Travel + Leisure magazine has honored seven projects around the world for contributions to local economies, the environment or cultural preservation.
NEW YORK — Travel + Leisure magazine has honored seven projects around the world for contributions to local economies, the environment or cultural preservation.
Some of the projects featured in the magazine's December issue already have a tie-in with tourism as a way to promote economic development; others hope to lure travelers in the future once their goals are further along.
The winners of the magazine's Global Vision Awards include an ecological restoration project in Mauritius; EcoTaj, a project through with Taj Hotels, Resorts & Palaces in India, that encourages employees to volunteer in their communities; and a restoration effort in Falmouth, Jamaica, where locals are preserving the town's rich Georgian architecture in the hope of eventually drawing tourists.
Other winners were:
- Tufenkian Artisan Carpets, a New York-based company that employs artisans in Nepal and Armenia. Founder James Tufenkian has also built three hotels in the Armenian countryside and plans to build four more to showcase local carpet-weaving traditions.
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- Himalayan Homestays, in Ladakh, India, which trains villagers to host visitors in their homes. The program was created partly to protect the endangered snow leopard, which is one of the area's draws for tourists.
- The Hilton in Vancouver, Wash., an "eco-hotel" that is considered a model of energy efficiency and water-use reduction.
Source: Associated Press
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