UNWTO award for Mangalajodi Ecotourism
Web Desk
Mangalajodi Village located on the northern banks of Chilika Lake in Odisha has bagged the UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organisation) Award for Innovation in Enterprise. The 14th edition of the award was declared on January 17, the first day of the five days long Fitur 2018 held in Madrid.
photo courtesy:media.unwto.org
Sanjib Sarangi of Indian Grameen Service, which overlooks the Mangalajodi project and Renna from Mangalajodi Ecotourism Trust attended the award event and unfurled an Indian flag while receiving the award.
Mangalajodi eco tourism’s strong principles of positive contribution to ecology, environment and economic upliftment of the local community were specially noted by the jury.
UNWTO also declared winners of UNWTO Ulysses Prize and UNWTO ethics award. Winner of UNWTO Ulysses Prize for Excellence in the Creation and Dissemination of Knowledge in tourism is Valene L Smith, who is a research professor at the California state university. Professor Smith is the head of tourism and anthropology department with a number of research papers under his guidance. UNWTO ethics award has selected Spanish tour operator Europa Mundo Foundation as the winner.
Mangalavanam ecotourism had also won many awards previously such as the Runner-up for India Biodiversity Award for community stewardship category in 2014, TOFT (Travel Operators for Tiger) Wildlife tourism Award in 2010.