The Responsible Tourism Awards Africa are part of the World Responsible Tourism Awards family, the leading global awards recognising achievement and innovation in responsible tourism. Winners of the African awards are announced at a ceremony at WTM Africa in Cape Town in April 2019 and will gain automatic entry into the World awards given a similar category.

Heidi van der Watt, co-founder and organiser under the licence of WTM London of the awards said: “The categories in the 2019 Responsible Tourism Awards Africa can attract strong entrants from across Africa. We know that there are responsible tourism stories that have not been heard. We’re calling on the public and tourism trade colleagues to help us identify them. After all, tourists have travelled the length and breadth of Africa and have first-hand experience. The trade and tourists know who the contenders for the awards could be and can encourage them to enter by nominating them for the awards.”

Nominations for the 2019 Responsible Tourism Awards Africa close on 31 December 2018 and entries close on 18 January 2019.

How nominations and entries work

An organisation can enter the awards via one of two pathways:

1. Nomination entry pathway:  A member of the public or tourism industry nominates an organisation, providing relevant contact details on the nomination form.  We will notify organisations of the nomination, and ask that they complete the questionnaire. As we will process nominations within a couple of days of receipt, submit nominations soonest to give nominees enough time to fill out the questionnaire.
2. Direct entry pathway:  Interested organisations may enter without being nominated.  Download the questionnaire and submit the entry via the online form.

Note that in both instances, the competing organisation must submit the completed questionnaire and supporting documents in order to go forward to the longlisting phase.

Click here to nominate or enter.

Categories for the 2019 awards

The six categories open for nominations and entries are:

1. Best for Resource Management in Water or Waste
2. Best Sustainable Event
3. Best for Habitat and/or Species Conservation
4. Best for Community Benefit
5. Best Responsible Experience in Culture or Heritage
6. Best Responsible Attraction

Entrants are automatically entered into a seventh category – the Best for Global Goals Reporting – which was introduced in 2018 in recognition of the role of tourism in contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Professor Harold Goodwin, chair the judging panel and Chair or the World Responsible Tourism Awards since its inception 14 years ago, said:

“The category for Best for Global Goals is a challenge to businesses, destinations and organisations to transparently report the outcomes and impacts of their efforts to make tourism more sustainable. There is no established system for responsible tourism reporting and we’re looking for different to reporting impact and communicating it to local people, consumers, and governments.”