ETC 2012 Presents Annual Responsible Tourism Showcase Awards to Four Organizations

Showcase History | Responsible Tourism Committee | Guidelines & Application | Benefits 

As part of the Educational Travel Community’s commitment to advancing responsible tourism, ETC hosts an annual Responsible Tourism Showcase to recognize the efforts of ETC members and their partners working diligently in the field to develop and implement responsible tourism initiatives.

Congratulations to the ETC 2012 Responsible Tourism Showcase Honorees, who were awarded their checks at the conference in Orlando. Click on the links below to read more about each honoree:

1st Place Honoree:
ACTUAR Rural Adventures
Accepting $1500 1st place check from TLC President Mara DelliPriscoli in Orlando is Kyra Cruz, Executive Director of ACTUAR Rural Adventures.

2nd Place Honoree:
Community Tours Sian Ka'an
Duncan Beardsley, Director of Generosity in Action, presents the $1000 2nd place check to Rob Holmes, President and Founder of Green Living Project, for Community Tours Sian Ka'an.  

Honorable Mention:
Cultural Tourism Ireland, for the Blackfriary Archaeology Project
Duncan Beardsley awards a $500 honorable mention check to Cultural Tourism Ireland, represented by its Managing Director Steven Mandal and Programme Director Lisanne O'Loughlin.

Honorable Mention:
Frontiers North Adventures
Photo not yet available. Frontier North Adventures received a $500 honorable mention check for its responsible tourism efforts in the Canadian north.

The Responsible Tourism Showcase is featured in conjunction with the annual Educational Travel Conference, where a variety of educational sessions and roundtable discussions are held on current Responsible Tourism issues and best practices.

ETC defines Responsible Tourism as "Educational travel with a priority focus on the positive economic impacts travel can have on places visited, while minimizing the ecological, social, and cultural impacts through the pursuit of service and volunteerism, engagement with the local community, traveler philanthropy, and stewardship of the environment."

Click here to read about ETC's green practices.

Benefits to Responsible Tourism Showcase Honorees:

History of the Responsible Tourism Showcase:

One exciting outcome of ETC 2004 was a commitment by delegates to donate funds to an exemplary program demonstrating the practice of responsible tourism in the field, as selected by the ETC 2005 Responsible Tourism Showcase Committee. Duncan Beardsley inspired the idea to create a Responsible Tourism Fund to provide financial rewards for those honorees selected as ETC 2006 Responsible Tourism Showcase. Duncan's generous offer inspired others in the roundtable to follow suite.