UNWTO Ulysses Prize and Awards reward Innovation and Application of Knowledge in Tourism Governance

Africa, Europe and Latin America were the protagonists of this year’s UNWTO.Ulysses Prize and Awards, granted during a ceremony in Madrid last week in recognition of Innovation and Application of Knowledge in Tourism Governance.

UNWTO grants the Ulysses Prize to a distinguished scholar for an outstanding contribution to knowledge in tourism, while the awards are bestowed on projects undertaken by public institutions in tourism (governmental, public-private partnerships), tourism enterprises and non-profit institutions (NGOs, Civil Society), which merit distinction for their innovative contributions to tourism policy, governance, and areas of tourism such as the environmental, new technologies, among others.

This is the case of Tourism KwaZulu-Natal (TKZN) from South Africa (First Prize, Award for Innovation in Tourism Governance), which has placed its focus on the impacts of tourism and on tourism as a tool for development, involving the local community in the tourism development.

Europe offers an example of regional co-operation through the European Network of Village Tourism (First Prize, Award for Innovation in Non-Governmental Organizations). Conceived and coordinated by the Portuguese Évora Tourism Region it includes its own Alentejo region and Trentino (Italy), Lapland (Finland), Arad (Romania) and Lomza (Poland). The project involves hundreds of local players in the sustainable tourism development of their destinations as a catalyst for integration.

The Ulysses Awards also took into account the contribution of the Internet to improve tourism governance. CADASTUR (Special Jury Prize, Award for Innovation in Tourism Governance) registers tourism service providers and serves as a technological platform for Brazil’s Ministry of Tourism. This system allows for a better management of tourism policies through online registration, classification, and inspection of the country’s providers of tourist services.

Spain offers an equally valuable example, but from the tourist’s perspective. The Directory of Reservation Centres (First Prize, Award for Innovation in Tourism Enterprises) is a web-based tool which already receives close to 20 million visits per year, offering the chance to search for and reserve accommodation, with one single site offering a wide range of options.

UNWTO Ulysses Prize for Academic Excellence in the Creation and Dissemination of Knowledge in Tourism

Prof. Dr. Bernard Morucci, Sorbonne University (France)

UNWTO Ulysses Award for Innovation in Tourism Governance

First Prize - Programme Information and Knowledge Management; Tourism KwaZulu Natal (South Africa)

Special Jury Prize - Programme CADASTUR, Ministry of Tourism of Brazil

UNWTO Ulysses Award for Innovation in Tourism Enterprises

First Prize - Programme Promoter of e-commerce in the Tourist Industry, SEGITUR (Spain)

UNWTO Ulysses Award for Innovation in Non-Governmental Organizations

First Prize - Programme European Network of Village Tourism, Coordinated by Evora Tourism Region (Portugal, Italy, Finland, Romania and Poland)

Special Jury Prize - Programme The Wine Culture, Dinastía Vivanco Foundation (Spain)

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