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Presents Sustainable Tourism Awards

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About Sustainable Tourism Awards

On the occasion of World Tourism Day, The world’s largest positive and solutions-based content-driven impact platform,The Better India presents the ‘Sustainable Tourism Awards,’ an initiative to honour the individuals/Enterprises in India for their exemplary work in reducing carbon footprint during travel and contributing to sustainable travel.

Why Sustainable Tourism?

For over a decade, The Better India has constantly been shining the spotlight on different areas of #sustainability. As more and more people choose to travel today, it accelerates the need to decarbonize our travel footprint, effectively and efficiently. With these awards, we want to reward individuals/ enterprises for maintaining our environmental, social, and economic benefits without using up the resources during travel that future generations will need to thrive.

These individuals/enterprises aim to seek sustainable and equitable solutions, go “above and beyond,” never give up, and inspire and help others make a difference. This award will formally recognize the invaluable contribution of individuals/enterprises and popularise their ways to our audience.

Sustainable Tourism Awards Categories

awards catagories
  • Best Sustainable Accommodation
  • Responsible Marine and Coastal Projects
  • Innovation of Technology in Sustainable travel
  • Educational Programmes in Sustainable Tourism
awards catagories
  • Best responsible travel companies
  • Digital influencers in sustainable tourism
  • Sustainable management of Major Tourist Attractions
  • Sustainable tourism driven by Enterprises

Sustainable Tourism Award Finalists

Jury's favourite winner

Fayaz Ahmad Dar

Fayaz Ahmad Dar

Created the first eco-village in Kashmir called ‘Sagg Eco Village’ with a mission to build integrative and regenerative lifestyles and communities

Has engaged over 10,000 people, especially youth, through participatory leadership and sustainable development training

Working towards training 10 lakh ecological entrepreneurs by 2030

Cherish Expeditions

Cherish Expeditions

Hosts travel fellowship programmes and impact expeditions that focus on fellows travelling to remote locations to support and solve climate-based challenges and uplift local communities

All the expeditions work towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Winner

Spiti Ecosphere

Spiti Ecosphere

Since 2002, making tourism beneficial and memorable for everyone involved – the environment, local communities, and travellers to Spiti

All revenues generated from the trips are utilised for development and conservation initiatives in Spiti

To date, installed solar water pumps in six villages, dug 22,000+ Contour Trenches for recharging of groundwater, supported over 95 girls in education, fed over 300 stray dogs every year, and collected and sent for recycling over 2 tonnes of waste

Dr. Nirmal Kumar and Team

Dr. Nirmal Kumar and Team

A team of professors from Sri Venkateswara College, Delhi renovated four houses in Village Khunt, Almora to let villagers earn through sustainable tourism in hill states

Used mud, bricks, and locally available materials to create these homestays

Contributed to reverse migration

Installed rainwater harvesting and provided mushroom cultivation workshops for free to increase the earnings of the villagers

Prerna Prasad, Ecoplore

Prerna Prasad, Ecoplore

Ecoplore is an aggregator platform for sustainable hotels and experiences

All the Ecoplore stays have rainwater harvesting, composting, no use of plastic, waste management, and a minimum of 33% tree coverage inside their campus

Raising awareness about sustainable tourism for the last five years by providing sustainable holiday experiences

Watch Journey of Sustainable Tourism Award Finalists

Spiti Ecosphere
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Cherish Expeditions
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Fayaz Ahmad Dar
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Prerna Prasad, Ecoplore
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Dr. Nirmal Kumar and his team
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What will the winner get?

Award Certificate
Award Citation
Featured listing
Special article
Special video
Guest invite

The process

Nominations will start on 8 September 2022 and end on 20 September 2022. Once the nominations are closed, we will shortlist the candidates based on predefined selection criteria. The shortlisted nominees will be sent to the jury members for evaluation where they will select 5 nominees to go to the final round. Once we have our top 5, the jury scores and audience voting will be considered to choose the winner. The winner will be announced at a live virtual event on 27 September 2022.

Selection of Sustainable Tourism Awards will be based on:

01 The positive impact created by the reduction in carbon footprint
02 Innovation used in the implementation of ideas
03 Scalability/ possibility to implement elsewhere
04 Frugality and cost-effectiveness of solutions
05 Scale/ No. of individuals benefited
06 Tenure of work/ action/ duration
07 Sustenance of change through the establishment of systems, processes, and people

Meet the Jury

Gitanjali J B

Gitanjali J B

Co-Founder & CEO, HIAL, Ladakh

An entrepreneur turned educator, Gitanjali is passionate about creating an environment that empowers learners and facilitators to become the best versions of themselves.

Gifted in multiple disciplines such as business, education, performing, and martial arts, she believes that human beings can continue to grow into multi-faceted individuals throughout their lives, and the aim of education is to instill this lifelong quest for learning and progression.

Sonam Wangchuk

Sonam Wangchuk

Founding Director, HIAL, Ladakh

A mechanical engineer by training, Sonam Wangchuk has worked primarily in the field of education reform for the last 30 years.

His work is directly responsible for bringing the percentage of pass grades in the crucial Ladakhi 10th-grade examinations up to 75% from 5%.

Innovations like the Ice Stupa and passive solar heated buildings Himalayan communities sustainable lives

Malika virdi

Malika Virdi

Founder, Himalayan Ark, Sarmoli

An advocate of direct democracy that posits agency in each citizen, she has been a pioneer in promoting rural community owned, nature based responsible tourism founder of Himalayan Ark in Sarmoli, a high Himalayan village in Kumaon, Uttarakhand.

Serving second term as Sarpanch of the forest commons of Sarmoli-Jainti Van Panchayat and serves as an advocate for rural livelihoods and conservation both locally and the South Asian Region.

She is a subsistence farmer and enjoys a life lived in the vastness of the Himalaya, yet close to nature.

Shivya Nath

Shivya Nath

Founder, Climate Conscious Travel

Her work focuses on sustainable and experiential travel, and she has contributed stories to some of the world's leading travel publications like BBC Travel and Travel + Leisure.

Featured by The Washington Post among travelers changing the way we think about the world, and by National Geographic Traveller among travellers of color smashing stereotypes.

Recently founded Climate Conscious Travel, which works with destinations, businesses and non-profits to develop climate conscious experiences, sustainable accommodations, and community-led initiatives.

Frequently Asked Questions

Our Jury is working with a meticulously designed scoring process through which they will look at a wide range of attributes. These include details on, broadly:

  • Reduction of carbon footprint
  • Positive impact created
  • Sustenance of change through the establishment of systems, processes & people
  • Scale/ No. of individuals benefited
  • Tenure of work/ action/ duration
  • Innovation used in the implementation of ideas
  • Frugality and cost-effectiveness of solutions
  • Scalability/ possibility to implement elsewhere.

The Better India will collate the scores of the jury on shortlisted entries with the votes that we receive from our audience members. The winner will be announced based on specific weightage given to the scores and votes.

The winners of the Sustainable Tourism Awards will receive the following:

  1. A certificate
  2. A citation
  3. Special coverage on The Better India for the initiative
  4. Opportunity to develop a course on The Better Academy
  5. Featured listing on The Better India impact listing space *
  6. Guest invite for The Better India Summit 2022-23 *

* Terms and Conditions Apply

No, the award is open only to those who are currently residing in India.

Yes, but please mention each award category for which you would want to nominate them respectively.

email us at

Email your queries: events@thebetterindia.com