Tivat has been named one of the winners of Sustainable Top 100 Destinations Award 2020 at today’s ceremony held as part of the Global Green Destinations Days (GGDD20). The awards were presented for the sixth year in a row.
In June, the Tourism Organisation of Tivat, in collaboration with the Coastal Zone Management Agency, nominated Tivat for Top 100 Sustainable Destinations for 2020. Applying was free for all countries in the world.
The Sustainable Top 100 Destinations competition is organised to showcase sustainable travel stories and good practices as inspiring examples to other destinations, tour operators and travellers.
By publishing this annual list and exchanging experiences and success stories in destination management, the initiators acknowledge the steps taken towards making tourism destinations more sustainable, more responsible and more attractive to visitors.
The nominations were evaluated by the Sustainable Top 100 Team, country experts and Green Destination Partners, coordinated by Green Destinations. This year, the selection was more than ever determined by the quality, effectiveness and transferability of the Good Practice Stories that were submitted by the destinations. More than 150 destinations applied for this year’s competition.
“As we all know, Montenegro and its municipalities, including Tivat, are still far from being perfect in the true sense of sustainability and its deeper aspects. With that in mind, this is a great recognition of our efforts to be “safe, smart, sustainable” and very encouraging towards further sustainable development of Tivat and Montenegro. With a convincing good practice story – the successful management of the Tivat Saltpans nature reserve and with reporting on the first 15 sustainability criteria, we have demonstrated that a number of good initiatives have been implemented in Tivat by both the public and private sectors. Green Destinations experts have deemed these efforts as crucial for obtaining this prestigious recognition,” says Danica Banjević, director of the Tivat Tourism Organisation.
The Top 100 committee stresses that selection for the Top 100 list does not mean the destination is sustainable. It means it is making good efforts and promising progress. Completely sustainable destinations do not exist.
The competition is held under the auspices of the Top 100 Partnership, with special contributions by: Green Destinations, QualityCoast, TravelMole, Vision on Sustainable Tourism, Travelife, ITB Berlin, Asian Ecotourism Network, Ecotourism Australia and GLP Films.
The 2020 Top 100 list of participants will be available on the Green Destinations website. Top 100 participants have been invited to be featured in the Good Travel Guide, enabling them to tell their sustainability stories to interested travellers.
“In collaboration with the public sector, private sector and civil society, the Tourism Organisation of Tivat is continuing its work in this field. Late October will see a second two-day educational workshop with the aim of defining concrete next steps. At the same time, the plan is for Tivat to commence an awards and certification programme within the Green Destinations next year. This means that we must work intensively on reporting on a total of 100 criteria. After an international auditor has been selected by Green Destinations, we will obtain information on the level of development of Tivat in terms of destination sustainability and receive guidelines for further development,” Ms Banjević added.
“On this occasion, the Tivat Tourism Organisation would like to thank all the associates – primarily all participants of the first workshop held in June in Tivat, as well as the Coastal Zone Management Agency as one of the applicants in this nomination, Secretariat for Investment, Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development, Secretariat for Municipal Affairs and Transport, Secretariat for Tourism and Entrepreneurship, Secretariat for Culture and Social Affairs, Tivat Municipal Services Company, Brand New Tivat, Rescue and Protection Service, Environmental Protection Agency, Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, UNDP, our strategic partners of Porto Montenegro and Luštica Bay, as well as NGO Expeditio, who assisted us with the application process and helped us win this prestigious award,” she concluded.
Source: Tivat Tourism Organisation