the aegis of Bliss Inns Pvt. Ltd.), India
•     Fighting food waste at sea: 4GOODFOOD programme, Costa Crociere S.p.A., Italy
•     Masungi Georeserve: Innovations for Conservation, Masungi Georeserve Foundation, The Philippines

UNWTO Award in Non-Governmental Organizations

•     Embracing Our Potential, Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association, Canada
•     Amuse Project, Fundacion Once, Spain
•     Treadright Foundation Heritage Initiative, Treadright Foundation, Switzerland

Information on the finalists http://marketintelligence.unwto.org/content/15th-unwto-awards-finalists

Valere Tjolle
READ MORE ABOUT SUSTAINABLE TOURISM OPPORTUNITIES IN 2019: 80% off Special Vision offer: Sustainable Tourism Report 80% discount on review copies only 50 available. https://www.sustainabletourismreport.com/

SEE MORE SUSTAINABLE TOURISM NEWS AT VISION ON SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
Share

CEO Randy Durband adresses the conference

Sustainable tourism conference in Africa's most sustainable destination outlines challenges and opportunities

This year's Global Sustainable Tourism Council summit, set in Maun, Botswana brought together international and domestic tourism including public sector, hotels, tour operators, academia, development agencies, NGOs, and consultants from all over the world to help make tourism more sustainable for the benefit of visitors, host destinations, the industry - and the Earth.

Tourism may be facing massive challenges in 2019 but these are also opportunities for destinations all over the world to host visitors in a way that delivers life changing experiences to both visitor and host communities alike.

After an opening by His Excellency, the Fourth President of the Republic of Botswana, Lieutenant General, Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama and a presentation by GSTC CEO Randy Durband

Luigi Cabrini, Global Sustainable Tourism Council Chairman, outlined the challenges at the very start of the conference - 1.8 billion international and 5 billion domestic ones; new population segments crossing the border for the first time; a destruction of the Natural World that threatens humanity; islands of plastic that threaten the sea; global warming that could reach a 3 degrees catastrophe but on the other hand tourism can contribute to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that can change the world for the better. See full speech here.

And the conference went on in that vein - helping businesses and destination managers to understand the challenges and opportunities that tourism presents and how the Global Sustainable Tourism Council - as an accreditation organisation - can help create a level playing field and foster responsible and sustainable tourism to benefit the world - visitors and host communities alike.

For businesses, the GSTC is driving ideas about preferential procurement on a B2B level to create and manage verified sustainable supply chains to make sure that each supplier is using good practice to deliver consistent high quality experiences for visitors and benefits to suppliers.

For destination management, GSTC is helping with effective planning and development to create sustainable experiences that rely less on massive push promotions and more on high quality visitor experience where word of mouth bring better, higher quality, more honest and more effective marketing where destinations spend more on product development and less on promotion with more beneficial effects!

Botswana, an icon of sustainable tourism in Africa and one of the world's top 100 sustainable destinations   was chosen for its remarkable vision in fostering and supporting the development of tourism-based nature and wildlife conservation over agriculture thereby stewarding its massive and remarkable natural assets.

Topics included:

• Achieving Sustainable Destination Managemen
• Certification as a Driver of Sustainable Tourism
• Reaching the Sustainable Development Goals through the GSTC Criteria
• Market Access for Responsible Tourism Businesses

And opportunities were given to all delegates to experience at first hand the quality of Botswana's warm hospitality and the fabulous nature of its wildlife and extraordinary scenery.

Further information here: https://www.gstcouncil.org/gstc2018/program/

And next year the conference is set for another amazing sustainable destination -  another top100 Sustainable Destination - the Azores.

Valere Tjolle
READ MORE ABOUT SUSTAINABLE TOURISM OPPORTUNITIES IN 2019: 80% off Special Vision offer: Sustainable Tourism Report 80% discount on review copies only 50 available. https://www.sustainabletourismreport.com/

SEE MORE SUSTAINABLE TOURISM NEWS AT VISION ON SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
Share