The Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA)—a not-for-profit society which represents business and comunity tourism interests throughout the region—was declared winner of the highly prestigious World’s Responsible Tourism Award at the 25th annual World Travel Awards (WTA), held on Dec. 1 in Lisbon, Portugal.
The award was accepted by Glenn Mandziuk, President and CEO of the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Region; Frank Antoine, TOTA board chair; and Ellen Walker-Matthews, TOTA VP, destination and industry development.
“We, as a tourism industry, need to take a strong leadership role to ensure our destination—which we all call home—is not negatively impacted by its developments and activities,” said Mandziuk. “The honour of our Association and our region receiving this important international recognition shows we are on the right track with our collective focus on responsible and sustainable tourism.”
Since its establishment 25 years ago, WTA has become the international benchmark for recognizing excellence in the travel, tourism, and hospitality industries. Voting is conducted online by tourism industry professionals around the world.
This most recent honour follows TOTA winning the WTA North America’s Responsible Tourism Award in September and the World Travel and Tourism Council’s Tourism for Tomorrow Award in April, in addition to numerous other commendations this year.
The Thompson Okanagan attracts more than four million visitors annually, generating more than $2.2 billion in direct revenue, making tourism the region’s top economic driver. It is TOTA’s aim, through the focus on Responsible Tourism, to ensure that for decades, the region will have a healthy and sustainable economic, social, environmental, and cultural future.
The World Travel Awards (WTA) were established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward, and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the tourism industry. Today, the WTA brand is recognized globally as the ultimate hallmark of quality, with winners setting the benchmark to which all others aspire. Each year, WTA covers the globe with a series of regional gala ceremonies staged to recognize and celebrate individual and collective success within each key geographical region. For more information, visit www.worldtravelawards.com.
The Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) is a non-profit society, governed by an elected board of directors, which represents business and community tourism interests throughout the region, and is supported by, and representative of, Destination British Columbia. It is an industry-led organization that represents and supports all business and community tourism interests in the region, while also helping to implement provincial tourism policies. For more information, visit www.totabc.org.