By request from a number of businesses in the tourism and hospitality industry, the closing date for entries in the 2011 Imvelo Responsible Tourism Awards programme has now been extended to Wednesday, 7 September.
The awards are organised by the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (Fedhasa) in conjunction with Absa, the National Department of Tourism, Eskom, the Industrial Development Corporation, the Department of Water Affairs and Don’t Waste Services, Imvelo. They are open to any type of tourism and hospitality business.
Fedhasa CEO Brett Dungan says Imvelo – now running for the tenth year – is the leading responsible tourism project in South Africa and has made a huge impact on the industry. Imvelo means ‘nature’ in South Africa’s Nguni languages.
The awards are in line with the responsible tourism guidelines for the South African hospitality industry and the UN World Tourism Organisation’s code of ethics, and are supported by the Heritage Environmental Rating Programme.
Awards will be made in the categories:
- Best social involvement programme
- Best practice – economic impact
- Best overall environmental management system
- Best single resource management programme – water, energy and waste
- Most empowered tourism business
- Investor in people.
An overall Imvelo winner will be selected. A Chairman’s Award could be made at the discretion of the Fedhasa chairman to any Imvelo entrant or any other organisation in the tourism industry that made a significant contribution to responsible tourism over the past year.
In addition to the actual awards, prizes to the value of more than R90 000 are up for grabs, including a variety of hospitality experiences and Green Leaf programme toolkits with head office support for a 12-month period.
Entrants may enter in more than one category but entries must stipulate the category/categories that apply. Entries will be judged by a panel of specialists in responsible tourism practice and finalists will be visited personally to verify and evaluate their entries.
Winners will receive their awards at an awards ceremony to be held in Johannesburg on World Responsible Tourism Day on 9 November. The ceremony will coincide with South Africa’s first Environmental Management in Tourism (EMiT) conference.
For more information contact Lynda Bacon on telephone 0861 333 628 or visit www.imveloawards.co.za.
In the image above are chairman of Fedhasa Eddy Khosa and management and staff from the overall Imvelo winner from 2010 Sun International Zambia The Falls Resort (from left): Simon Tembo; Eddy Khosa; Dean Pitt; and Stain Musangaila.
www.hotelandrestaurant.co.za