The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is inviting tourism businesses, organisations, and destinations worldwide to apply for its prestigious Tourism for Tomorrow Awards.
Each year, the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards recognise global leadership in sustainable tourism best practices. Due to its rigorous three-step judging process involving 22 independent expert judges from all around the world, and including an on-site evaluation of all award finalists, the Awards have become one of the highest accolades in the global Travel & Tourism industry.
Applicants should demonstrate how they are actively engaged in a successful programme of sustainable tourism practices and management, including maximising social and economic benefits for local people, reducing negative impacts to the environment, and supporting the protection of cultural and natural heritage in destinations where they operate.
Award applicants may enter in one of four Award categories: Global Tourism Business, Conservation, Community Benefit, and Destination Stewardship and can submit their entries online at www.wttc.org/tourismfortomorrow until 26 November 2012.
David Scowsill, President & CEO of WTTC said: “The Travel & Tourism industry has immense influencing power and has the potential to raise awareness and initiate action on the sustainability agenda among consumers, employees, and governments.
With its ninth year under WTTC stewardship, the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards are rewarding top sustainable tourism practices globally. These are outstanding examples, reaching new heights in the world’s sustainable tourism advancement.”
Finalists and winners receive complimentary flights and accommodation and will be recognised during a gala Awards ceremony which takes place alongside WTTC’s Global Summit in Abu Dhabi, UAE on 9 April 2013, attended by Travel & Tourism industry leaders, government representatives and members of the international media.
Costas Christ, Chairman of Judges, stated: “A tremendous amount of work goes into the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards each year. These Awards are truly global in nature, with a team of nearly two dozen judges from all around the world, ranging from indigenous tourism leaders to international sustainable tourism experts, and hailing from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe.
One day there will be no need for Awards that recognise sustainable tourism best practices. Care for local people and the planet will simply be a part of how every tourism business operates. Until then, the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards are shining a light on the sustainable tourism visionaries of today that are helping to lead the way forward.”
In 2012 ‘Destination Røros,’ won in the Destination Stewardship category, ‘Saunders Hotel Group’ won the Community Benefit Award, ‘Inkaterra Peru’ won the Conservation Award and ‘Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts’ won the Global Tourism Business Award.
The strategic partners of the 2013 Tourism for Tomorrow Awards are Travelport and the Travel Corporation’s TreadRight Foundation.
Tucked up in a ‘secret cinema’ in the middle of the ancient town of Teguise, Lanzarote on what feels like a secret rendez-vous with my loved one, the lights dim. Dramatic scenery from Lanzarote’s barren, volcanic magnificence, the location for Pedro Almodóvar’s film Broken Embraces, skite across the screen to cheers from the small, but bursting with pride Lanzarotian audience. And proud they might be, as they have managed to keep their stunning island a secret from many of us for years.
The best kept secret is, of course, that Lanzarote is a land of sensuous beauty. ‘You’re going to Lanzagrotty? Why on earth…?’ friends said, but I had been seduced by one particular company’s website for years, keeping an eye on its progress, and finally found the opportunity to visit it. Lanzarote Retreats is an eco-enclave located in the fishing village of Arrieta on the island’s remote northern coast. We had all been feeling cold to our bones after last year’s winter of discontent and, like so many, craved some real sun. So, with enough carbon credits under our belt to justify the flights, we went in search of the green, not the grotty.
Michelle and Tila Braddock, of UK origins, but living on the island for twenty years, created Lanzarote Retreats because they wanted to share some of their beloved island’s secrets, and do so in a sustainable way. They began by restoring an old farm or ‘finca’ , starting with a stone water housing unit or aljibe, now a luxury villa, and expanding organically into its own little universe, with yurts dotted around the place like the stars and stone cottages like petite planets. All revolve around a central pool area with honesty bar, yoga sessions, paella evenings, or just chilling out on the giant daybed. It is an eco-design coup, the yurts mirroring the soft mounds of the island’s myriad volcanic cones, and the stone renovations a reminder of locals’ determination to survive in an otherwise arid, infertile environment over hundreds of years. But also because although there are many options of accommodation to choose from, they are positioned in such a way that you are never aware that there are quite a few people staying here, meeting a family here, or a honey moon couple there, some people happy to enjoy the privacy of their self-sufficient yurts and others enjoying the communal camping vibe by the solar heated pool.
You don’t even need a car to come here, as Tila will meet you at the airport in his eco Prius, with a bottle of bubbly to wash away any travel trauma, his equally bubbly personality infusing us all with Canarian cameraderie, as he whisks us down to the beach (just minutes’ walk from the yurts) just as soon as we have downed bags, to show us how to manage the surf (body boards provided outside every yurt, of course). The finca is about ten minutes’ walk along the beach from the village shops and a few excellent tapas bars too, one of which, the Bar el Pesquito is right by the water, tucked away in a corner beside Lanzarote Retreats’ other accommodation, ‘The fisherman’s cottage’ which, although separate from the main site, still has the same sussed, sustainable and sassy vibe. It is so close to the water, you could cast your line from bed in the morning and go back for a doze while waiting to catch your breakfast. It also overlooks the small pier which became part of our daily ritual, swimming out to it from the beach, joining the local kids who jump off it, and swimming back into the beach again. A few rounds of this and you have earned your tapas.
Tila and Michelle, as well as having excellent eco credentials, with wind and solar power, water sourced from a spring while recycling all the grey stuff, free range chickens with eggs for those who can get out of bed early enough, also promote local excursions in an impressively low key way. We took a rib boat out to La Graciosa, another of Lanzarote’s secrets. Just a mile or so off shore, we went on a day trip to this small white sandy island which, along with four other islets make up one of the largest marine reserves in Europe. Totally unspoilt, it has sandy streets, a chapel dedicated to its fishing traditions, barren paths where you can hike between two volcanic peaks and crystal clear swimming and snorkelling. This is also where we bought some of the best fish of our trip, straight out of the wheelbarrow of a local fisherman who had just arrived into the fish shop, providing us with eight enormous tuna steaks which we barbequed back at the finca, washed down with a bottle of Lanzarotian Malvasian white from our honesty bar.
Lanzarote is a walker’s dream, and despite it being August when we visited, I managed a few serious hikes. Starting early in the morning, and always bringing my ‘Camelpak’ of water, I had a couple of very special outings. With over one hundred volcanoes on this island, it is extraordinary to think that the peaks which add such character and undulation to the geography here, did not exist before the first eruptions in 1730. Before this time, the land was fertile and fecund and as my walking guide, Marcelo Espino of canarytrekking.com, explained, there are now just a few spots of lichen and a few fig trees which we enjoy harvesting to give us a bit of an energy boost as we walk, as signs of re-emerging life forms.
Marcelo is one of a handful of walking guides who leads hikers across the highly protected scenery of the volcanic Timanfaya National Park (for more information see turismolanzarote.com). You need a permit to roam across the dramatic lava flows, tunnels, craters and ridges, and most people choose to do this on a bus trip or by camel, but I couldn’t recommend a morning with Marcelo more highly. An expert geologist, charming raconteur and full of local anecdotes, he led a group of six of us up one of the volcanic peaks, Pico Partido. It was one of the highlights of visiting Lanzarote, and my only regret was not taking the kids, as they would have loved this guy and it sure did beat traipsing round the Park on a bus. You have to touch the lava for the geographical history to come to life, from the tiny volcanic ‘lapilli’ stones underfoot, which turn to larger, hollow coals the more we climb, or the rough jagged boulders which lie in random spots depending on where the violent eruption sent it, all of which contrast highly with the swathes of smooth, labyrinthine lava flows which had moved slowly, snake like almost, down the peaks all those years ago.
One of the most spectacular scenes in Almodóvar’s film is an overhead shot of the protagonists driving through the black, barren interior of Lanzarote. There are mini craters all around them, which are in fact mini oases, each one home to a well protected and carefully nurtured vine. Aesthetically beautiful in their defiance of nature’s harshness, they hold the secrets of Bacchus. Similarly, Lanzarote Retreats, tucked into its own natural hollow at the bottom of the Temisa Valley, holds the secret to sustainable and sumptuous tourism. All we’re hoping for now is that we get a chance to go back for a sequel (for a humble amateur film of our stay, however, you can click here)
This article was first published in Ireland’s Southern Star newspaper.
Wild Swimming France is full of warnings about health and safety, and how wild swimming must be treated with caution and care. However, what it did not warn me about was the extreme pain I was going to get when reading it, caused by an acute case of resentment that I wasn’t jumping off the white dolomite rocks of the Mercantour National Park into the turquoise pools beneath, or letting the River Dordogne carry me downstream on my back, as I float under fern adorned rock arches. Or, I admit it, that I wasn’t married to the guy who wrote it.
As I lay in bed leafing through every river, lake and gorge, in a Sunday morning lazy lie in sort of a way, groaning each time I looked at an even more seductive wild swimming location my (equally wonderful of course) husband became rightly curious about the fantasy land the book was taking me into, as he listened on from the kitchen making coffee. My greatest ‘When Harry met Sally’ moment had to be in The Var, however, where Daniel Start, the author, slides down slot canyons into concealed plunge pools using waterfalls as modes of transport from one pool to another. This is extreme wild swimming, however, and he rightly advises readers to only attempt this with canyoning experts. The majority of the swimming locations (and there are over four hundred of them) are more accessible, all inland, and mostly in the southern part of France.
The book is a brilliant guide to France too, especially if hiking is your thing, offering the perfect introduction to the French pastime of ‘aqua-randonnée’ , where you scramble your way along rocks and through water wearing good aqua shoes and a waterproof back pack. Divided into regions, with excellent maps, and more detailed latitude and longitude readings, as well as details on how difficult a walk it is to access the swim point, Wild Swimming France will make you want to explore parts of France you may never even know existed before. More groans.
Another handy breakdown in the index is the ‘themed’ swimming points, so if you love waterfalls you can check out all of Daniel’s G-ushing spots in one go. Or if freestyling past a chateau, such as the glorious Chenonceaux in Normandy which sits on the River Cher is your scene, then you can find several such bourgeois bathing points. There is also a great collection of locations suitable for families, as well as some with small camping facilities nearby, such as the riverside tipis at Les Cournoulises on the banks of the River Lot.
I love the fact that this book isn’t all health and safety obsessed either, although it does warn you about the dangers of wild swimming, of course. For example, there is a useful explanation of how many of France’s river levels are controlled by the EDF (Electricité de France) due their being an important source of hydropower. The book points out that there are EDF signs on many of the rivers to warn that water levels can suddenly increase due to dam release, and that care should be taken at these times.
However, Daniel does turn a blind eye to rules and regulations in the book sometimes, making the book even more readable, of course. For example, at the magnificent waterfall Sillans-la-Cascade in the Haut Var region, where the main pool is closed to swimmers due to a freak rockfall, Daniel tells us most local people ignore the signs, and there is a photo of someone, possibly the author himself, diving into its stunning waters. And although wild camping is illegal in France, he isn’t afraid to admit that he, like many others, do partake of it, albeit responsibly, and reminds us to ensure that wild campers should arrive late and leave early, should not light fires, and must absolutely leave no trace.
So, buy the book as a gift to yourself or any other water loving Francophile you know, or just to drool over on a Sunday morning, if that is your thing. Daniel has also written Wild Swimming (UK) and Wild Swimming Coast and there is also an app for these. He is one Smart guy. But not as smart as the woman who married him.
I wrote a blog a few weeks ago about the people I meet in this field of ‘responsible tourism’, and how sometimes, it is the they who make us want to visit a place. Their stories, their commitment, their love of a region. So, let me introduce you to Sam and Beth Hardwick, the owners of Bivouac, one of the most stunning campsites in the UK , located in Yorkshire. I don’t want to put it in the ‘glamping’ box because it is something more than this somehow. As a result of my chatting with the Hardwicks, I invited Beth to write a guest blog for me, to share her story of how The Bivouac was born. Because I do firmly believe that it is the people who make the place. Over to Beth….with thanks.
“Sam and I worked long hours during our dating period. I had my own business and he worked in the city. We decided that when we got married we’d quit our jobs and go traveling together for some proper revaluation time. We backpacked around the world talking the whole time about what we believed in; what made us who we are; what inspired us; how we wanted to live; what we were good at and no so good at. Some key themes came from this such as community, faith, family, sustainability, simplicity and nature. There was a lot more talking … and then Bivouac fell out.
So we came home, rented out our house and converted a garden shed to live in whilst we began building the dream. It was a very long up and down journey through finding land, gaining planning permission, getting a government grant and raising a family all at once. The initial plan was that this Bivouac adventure would add massive value to our family, but at times we felt we had lost that ability as our family life got more disjointed as we got further in. But now, even though we have to work really hard, this was the best thing for family life.
Family life means a great deal to us. Bivouac is a place where we want family life and spending quality time together to be inspired again and time and space is given to just being together, in the outdoors, in our activities or cozy by the fire.
We have had our own family torn in bits with the death of our third daughter Florie Briah. She caught a nasty virus and was not old enough to fight it and she died from the damage to her heart that it caused. This happened just as the thirty or forty guys arrived on site to build the project with us. It was like living in a nightmare which couldn’t stop or slow down. We had folk living with us, needing us each day, when all you want to do is hide and catch breath. But, the flip side of this is that everything we believed we were building, community, and ethos of family and friendship, transparency, creativity – it all came into play in that season and I knew then, no matter how hard things were – Bivouac had been birthed. In Florence’s memory we are raising money to build a natural play park here on site. Free to use and designed for families to play, laugh, relax and reconnect.
We have Martha Willow 4, Elsie Myla coming up 3, full of life, creative and amazing company. We are a long way off where we hope to be, but this place is something special and I am so very privileged to have time here with my family, building something for other folk and us to all enjoy and take a part in. Bringing back something about life which might get missed far too often”.