: Sustainable Tourism Award: Nominate a Hero for First-Of-Its-Kind Award by The Better India #IndiaNEWS #Awards In 2020, over 610 million domestic tourist visits were made across India and while this

Sustainable Tourism Award: Nominate a Hero for First-Of-Its-Kind Award by The Better India #IndiaNEWS #Awards
In 2020, over 610 million domestic tourist visits were made across India and while this number is lesser than the previous year’s statistics, it is still an overwhelming amount. With the dawn of ‘revenge tourism’ and the increased need for travel, it accelerates our need to decarbonise our travel footprint, effectively and efficiently.

How can travel be made sustainable? Are there good practices one can follow while travelling?

Fortunately, there are individuals who are working in this endeavour.

So for World Tourism Day on 27 September, The Better India will be honouring individuals and enterprises in India for their exemplary work in reducing carbon footprint during travel and contributing to sustainable travel with the Sustainable Tourism Awards.

These are heroes who maintain our environmental, social, and economic resources during travel and need to be commemorated.

How do we do this?

· The nomination process has begun on 8 September 2022.

· The same will end on 15 September 2022.

· Once the nomination process concludes, candidates will be shortlisted based on predefined criteria.

· The list of shortlisted candidates will be sent to the jury members for evaluation.

· The jury members will select 10 nominees to go to the final round.

· Once we have our 10 top candidates, there will be audience voting from 21 September 2022 to 25 September 2022.

· The winner will be announced at a live virtual event on 27 September 2022.

How will the jury decide on the winner?

While the jury will look into a wide range of things before making their choice, it would broadly include the following:

· Reduction of carbon footprint

· Positive impact created

· Sustenance of change through the establishment of systems, processes and people

· Number of individuals benefited

· Tenure of work/ action/ duration

· Innovation used in the implementation of ideas

· Frugality and cost-effectiveness of solutions

· Scalability/ possibility to implement elsewhere.

Here are the categories for the sustainable tourism awards:

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· Innovation of technology in sustainable travel

· Educational programmes and media for sustainability

· Sustainable management of major tourist attractions

· Responsible for marine and coastal projects

· Best sustainable accommodation – urban and rural

· Best responsible travel companies

· Digital influencers in sustainable tourism

· Sustainable tourism-driven enterprise

What will the winner receive?

· A certificate

· A citation

· Special coverage on The Better India for the initiative

· Opportunity to develop a course on The Better Academy

Things to note:

· Only individuals/enterprises from India can apply for this award.