Ecotourism Website Award Announced
Government websites that educate visitors about ecotourism and responsible travel options are eligible to win Planeta.com’s Ecotourism Spotlight Award. Nominations are accepted June 10 – July 15, 2010.
Voting takes place in August.
The award was developed to create incentives for communication, opportunities for conversation and a reward for participation among government leaders working toward ecotourism and responsible travel.
Nominees include environmental, tourism and other government portals in three categories: local, national and international institutions. We will also consider private-public partnerships — websites funded by governments.
"Many tourism officials are figuring out basic Web sites as locals and visitors are seeking out the Web 2.0 experience," said Planeta.com founder Ron Mader. "The spotlight award helps nudge government leaders forward as we give credit to the websites that are leading the pack."
The origin of the award goes back to the 2006 Communication and Sustainable Tourism E-Conference (2006) in which Ron Mader proposed "there could be an award for National Tourism Boards websites that illustrate a country’s sustainable tourism practices. National tourism portals could be rated not only by what they have online, but also by how they participate in independent groups (ECOCLUB, green-travel, and Planeta) and whether or not they link to independent sites, including blogs (internet logbooks) and Flickr galleries."
After the results are tabulated, the winner is announced in celebration of World Tourism Day (September 27) as way of spotlighting best practices.
The Ecotourism Spotlight Award debuted in 2007 and the winner in 2007, 2008 and 2009 has been Ecotourism Laos.
www.planeta.com/ecotravel/tour/awardspotlight.html
Valere Tjolle
Valere Tjolle is editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suite, special offer at: www.travelmole.com/stories/1142003.php
Valere
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