The Tourism Adaptation Project (TAP) hosted a workshop on 9^th September 2014 at Abaarana Hall in Nasandhura Palace Hotel to discuss the criteria for the Tourism Green Award.

 

The “Tourism Green Award” is planned to be launched this year on the World Tourism Day Function as a brand new product with a new logo, and an updated criteria. The new criteria is to be developed with the technical input from various stakeholders to the tourism industry, and the workshop reflected the refining process of the Tourism Green Award criteria, where TAP collaborated not only with the Ministry of Tourism, but with experts from various ministries and organizations. Attendees represented the Ministry of Environment and Energy, Maldives Energy Authority, Divers Association of Maldives, UNDP, Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure, Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture, Maldives Meteorological Services, Maldives National University, and Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation.

 

There are merits to the public and private sector by giving an award of this nature. The award will provide an incentive for tourism facilities to adopt and implement green policies into their development and operation strategies. As Maldives is committed to becoming a carbon neutral nation by 2019, there is an urgent need to invest in renewable energy, invest in alternative technologies, increase widespread education and community outreach, and share new information regarding environmentally sound practices. Furthermore, the award adds the whole new component of climate adaptation to the tourism industry, as part of the Tourism Adaptation Project’s commitment to increase climate change resilience in the Maldives. The award will also promote the Ministry of Tourism as a pioneer of green policies and environmentally friendly strategies.

 

The award was initially launched in 1997 as the “President of Maldives Green Resort Award”, at a function held to commemorate 25 years of tourism in the Maldives.