Here in Cape Town I was keeping the news rolling over at the Responsible Cape Town website, tweeting with the RT Network and Cape Town Tourism attendees at WTM, and presenting on the city's RT plans to members of the local tourism industry. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to get to the "Taste of Fairtrade" wine tasting over at the Cape Grace Hotel...maybe I need to re-think my priorities?
The international Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Award winners were announced. Last year, Cape Town won in the Best Destination category. It's still remarkable to me that no other city has won -- or even been highly commended -- since the award category was introduced 5 years ago. What is it with RT and cities somehow not connecting?
A quick analysis of the category:
| DESTINATION | COUNTRY | YEAR | TYPE | AWARD |
| Nurture Lakeland | UK | 2010 | Rural region | winner |
| Kangaroo Valley Tourist Association | Australia | 2010 | Rural region | highly commended |
| Cape Town | South Africa | 2009 | City | winner |
| Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty | UK | 2009 | Rural region | highly commended |
| New Zealand | New Zealand | 2008 | Nation | winner |
| St Peter's, Broadstairs, Isle of Thanet, Kent | UK | 2008 | Town | highly commended |
| Town of Bouctouche | Canada | 2008 | Town | highly commended |
| The New Forest | UK | 2007 | Rural region | winner |
| Arugam Bay | Sri Lanka | 2007 | Rural region | highly commended |
| Costa Rica | Costa Rica | 2007 | Nation | highly commended |
| Aspen, Colorado | USA | 2006 | Town | winner |
| The Greenbox | Ireland | 2006 | Rural region | highly commended |
| Travel Foundation Tobago | Tobago | 2006 | Nation | highly commended |
Anyway, this year's winners can be found here, and congratulations to all!
A closing thought: Nothing from Africa. Nothing from North America. Hmmm.
There's an analysis that needs to be done of the political, linguistic and cultural linkages between the UK-based RT institutions that drive these awards (WTM, ResponsibleTravel.com, ICRT), the places/projects that apply for awards, the judges who evaluate them (all of whom were UK-based in 2010 and all appear to be British from reading their bios), and competing institutions around the world. I don't have the information (or time) to do such a thing, and it may show nothing at all (or be inconclusive).
There is a clear UK (predominantly) bias to the awards overall, and it would be helpful for some aggregated statistics on the number, nature, location, etc., of applicants to be released by the awards body. Were there applicants from the USA, Canada, Mexico or the 52 nations of Africa? How many? And in comparison to how many from the UK? Anyway, hopefully my line of thought comes across.
I think these awards are important and useful, and I hope that as RT continues to develop a more mainstream profile that the awards body will continue to reassess their role and value to RT and to tourism more broadly, and make changes accordingly.
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