Raet, the “finest nasjonalpark i verden”, was the original vision of the “fathers” of the new marine national park on the Skagerrak-coast of Arendal, Grimstad, and Tvedestrand. At this workshop, we invite local LT&C members (including GRID-Arendal), “Friends of Raet National Park” (as found on Facebook), as well as representatives of such tourism businesses, which are interested to support the further positive development of the park. Also, marine experts from the local Flødevigen Marine Research Station as well as the manager of Raet national park, Jenny Marie Gulbrandsen, are invited to think with us about ideas, how Raet could at least become the leading example of a marine national park in Norway by developing towards international standards. Continue reading →

As LT&C Partner Green Destinations reports: The World’s Top 10 Sustainable Destinations have been unveiled in the Awards Hall of ITB Berlin, at the end of its Opening day, March 6th. 44 Sustainable tourism stories have been submitted by the 100 top-sustainable destinations, available on www.sustainabletop100.org. Ten Award winners have been selected by a Jury representing 12 international organizations.  Continue reading →

The LT&C Example Wadden Sea celebrates the 10-year anniversary of its inscription on the World Heritage List and presents its anniversary programme at this year’s ITB Tourism Fair in Berlin. In cooperation with the UNESCO World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism Programme and within the framework of the Interreg project “Prowad Link”, the Wadden Sea World Heritage organizes two stands at the world’s largest tourism fair, the ITB. Under the motto “People. Protecting. Places.” (see press release of the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat). Continue reading →

REUTERS/Sergio Perez

We congratulate our Emperor Penguin member, Greg Bakunzi from Rwanda, for receiving the UNWTO Award for his conservation and community supporting tourism. The UNWTO Awards are the flagship awards for the global tourism sector. They recognize the work of organizations and individuals around the world that positively impact and inspire the tourism sector through innovation and knowledge, in line with the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Continue reading →

Our Emperor Penguin member, Amahoro tours, just forwarded us the information of the Virunga Foundation that the Virunga National Park re-opens on the 15th of February! This comes after the park was indefinitely closed in May 2018, due to tragic incidents as we wrote earlier. The Virunga National Park is a UNESCO world heritage site and an outstanding LT&C-Example, especially known for its thriving mountain gorilla population. Thanks to the dedication of the park’s rangers and wardens, Virunga has been able to survive. Thereby the cooperation of the Virunga Foundation with the governmental parks authority ICCN played a key role. Their work to provide unique opportunities for tourists to experience the natural wonders of the park made travelers not only financing the management and infrastructure of the national park but also triggers other financial contributions the surrounding communities benefit from. Continue reading →