Help Tourism

Help Tourism is proud to announce that Sunderbans Jungle Camp has won Wild Asia’s Responsible Tourism Award 2009 in the category “Community-Based to Homestay Operators”.

Three reap regional responsible tourism award
By Wild Asia, 29 October 2009

Three out of eight finalists from six different Asian countries participating in Wild Asia’s 4th Responsible Tourism Awards emerged as winners, proving that sustainable destinations can be made a reality within the travel industry. Established in 2006, the Awards is the first of its kind in Asia and is held annually, aimed at recognising accommodation providers in Asia that are making a difference.

Dr. Reza Azmi, founder and director of Wild Asia shares the need for sustainable tourism as it is something very close to heart having dealt with many environmental and social issues over the years. He adds, “Seeing how crucial the impact of tourism was on natural areas in Asia, as early as 1998, Wild Asia started to understand what it was that made a good tourism operator. An operator we could confidently label “eco” or “responsible”. Today, after more than a decade of thought and dialog with tourism operators, we now believe that we need to move away from simply ticking off “green” practices. What we now look for are operators that we can trust; have the best of intentions; that can demonstrate they understand their local issues and have people in place that can sustain their efforts.”

Operators such as ITC Mughal (Agra, India), El Nido Resorts (Palawan, Philippines), and Sunderbans Jungle Camp (Bali Island, India) have surpassed judges’ expectations by scoring high against the Awards checklist and are this year’s award winners for the following categories of accommodation operators respectively – large; mid-sized to small; and community-based to homestay.

Through self-evaluation checklist submissions and site verification visits by judges and fact-finders to all finalists’ destinations, the winners have demonstrated their strong abilities to meet the Wild Asia’s Responsible Tourism Award checklist’s forty criteria, which comprehensively cover aspects of local employment and economies; respecting local laws, cultures and sensitivities; responsibilities towards employees and communities; recognising the children’s rights; and protecting the environment through a suite of conservation initiatives, efficient use of resources, as well as responsible waste management.

Moving beyond checklists, these operators are fully supported by owners and top management to internalise the elements of responsible tourism and have resources in place to ensure it remains a sound business strategy for economic development. Trusted by their stakeholders whom they actively engage, they are also able to communicate their best intentions to operate responsibly and can therefore make a real difference where they do business.

Never to settle for business-as-usual, these operators are committed to improving the way they do things, i.e. from raising awareness to learning and capacity building; periodic monitoring of performance objectives and seeking innovative solutions for continued improvement; and building partnerships with like-minded organisations to develop holistic strategies in meeting the requirements of responsible tourism.

Mariglo Laririt, resident Biologist and Environmental Manager of El Nido Resorts understands the need for continuous improvement in the midst of celebrating successes. “We feel affirmed and this (winning the awards) spurs us on for ways to improve ourselves. We share this achievement with our partners at El Nido.” 

Understanding and internalising the essence of responsible tourism, these operators are catalysts for positive change within their sphere of influence, inspiring others to embark on the green journey while at the same time, still affording customers with the memorable holiday experience the travel for in the first place.
Wild Asia would like to congratulate winners and finalists for their commendable efforts and commitment in achieving high standards of environmental protection and social responsibility that form the critical pillars of their business philosophy.

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Wild Asia’s Responsible Tourism Award 2009 winners:
• Large Accommodation Operators
ITC Mughal, Agra, India
• Mid-sized to Small Accommodation Operators
El Nido Resorts, Miniloc, Philippines
• Community-Based to Homestay Operators  
Sunderbans Jungle Camp, Bali Island, India

• Wild Asia’s Responsible Tourism Award 2009 finalists: 
  • Large Accommodation Operators
  Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
  • Mid-sized to Small Accommodation Operators
  Soneva Fushi, Kunfunadhoo, Maldives
  Nikoi Island, Bintan, Indonesia
  • Community-Based to Homestay Operators  
  Andaman Discoveries, Phang Nga Province, Thailand
  Lamai Homestay, Khorat, Thailand

     

For more information about Wild Asia Responsible Tourism Awards have a look at http://www.wildasia.org/main.cfm/RT/Annual_RT_Awards

The Sunderbans Jungle Camp was chosen as a  finalist of this years “Responsible Tourism Awards” in the category “Community-Based to Homestay Operators”.  In an eight weeks long selection process with back-to-back site visits and comprehensive reporting, Wild Asia screened entries from five Asian countries for the prestigious award:

“The Annual Responsible Tourism Awards, are the first pan-Asian award for excellence in responsible tourism. We believe that sustainable destinations can be made a reality by creating rewards, promoting knowledge sharing and inspiring change from within the travel industry.

Now in its fourth year, the Awards are aligned to the United Nation’s World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria and we hope to encourage more operators from the region to step forward and share their best practices. Why are sustainable destinations important? For the simple, yet poignant, reason that there will be no travel business in Asia without sustainable destinations.”

During the on-site visit the review team made beautiful videos about the projects and – voila – here is the Sunderbans.

Wild Asia is a Malaysian-based social enterprise working to support environmental and social initiatives in Asia. We have been online since 1998. We have grown over the years but our focus has stayed the same – innovating and working to solve the problems that impact on our wild places. We have been part of a growing force in Asia to increase awareness and appreciation for the environment, and communicating the importance of conservation, not only of the natural wild places of Asia, but also of those communities and livelihoods that are dependent upon it.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090930/jsp/siliguri/story_11555317.jsp

Help Tourism celebrates World Tourism Day at several destinations by empowering the grassroot level stakeholders in tourism and launching several green travel products.

Puri, by the Bay of Bengal is one of the most sought after pilgrimage destination for the Hindus worldwide has gradually emerged as a leisure holiday destinations for the millions of travellers from West Bengal and other parts of India. With the change in type, the quality of facilities also changed drastically. The pilgrimage dharamshalas (free/donation accommodation for pilgrims) were replaced by hotels, the temple prashad (food offered to the Gods and then distributed to the pilgrims) was all replaced by restaurants, rickshaws were replaced by auto-rickshaws etc. The 2000 auto rickshaws put the rickshaw pullers out of work, leaving them frustrated anti-social elements and Puri a polluted town.
A group of about 50 rickshaw pullers greeted the passengers with roses in the morning at Puri Railway Station. They were led by the local Superintendent of Police, Mr.S.K.Priyadarshi and the members of Barefoot (a local association of tour operators, hoteliers and other professionals). Help Tourism, Siliguri is an advisor to this association and acts as the principle motivator towards responsible tourism.
In the morning itself at 10am, the Mayor of Puri, Mrs.Shanti Pradhan flagged off the Green Rider Rickshaws from the Lion’s Gate of the Jagannath Temple. The rickshaws passed through all the major roads and sightseeing points, stopped occasionally by the people who supported the rickshaw pullers by giving them drinking water. The rickshaw pullers rode proudly around the town with a sense of achievement.

The evening was an exclusive event in the Panthanivas beach of Puri. This event dedicated to the rickshaw pullers and their families was attended by several tourists, travel agents and hoteliers. The chief guest of the event was Mr.S.Das Verma, the local MLA from Bragmagiri, Orissa and the Guest of Honour was Dr.Peter Patel, an active Rotarian from the United Kingdom who has been organizing several health programs in Orissa. Mr.Gobind C. Bhuyan, Asst. Director, India Tourism was a special guest at the event.
The highlight of the evening was the team of Mrs.Nanda Kundu, a salsha guru from Delhi and founder of Kiran’s Dance in Rhythm, who performed several international level western and Indian folk & classical dance forms. The team consisted of both Indians and foreigners and truly lived to the theme of World Tourism Day 2009, celebrating diversity. A team from the youths of the Sevait families performed yoga  under Bharat Yoga Kendra. The Green Riders were finally recognized on stage and several facilities were announced for them.
International sand sculptor, Mr.Sudarshan Pattnaik and his team created a beautiful piece of art in sand to match the World Tourism Day theme. A film by famous news personnel, Ajoy Roy, who is also the President of ACT (Association for Conservation & Tourism) made an excellent promo -documentary on the Green Riders.
The extraordinary initiative was taken by Mr.Yugabrata Kar, founder of Heritage Tours of Puri and Barefoot, Puri. This was supported by India Tourism (Kolkata & Bhubaneswar), Orissa Tourism, Mayfair  Puri, Chariot Puri, Holiday Resort, Shakti International, State Bank of India, Lakshya, NICE, Coca cola, 1000 Sands etc.

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Kurseong, a part of the Darjeeling Hills in the East Himalaya houses the World Heritage Site, the DHR (Darjeeling Himalayan Railway), but the sense of ownership by the local people was missing as their livelihood had no relation with the DHR. This is when the DHR Director, Kurseong SDO , Divisional Forest Officer and several other  persons from the administration and political parties decided to support a local group of youth from Kurseong and adjoining areas to start ecotourism and hence their name Himalayan Ecotourism Welfare Society.

Help Tourism, as their advisors helped the youths to constitute a management committee and framed a greater heritage area added to the DHR World Heritage Site, ‘Kurseong Ecotourism & Heritage Park’. The Tea Estates and Forests with the people in and around Kurseong were included in the map. Hotels, Tea & Forest Bungalows, Homestays and other service providers were identified and added to the initiative. Activities including nature treks, nature drives, tea treks, tea drives, DHR heritage rides, cultural shows, handicrafts & handlooms and volunteering with schools, scouts, health & Agro based NGOs, salamander conservation programs etc were included.
The official launching was done on the World Tourism Day, 2009 in the presence of several people and media from the region. Chief Guest, Mr.Gopal Lama, Director, West Bengal Tourism and Guest of Honour,  Mr.Subrata Nath, Director, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway declared the project launching of ‘Kurseong Ecotourism & Heritage Park’. They both said that this initiative will bring back the old glory of Kurseong. Mr.Gopal Lama said that this will help in generating self employment in hundreds of families in this area and will support a better civil society. Mr.Subrata Nath said that they will provide all support for the successful implementation of this project, also a tourist information centre was inaugurated in the Kurseong Railway Station on this date to be managed by the Himalayan Ecotourism Welfare Society. Mr.Paras Dahal, the East Himalaya co-ordinator for Help Tourism said that the national & international bodies like DHR-India Support Group & DHR Society will certainly provide support to the initiative by participating in the several ecotourism programs that have been launched and will help in promoting the same.

We are proud and happy that Help Tourism bagged two awards at the Travel and Tourism Fair TTF, India’s largest travel show and one of the biggest in Asia.

Judges at the TTF-Hyderabad (3rd to 5th July 2009) felt that “Help Tourism’s sustained effort to safeguard the environment and involve the local communities in conservation through tourism has been an example of best practices in what is truly meant by EcoTourism”.
Consequently, they awarded the Help Tourism movement in East-and Northeast India with the “Best Initiative to Protect Environment Award 2009”

The Dibang Valley Jungle Camp, in Mishmi Hills, Eastern Arunachal Pradesh, is a new project, only recently launched by Help Tourism. Judges honored the camp as “Most Innovative Tourism Product 2009“.
While presenting the award Mr.G.Ibrahim, Executive Director of Fairfest Media Limited said: ‘It is important to note as to how Help Tourism has been extending its work to far-flung areas and reaching out to remote rural populace with their unique tourism initiatives that support local enterprises and combine local experiences and culture in such a way that the visitors get master-piece holidays and inspirational value.”