| Government websites that educate
visitors about ecotourism and responsible travel options are
eligible to win Planeta.com's Ecotourism Spotlight Award.
2009
Votes for the 2009 Ecotourism Spotlight Award have been counted
and the winner of the 2009 Ecotourism Spotlight Award: for the
third year in a row, the winner is Ecotourism
Laos!
Nominees for the 2009 award included Quito Visitors' Bureau,
Responsible Tourism Guide to the Mekong, Ecotourism Laos, Failte
Ireland and Mexico's National Commission of Natural Protected
Areas. Complete details are online the Planeta
Wiki.
ABOUT THE AWARD
The award was developed to create incentives for communication,
opportunities for conversation
and a reward for participation
among government leaders working toward ecotourism and responsible
travel.
"Many tourism officials are figuring out Web 1.0 principles
as locals and visitors are seeking out the Web
2.0 experience," said Planeta.com founder Ron Mader.
"The spotlight award helps nudge
government leaders forward as we give credit to the websites
that are leading the pack."
The origin of the award goes back to the Communication
and Sustainable Tourism E-Conference (2006) in which Ron
Mader proposed "there could be an award for National Tourism
Boards websites that illustrate a country's sustainable tourism
practices. National tourism portals could be rated not only
by what they have online, but also by how they participate in
independent groups (ECOCLUB,
green-travel,
and Planeta) and whether
or not they link to independent sites, including blogs (internet
logbooks) and flickr galleries."
After the results are tabulated and the winner announced in
celebration of World
Tourism Day (September 27) as way of spotlighting best practices
in responsible travel and ecotourism.
The Ecotourism Spotlight Award debuted in 2007 and the first
winner in 2007 and 2008 was Ecotourism
Laos.
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