The Responsible Tourism Awards

In 2024, the Global World Responsible Tourism Awards have a new sponsor, Sabre. The judging process, entry requirements and organisation of the awards have not changed. The panels of judges are still chaired by Harold Goodwin of the Responsible Tourism Partnership

The Africa Awards are organised by WTM Africa and the India Awards are organised by the ICRT India Foundation.

Those that win Gold in the regional awards are automatically entered into the Sabre Global World Responsible Tourism Awards.

1. Choose your Award Entry Category: -- Please Select -- Making Travel Inclusive Championing Cultural Diversity Nature Positive What are you doing about Climate Change? Increasing local sourcing - Creating shared value Employing and Upskilling Local Communities

We are looking for examples that will inspire and challenge others to take more responsibility for managing tourism to make it more sustainable, minimise the negative impacts and maximise the positive. The Awards continue to use the same criteria as we have in the last few years. We expect leaders in Responsible Tourism to have established practices with the following characteristics:

1. Evidence-based: The panel is looking for evidence of real change, businesses which can convincingly demonstrate positive impacts, or reduced negative impacts, quantified wherever possible.
2. Replicability: The Awards aim to inspire change; we seek to identify examples of best practices that can be replicated across the sector and around the world.
3. Innovation: The judges are looking for innovative practices that make a real difference, the Awards highlight new good practices, which the judges believe, can, and should, become common practice.
4. Influence: We look for businesses and organizations that are not only doing good work themselves but are using their influence to ensure their peers and suppliers do the same.
5. Sustainability and longevity: The judges seek to Award those businesses that understand that taking responsibility for tourism is a long journey, that it encompasses the economic, social, and environmental impacts of their activities, and who have a clear vision for the long- term success of the work, with future targets and plans in place.
6. Overall commitment to Responsible Tourism: Alongside the category-specific focus, there needs to be a clear overall commitment to positively impacting local communities, economies, cultures, and environments.

Good luck!

Please read these notes before completing the entry form:

The submission opening date is 1 November 2023
The submission closing date is 1 March 2024

There are two parts to your application.

1. ‘Application form’ This is what the panel primarily uses to judge your application.
2. ‘Additional information’ This information supports the judging process it helps the panel understand your business better.

The application is a digital process with documentation submitted online. However, if you require an alternative means to submit your application, please contact us and we will do our best to accommodate any requirements.

We ask that you complete your form in English. However, if you require a copy of the application form in another language, please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate any requirements.

To ensure a fair and unbiased judging process, our decisions are based on the information you provide on this form. We reserve the right to release the information you supplied in this application, so please be sure that you can support your case if it is challenged.

The judges are looking for answers that directly respond to the question asked.

• A maximum of two applications per organization per region.
• The jury reserves the right to move your application to another category should they think it is more appropriate.
• Your questionnaire is confidential to the judges, but if your award is queried, we reserve the right to quote from the information you provide here if we have to defend the integrity of the Awards.
• Should your application be shortlisted we will contact your references. These individuals should be able to testify to your achievements in responsible tourism.
• By submitting your applications, you are in agree to use processing your data as stated in our GDPR Policy.
• All Gold winners from each category, would directly enter the Sabre Global Responsible Tourism Awards

• Beware of flowery marketing language but for the content. We find the best application forms are written by those delivering the projects rather than marketing and PR agencies.
• The judges are looking for a clear statement of:
  
  • Why you choose to take responsibility for doing something?
  • What you did do – and how it was funded?
  • What was the impact of your efforts? Quantify them if you can.
• Supporting documents may be submitted alongside the application form as evidence. However, we ask that they be kept to those that are relevant.
• Avoid repetition in your answers.
• Keep it specific to the category and the project. There is a section on the ‘Additional information’ part of the form to add information about the wider Responsible Tourism impact being made in other areas.
• Please ensure to take note of the maximum word count stipulated. The word counts are maximums they are not targets. The word count applies to your answer only, not any prefilled information, including requirement information.