International Mountain Tourism Alliance (IMTA) sets up “IMTA Mountain Tourism Awards,” aiming to convey the social responsibility and values that practitioners of the mountain tourism sector ought to shoulder while sticking to the concept of innovation, green, ecology and sustainable development. Through sorting from the industrial institutions that better balance tourism development and resource protection, refining the essence of global mountain tourism development, seeking the construction and development model that can be used for reference, exploring the innovative methods of operation service management, and strengthening the goal of sustainable development, to build a mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation platform for the long-term development of mountain tourism.
The 2020 “IMTA Mountain Tourism Awards” plan to include five awards – “Mountain Tourism Sustainable Development Award”, “Best Mountain Tourism Destination Award”, “Best Mountain Tourism Outdoor Sport Award”, “Best Mountain Tourism Camping Award” and “Best Mountain Tourism Hiking Route Award.”
- 2020
- Registration Form
- Awards
- Detailed Rules
Organizations or enterprises willing to participate， please submit relevant materials to the official e-mail of “IMTA Mountain Tourism Awards” – Awards@imtaweb.org before October 31, 2020.
2020 "IMTA Mountain Tourism Award" sets up "Mountain Tourism Sustainable Development Award", "Best Mountain Tourism Destination Award", "Best Mountain Tourism Outdoor Sports Award", "Best Mountain Tourism Camping Award", and "Best Mountain Tourism Hiking Route Award". Each award will select candidates and the top 3 will grant an award.
The Expert Jury of the Awards has a very strong cast and high authority. Wei Xiao'an, chief expert of the Expert Committee of the World Tourism Cities Federation, served as the chairman of the Expert Jury. Experts from China, Germany, South Korea, France, Switzerland, the United States and other countries in tourism planning, ecological environment, art and culture, outdoor sports and other fields participated in the selection.
Based on the principle of "openness, fairness and justice", the "IMTA Mountain Tourism Award" refines the award system with the guidance of experts from the review committee, and is oriented to IMTA members, tourism public management agencies, destination management agencies, tourism companies, cultural tourism groups, and travel-related organizations extensively solicit candidates to participate in the evaluation project. After being screened and reviewed by the Expert Jury, the awards will be announced at the 2020 International Mountain Tourism Alliance Annual Conference.
Mountain Tourism Sustainable Development Award
The establishment of “Mountain Tourism Sustainable Development Award” combines the definition and goals of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) for the sustainable development of tourism, as well as the International Mountain Tourism Alliance, which aims at the sustainable development of mountain and eco-tourism, protecting mountain resources, preserving mountain civilization, promoting mountain economy and benefiting mountain communities. And the purpose of it is promoting the concept of sustainable tourism to be recognized in the industry and to set a benchmark and example.
The award is for enterprises or institutions such as environmental protection, resource protection, cultural protection and other related mountain scenic spots, cultural characteristic destinations, mountain outdoor sports equipment manufacturers and IMTA members to collect candidate projects. The Expert Jury will evaluate projects from the 3 dimensions and 19 indicators of sustainable development of environment and resources, sustainable development of culture, and sustainable development of economy and society.
Best Mountain Tourism Destination Award
In the context of changes in times, leaps in consumption, integration of culture and tourism, and industrial transformation, the natural ecological environment of the mountainous region and its cultural diversity are two key resources. In addition to the intuitive mountain scenery, mountain tourism destinations are based on the premise of protection and development, and the inner cultural resource mining shows a long-lasting value mining cycle, so as to lays the foundation on creating differentiated products, building the IP of destination, and shaping destinations brands. The establishment of the “Best Mountain Tourism Destination Award” this time aims to promote the upgrading and optimization of the cultural and tourism industry structure, finding new breakthroughs in the development of the mountain tourism industry, and promoting the investment of mountain tourism destination and the upgrading of product format.
The award is open to local cultural and tourism bureaus, mountain scenic destinations, mountain tourism destinations or integrated resorts, IMTA members and other mountain cultural tourism agencies to collect candidate projects. The Expert Jury will evaluate the projects from the 5 dimensions and 17 indicators of traffic accessibility, product richness, brand influence, service management and tourist size .
Best Mountain Tourism Outdoor Sport Award
According to incomplete statistics, there are currently about 130 million outdoor sports enthusiasts in China, and the market scale of the world outdoor sports industry is as high as 887 billion US dollars. which is a huge basic flow of mountain tourism development. Against the backdrop of major changes in the cultural and tourism supply system brought about by the epidemic, the demand for outdoor sports related to nature, sports, and outdoor adventures has been fully released, and the growth momentum is very rapid. The establishment of the “Best Mountain Tourism Outdoor Sport Award” aims to further promoting the recovery of the mountain tourism industry in the cultural and tourism industry in the post-epidemic period, improving the standard system of mountain outdoor sports related sub-fields, promoting the upgrade of mountain outdoor sport products and business innovation.
The award is open to companies and IMTA members in the fields of outdoor mountaineering, trail running, outdoor flying, cave exploration, mountain biking to collect candidate projects. The Expert Jury will evaluate the projects from the 5 dimensions and 16 indicators of outdoor facilities planning, outdoor product design, brand awareness, participants size, security system.
Best Mountain Tourism Camping Award
In the process of recovery after the epidemic, the camping industry represented by RVs, cars, tents and so on, has ushered in a significant growth, becoming a new focus of the tourism industry under the epidemic situation. Industry professionals even predict that this trend will continue until 2021 or longer time. However, the current development of domestic camp-related industries such as RVs is still in the initial stage, and there are problems such as insufficient supply of various camping services and products. In order to absorb the new ideas and achievements of various camping enterprises at home and abroad, promote the interactive development of the camp industry in China and the world, help the camping industry in China to transform from lifestyle to industrial upgrading, sets up the “Best Mountain Tourism Camping Award”.
The award is open to domestic and foreign mountain-related RV camp companies, self-driving camp companies, RV campground bases, RV camping parks and other companies or mountain destinations, as well as IMTA members to collect candidate projects. The Expert Jury will evaluate the projects from the 6 dimensions and 17 indicators of environmental protection, RV configuration, camping operation, brand awareness, camping facilities, and safeguard measures.
Best Mountain Tourism Hiking Route Award
Hiking is an important part of mountain tourism and the most widely participated outdoor mountain sports. This award is established to promote the establishment and improvement of hiking activity standards, improve the operation and management level of hiking activities and promote the further development of hiking related industries .
The award is open to enterprises or institutions such as mountain scenic destinations with hiking activities, large-scale mountain tourism destinations, mountain hiking outdoor clubs, mountain hiking event organizers or organizers to collect projects. The Expert Jury will evaluate the projects from the 5 dimensions and 15 indicators of hiking route design and planning, brand awareness, scale of participant, accommodation reception and integrated management.
•July-September Event launching, the Expert Jury and relevant standards have been established
•25th September-31st October: Project collection
•1st November-10th November: Expert review
•10th-15th November: Online cooperation
•18th November: Awards ceremony
•19th November: Road show for prizewinning projects
Note
1.Participant projects must follow the collection standards of “IMTA Mountain Tourism Awards” and have made outstanding contributions to the sustainable development of international mountain tourism sector.
2.Official languages used for collection and selection are Chinese and English. Participants need to submit materials of the two above languages.
3.Participants need to submit relevant materials or attachments according to the Application Form of 2020 “IMTA Mountain Tourism Awards”. Applications after the deadline are not valid.
4. Participants can choose to submit one or two copies of letters of recommendation from local tourism administrative departments, tourism experts, or IMTA members as a reference material.
5. The Organizing Committee of “IMTA Mountain Tourism Awards” reserves the right of final interpretation for the selection procedures.
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Mr. Wei Xiao’an
Chairman, IMTA Awards Commission, Chief Expert, World Tourism Cities Federation, President of China Leisure Association of China Tourism Association. He is a famous expert in tourism economy and management, former director of the Travel Agency and Hotel Management Department, director of the Policy and Regulation Department, and director of the Planning and Finance Department of the China National Tourism Administration.
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Mr. Gary J Schluter
General Manager, Rocky Mountain Holiday Tours LLC. Mr. Schluter is the Immediate Past Chairman of the Board of Directors for the International Inbound Travel Association (IITA), and member of Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. He serves as an At-Large Board Member for the US Travel Association, and member of the Colorado Tourism Board’s International Travel Promotions Committee. Rocky Mountain Holiday Tours is now the largest regional inbound tour reception company in the western United States.
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Mr. Lee Dong Hun
Professor, School of Environmental Engineering, Seoul University, South Korea, Former President of Korea University Mountain Alliance, Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Hokkaido University, Japan. He is currently a professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering at Seoul University, South Korea. He has served as the chairman and vice chairman of the Korea University Mountain Alliance, the external chairman of the Korea Electronic Environment Association, and the chairman of the 2011 Daegu World Congress Organizing Committee.
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Ms. Chen Ping
Global Vice-President and China President of International Organisation Fur Volkskunst. She has served as the global vice chairman of the International Organisation Fur Volkskunst, the official advisory body of UNESCO for more than 10 years, and the first senior Chinese official of the organization for more than 40 years, and the only Chinese member of the German National Committee for the International Council on Monuments and Site, an important partner of UNESCO.
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Mr. Jean Bottazzi
Vice-President of French Federation of Speleology, World-renowned cave adventurer. He served as Secretary-General of the Young Caves Diving Association of the French Federation of Speleology, and is currently Vice President of the French Federation of Speleology, Liaison Officer of the French Federation of Speleology in China, Geological Expert of the Leye-Fengshan World Geopark, Chief Adventure consultant of Shuanghe Cave and Chief expert of Shuanghe Cave Science and Technology.
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Mr. Richard Wiese
Chairman of Explorers Club, Executive producer of PBS TV program Born to Explore with Richard Wiese, won two Daytime Emmy Awards and 14 Emmy nominations. He also won honorary fellows of The Royal Geographical Society of Canada, the Guinness Award, and the Golden Halo Award. He also won the 2012 Walter Cronkite Award for his contributions to journalism and adventure.
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Ms. Zhou Li
Land Research Center of Trier University of Applied Science and Technology, Head of China Department. Lecturer in the Department of Environmental Economics and Law of the School of Environment, Trier University of Applied Sciences, Germany, and head of the Chinese Department of the Land Research Center. He was responsible for important projects such as the research on the surrounding environment of the city funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, and the conceptual planning of the Xi'an Environmental Education Center funded by the German International Cooperation Agency.
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Mr. Laurent Vanat
Expert in Snow and Mountain Tourism. He is an expert in market management research and mountain tourism. Since 2009, International Report on Snow and Mountain Tourism has been released for 11 consecutive years, which is regarded as an authoritative report on the global ice and snow industry, and is currently one of the few experts in the industry who can grasp the overall ice and snow tourism industry.
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Mr. Serge Koenig
Expert in outdoor sports and sustainable development in France. He has climbed more than 1,000 peaks in the Alps, Himalayas, Amazon River Basin, North America and other places, including 4 times to Mount Everest, 7 times to peaks over 8000 meters above sea level, he is also good at rock climbing, skiing, valley jumping, hiking, mountaineering, Mountain sports such as parachuting and wing-mounted flying.
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Mr.KazuhiroARAI
President, Hokkaido Adventure Travel Association, Director, Asian Ecotourism Organization. He graduated from He graduated from Lincoln University in New Zealand with a degree in national Park management and conservation and Hokkaido University majoring in tourism creativity. He serves as a director of NPO Japan Ecotourism Center, and the Asian Ecotourism Organization, President of the Hokkaido Adventure Travel Association, member of the Global Sustainable Tourism Committee, and principal of Daisetsuzan Nature School.
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Mr. Li Xiaoping
Senior Vice President, Ctrip Group. He joined Ctrip Group in January 2009 and served as Deputy General Manager of the Commercial Department of Shanghai Airlines Co., Ltd. He used to be responsible for Ctrip Airlines, train tickets, coaches, insurance and other businesses, and currently focuses on new manager training, domestic and overseas ground transportation, destination marketing, Nantong branch and other businesses.
