RTA on World Hotel Link & Make Travel Fair

In this day and age, technology plays an important role in business, engagements and the people we reach. Wild Asia has been privilege to be featured on both World Hotel Link and Make Travel Fair.

"Make Travel Fair was established at the end of 2006 as an online platform to communicate some of the global issues associated with travel, to encourage education amongst travellers and to encourage travel as a means of education." - taken from http://www.maketravelfair.co.uk

Find our feature here: http://www.maketravelfair.co.uk/2009/06/12/wild-asia-responsibly-connecting-people-to-place/

"Worldhotel-link.com Limited (WHL) is owned and operated by a team from Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, India, South Africa, Switzerland, the USA and Vietnam. WHL started life as a development project in the Mekong region trying to find a way to get travel product from the developing world online and able to be transacted just as it is in the West. Our Mission: Offering a unique online booking service to both travellers and travel service providers by marrying the best of what can be done locally (local knowledge, local relationships, respect for local environment) with best practices in global marketing, technology and information systems that are appropriate for use in all countries." - taken from http://www.whl.travel/

Find our feature here: http://www.whl.travel/blog/?p=711#more-711

Exciting updates on RTA 2009

RTA 2009 is coming into being! Malaysian Airlines Berhad (MAS) has agreed to sponsor our judges’ flight tickets and Keresa Plantations & Friends has also dug deep into their pockets to contribute in a big way! Big thank you to both companies… We are still keeping our eyes peeled for more sponsors to make this a successful event. Email rt@wildasia.org for more info.

Entries have since been rolling in and a few have caught our judge’s eye! We still have space for a few more entries… if you have not submitted your entry, you still can! We are accepting entries until 21 June 2009.

One of Wild Asia’s RTA 2008 winners, Tree Tops Jungle Lodge in Sri Lanka got a mention in National Geographic Adventure Magazine. Check it out… http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/2009/04/world-travel/eco-tourism-costas-christ-text/2

Our "RT in Action" Workshop is also in progress. Take a sneak preview at the developing programme here: http://docs.google.com/a/wildasia.org/Doc?id=dnd7fq5_222h6vdvr3c&hl=en. Registration is open from now until September 2009. *Don’t miss this chance! Sign up NOW!

Awards now open!

"Nominations are now open till 21st June 2009! "
Submit YOUR ENTRIES now!

Wild Asia is looking to hear from accommodation operators from across Asia (big or small, privately run or community driven). The awards, now in it's fourth year is one of the only awards for Responsible Tourism that's actually driven by Asians! All entries are screened by Wild Asia's team using a self-assessment checklist (now aligned to UNWTO's Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria) and all finalists are visited by a team of fact-finders. The winners will be announced this year at CSR Asia's Annual Summit in Kuala Lumpur 28-30th October 2009.

For more information on this awards, visit our website: Wild Asia.

**Any inquiries about this awards, request for the Entry Form or need to submit the entry form, do send email to : "rt@wildasia.org" **

The Judges for RTA 2009

The judging for the 2009 RT Awards will be led by :

• Dr Reza Azmi and Su Mei Toh (http://www.wildasia.org)
• Ian Hall (http://arkitrek.com/)
  
• Mei Leong (http://rethinktravel.blogspot.com).

Our judges and a team of "fact finders" will be sent out to visit all finalists and to collect more evidence of best practices. These site visits will be reported back to the judging panel whom will be tasked with selecting a winner from each category.

As with previous years, emphasis will be placed on the following criteria:

+ Sense of place — whether tourists understand their destinations better through operators’ efforts.
+ Sustainability — whether these RT efforts are long-term.
+ Involvement of guests — do the operators involve their guests in their RT practices?
+ Internalisation — how much is sustainability part of the day-to-day operations?
+ Reach — are the ideas and practices shared across the destination or industry?

What makes the awards different is that our site visits are as much about us learning from real practitioners, as well as, a chance to share best practices we have learnt from our trips. All visits are documented and used to develop educational resources (training/leaflets) and used to generate stories on each property.

What the judges found last year: Earth friendly retreats.

Our Awards have a home!

We are pleased to announce that our awards this year will be held in conjunction with CSR Asia's Annual Summit, a gathering of CSR (corporate social responsibility) professionals from around the world.

This is what they have to say:

"Running for the 7th time in 2009, the CSR Asia Summit is our annual flagship event which aims to be the most innovative and challenging conference on CSR in the Asia-Pacific region. Amidst the global economic crisis, CSR is more important than ever. With the theme “Sustainable Business as the Road to Recovery”, the event will explore key CSR issues and strategies to demonstrate leadership in times of turbulence. The topics will be focused on Asia and bring new insights for businesses, governments, NGOs and other CSR practitioners."

For more about the event, click here.