DUBAI – Belize will host the inaugural World Sustainable Travel and Hospitality Awards, next year allowing the country to showcase its sustainability practices on the global stage.
“There is a real kind of opportunity for Belize to take this best practice to the world and share that. It is only going to be through that sharing and that story telling of the kind of the how, we all know that. We all know the why,” said Justin Cooke, the executive president of World Travel Awards.
“We don’t know that how and that is I suppose in the sense what Belize can bring to the world. Its like this is how we can do it. And by sharing these stories, we can basically help others tell their story,” he told the event on the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 28).
Chief Executive Officer of the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, Glenn Mandziuk, said “what better place on earth to showcase sustainability at its very best,”.
He said recognized as the travel industry’s premier awards programme, the World Travel Awards honous trailblazers in global tourism, airlines, hotels, and hospitality. He said the global event is expected to put Belize on the international stage for its sustainability practices in tourism.
“Having this happen in a country that showcases it the right, that has members from the hospitality industry, a commitment to tourism and a tourism development, it’s the right place. And it is the right message from where we need to take sustainability into the future because it has to start in the grassroots for it to blossom into the whole world really embracing it.
“The tourism industry has a really powerful opportunity to be the guardians of the planet, to be really be the stewards and Belize has showcased that. How it can be done. How it should be done. And so, I think that’s why this is an opportunity to bring the world to Belize to actually see it in action,” he added.
Chief executive officer in the Belize Ministry of Tourism and Diaspora Relations, Nicole Solano, said the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country is recognized as a destination with a strong commitment to responsible tourism.
“This is the first of its kind under the World Travel Awards banner. So the importance of having the sustainable companies in tourism feature through this award is really what the objective is. And so they were looking for a destination that is known or is exemplary in terms of sustainable tourism and what other destination better than Belize.
“Belize isn’t known globally for that because we have been limited in our reach. But, being involved in an award like this will really elevate us and bring visibility on a global scale,” she added..”
The award will take place on September 27th- World Tourism Day. It will include over 40 categories.
