Jamaica, Guyana top sustainable tourism awards
Published:Sunday | April 21, 2013 | 12:00 AM
Jamaica's Tryall Club & Villas and Guyana's Karanambu Lodge Inc were among the big winners of the TravelMole 2013 sustainable tourism awards handed out by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO).
Guyana has, for the second consecutive year, emerged as the big winner, copping three of the six prizes presented Thursday at the Caribbean Conference for Sustainable Tourism Development (STC-14) in Port of Spain.
Karanambu Lodge, an ecotourist destination providing guests with the opportunity to experience the wildlife of Karanambu, copped the Caribbean Excellence in Sustainable Tourism Award.
Tryall Club, a lush property with a vibrant seascape which sits on rolling hillsides in Hanover, won the coveted Sustainable Accommodation Award.
Another Jamaican group, Bowden Pen Farmers Association, a community-based organisation in the Upper Rio Grande Valley in the eastern parish of St Thomas, was selected for the Community Benefit Award.
The Bowden Pen group has a membership of 27 persons divided into two livelihood streams - agriculture and tourism.
The 2013 awards comprised six categories, including accommodation, community, heritage and biodiversity.
Other winners were the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, which was selected for the Destination Stewardship Award. Conservation International Guyana received special mention, and Guadeloupe's AQUARIUM de la Guadeloupe, Aruba's Amsterdam Manor Beach Resort and Jamaica's Sandals Resorts International were also commended in the destination category.
Almost Paradise Cottages & Restaurant in Grenada; Community and Tourism Services Limited, Guyana; and Accra Beach Hotel and Spa in Barbados also received special mention.
National Trust of Guyana took home the Heritage Protection Award for its work in preserving and promoting the nation's patrimony in protection of the country's heritage. The National Art Gallery of The Bahamas and Educulture Bahamas Limited were both recognised in this category.
Special mention
Guyana's Aranaputa Community Based Tourism and The Bahamas Cape Eleuthera Island School were also highly commended.
The Biodiversity Award went to the Guyana Marine Turtle Conservation Society, with the Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust, Atlantis Paradise Island in The Bahamas, and the Association Evasion Tropicale Guadeloupe all receiving special mention in the category.
The submissions were judged by a panel of tourism specialists - Ena Harvey, the hemispheric specialist for agro tourism at the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture; Seleni Matus, the senior adviser on destinations at Sustainable Travel International; and Gail Henry, the CTO's sustainable tourism product specialist.