The Travel Foundation, the sustainable tourism charity, was awarded a special Jury Prize at the 2009 United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Ulysses Awards held in Madrid this week and hosted by UNWTO Secretary-General Mr Taleb Rifai.

The UNWTO Ulysses Awards are given to Governments, enterprises and NGOs in recognition of the programmes they have successfully carried out in the field of Innovation and Governance in Tourism.

The Travel Foundation won a Special Jury Prize for Innovation in Non-Governmental Organizations, for Creating Destination Partnerships for Sustainable Tourism.

Travel Foundation Chief Executive Sue Hurdle, who received the award, said It is a great privilege to accept this prestigious international award from the UNWTO in recognition of our innovative partnership approach. I am delighted to accept it on behalf of the Travel Foundations team in the UK and our programme managers around the world, who have done so much to change lives for the better in destination countries.

The UNWTO received endorsements of the value of the Travel Foundations work from TUI Travel plc, DEFRA (the UK Governments Environment Department) and the Overseas Development Institute.

Jane Ashton, Head of Sustainable Development at TUI Travel plc said:

The Travel Foundation is a long-term strategic partner of the TUI UK & Ireland division, and we see our relationship with the Travel Foundation as a central part of our commitment to sustainable tourism. Our partnership with the Travel Foundation has proved highly valuable, both in helping us develop our business practices to be more sustainable, and in supporting our communications to customers on the part they can play in reducing the negative "footprint" of tourism. The projects run by the Travel Foundation in holiday destinations worldwide are also very valuable in establishing what best sustainable tourism practices look like "on the ground", and serve also to involve and engage our destination colleagues and suppliers. Since the 2003 launch of the Travel Foundation, TUI UK has raised approximately £1.5 million to support the Foundation's excellent sustainable tourism projects in 14 countries and across four continents.

Phil Callaghan, Head of Sustainable Development Dialogues at DEFRA, who are sponsoring the Foundations Annual Meeting on 15 June, stated:

The Travel Foundation is a strategic partner of the UK Government's Department for the Environment, Food, Rural Affairs and Agriculture (DEFRA), and we see our relationship with the Travel Foundation as a central part of our strategic objective to deliver sustainable development internationally.

Jonathan Mitchell, Programme Leader and Research Fellow at the Overseas Development Institute (and a Travel Foundation trustee), said:

The Travel Foundation directly practices what it preaches about the value of bringing different stakeholder partnerships together around issues of sustainable tourism. I think that the approach of the Travel Foundation in developing demonstration projects in destinations, at the same time as engaging with and creating best practice guidance for the whole outbound sector, has proved to be an effective strategy.

Editors Notes

UNWTO The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the leading international organization in the field of tourism, is a specialized agency of the United ‎Nations. It serves as a ‎global forum for tourism policy issues and a practical source of tourism know-how.‎

UNWTO plays a central role in promoting the development of responsible, ‎sustainable and universally accessible tourism, paying particular attention to the ‎interests of developing countries.‎

The Organization encourages the implementation ‎of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, with a view to ensuring that member ‎countries, tourist destinations and businesses maximize the positive economic, ‎social and cultural effects of tourism and fully reap its benefits, while minimizing its ‎negative social and environmental impacts.‎

Its membership includes 161 countries and territories and more than 370 Affiliate ‎Members representing the private sector, educational institutions, tourism associations ‎and local tourism authorities.‎

Further information: Rachel OReilly tel: 07866 427870 email: rachel@rorcomms.co.uk