EXO Foundation’s first Sustainability Awards support transformative tourism projects in Asia

The EXO Found­a­tion, a non-profit organ­isa­tion sup­port­ing sus­tain­able tour­ism ini­ti­at­ives, held its first Sus­tain­ab­il­ity Awards cere­mony yes­ter­day (Septem­ber 28) on Zoom. 

Prizes totalling US$40,000 in value were awar­ded to win­ners and run­ners-up.

The goal of the awards was to identi­fy, sup­port and pro­mote exem­plary pro­jects that seek to innov­ate sus­tain­ab­il­ity in Asia. 

Alex­an­dra Michat, Chief Pur­pose Officer of EXO Travel Group, said: “Today, we are very hon­oured to back the efforts and the work of organ­isa­tions that cham­pi­on trans­form­at­ive projects. 

“Through the organ­isa­tion of these awards, we are aim­ing to enhance col­lab­or­a­tion among respons­ible tour­ism stake­hold­ers in our des­tin­a­tions and to ensure that people and nature will con­tin­ue to be pre­served, pro­tec­ted, and cared for.”

From 50 applic­ants, the field was nar­rowed to 20 nom­in­ees across five categories: 

1. Cli­mate Action
2. Cir­cu­lar Economy
3. Regen­er­at­ing Nature
4. Pro­tect­ing Cul­tur­al Her­it­age, and
5. Empower­ing Communities

EXO Found­a­tion enlis­ted a pan­el of inter­na­tion­ally-recog­nised sus­tain­able tour­ism pro­fes­sion­als to eval­u­ate each nom­in­ee and vote accord­ing to its mer­its. They included:

• Nia Klatte, Sus­tain­able and Respons­ible Tour­ism Spe­cial­ist, Con­sid­er­ate Group
• Ayako Eza­ki, Dir­ect­or of Train­ing Strategies & Devel­op­ment, TrainingAid
• Char­lotte Louwman‑Vogels, Founder & CEO, Fair Tour­ism Foundation
• Peter Richards, Pro­ject Man­ager, SWITCH ASIA — TOURLINK ECEAT
• Roi Ari­el, Gen­er­al Man­ager, Glob­al sus­tain­able Tour­ism Coun­cil (GSTC)
• Aline van der Meu­len, Trav­elife Approved Aud­it­or, Travelife
• Bijan Khazai, Chief Exec­ut­ive Officer, Risk­lay­er Gmbh — Hotel Resilient
• Jim Sano, Vice Pres­id­ent of Travel, Tour­ism and Con­ser­va­tion, WWF

A sixth ‘People’s Choice Award’ was gran­ted based on a month-long pub­lic vote.

Winners & runners-up of EXO Foundation’s first Sustainability Awards

EXO Found­a­tion are proud to announce the fol­low­ing win­ners and runners-up:

Cli­mate Action: Organ­isa­tions work­ing to reduce green­house gas emissions

• Win­ner (Not For Profit): Paul Dubrule School (Cam­bod­ia)
• Run­ner up (Not for Profit): Kala­weit (Indone­sia)

• Win­ner (Tour­ism Private Sec­tor): The Racha (Thai­l­and)
• Run­ner up (Tour­ism Private Sec­tor): Citadines (Cam­bod­ia)

Cir­cu­lar Eco­nomy: Organ­isa­tions work­ing to reduce plastic polu­tion & food waste

• Win­ner (Not For Profit): Anam­bas Found­a­tion (Indone­sia)
• Run­ner up (Not for Profit): PSE (Cam­bod­ia)

• Win­ner (Tour­ism Private Sec­tor): Reform Plastic (Viet­nam)
• Run­ner up (Tour­ism Private Sec­tor): Pimalai Resort (Thai­l­and)

Regen­er­at­ing Nature: Organ­isa­tions work­ing to pro­tect nat­ur­al hab­it­ats and wildlife

• Win­ner (Not For Profit): Bay­on Agro School (Cam­bod­ia)
• Run­ner up (Not for Profit):  Oran­gutan Appeal (Indone­sia)

• Win­ner (Tour­ism Private Sec­tor): Liv­ing Irrawaddy Dol­phin Pro­ject (Myan­mar)
• Run­ner up (Tour­ism Private Sec­tor): Six Senses Ninh Van Bay (Viet­nam)

Pro­tect­ing Cul­tur­al Her­it­age: Organ­isa­tions work­ing to pro­mote diversity of cul­tures and sites

• Win­ner (Not For Profit): Tan­oti SDN BHD (Malay­sia)
• Run­ner up (Not for Profit): Shun­yoso Cul­tur­al Asset Pre­ser­va­tion Soci­ety (Japan)

• Win­ner (Tour­ism Private Sec­tor): PT Pap­ua Diving Resort (Indone­sia)
• Run­ner up (Tour­ism Private Sec­tor): Soori Bali (Indone­sia)

Empower­ing Com­munit­ies: Organ­isa­tions work­ing to reduce plastic polu­tion & food waste

• Win­ner (Not For Profit): Know One, Teach One- KOTO (Viet­nam)
• Run­ner up (Not for Profit): Friends Inter­na­tion­al (Thai­l­and)

• Win­ner (Tour­ism Private Sec­tor): Tree­house Vil­las (Koh Yao)
• Run­ner up (Tour­ism Private Sec­tor): Sar­in Buana Eco-Lodge (Indone­sia)

People’s Choice: 

• Win­ner: PSE (Cam­bod­ia)
• Run­ner up: Bay­on Agro School (Cam­bod­ia)

Fol­low­ing the cere­mony, which was held on Zoom, EXO Found­a­tion hos­ted a pan­el dis­cus­sion to fur­ther explore the role of sus­tain­able prac­tices in the tour­ism sector. 

EXO Found­a­tion was joined by two co-spon­sors in arran­ging and sup­port­ing this event: Light­Blue Con­sult­ing and Con­sid­er­ate Group. 

Light­Blue spe­cial­ises in food waste pre­ven­tion and sus­tain­ab­il­ity, offer­ing solu­tions for busi­nesses seek­ing zero-waste strategies. 

Con­sid­er­ate Group provides con­sultancy solu­tions for hoteliers, using data and expert­ise to help the hos­pit­al­ity industry integ­rate sus­tain­able practices.

About EXO Foundation

EXO Found­a­tion is a non-profit organ­isa­tion based in South­east Asia sup­port­ing loc­al grass­roots projects. 

EXO Found­a­tion strives to be a driv­ing force in act­ively fos­ter­ing sus­tain­able devel­op­ment and improv­ing pos­it­ive soci­et­al and envir­on­ment­al changes through the pro­mo­tion of respons­ible tourism. 

It also aims to pave the way for main­stream­ing good prac­tices with­in the travel industry in Asia that will max­im­ise the poten­tial for tour­ism to become a tool for poverty alle­vi­ation and sus­tain­able development.