Guyana takes top tourism award
By Janelle De Souza Thursday, April 25 2013
GUYANA won the top award as well as four other awards at the CTO-TravelMole Sustainable Tourism Awards yesterday. The Karanambu Lodge in Guyana won the Caribbean Excellence in Sustainable Tourism Award at the 14th Annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain, for excellence in providing a unique and attractive product.
It was explained that the Karanambu Lodge demonstrated dedication to maintaining sustainable management and development practices in operating social, cultural, environmental and economic aspects, as well as multi-stakeholder participation.
Jamaica carried home four awards, while the Bahamas and Guadeloupe won two awards each in the categories of Destination Stewardship, Sustainable Accommodation, Community Benefit, Heritage Protection and Biodiversity.
Diane McTurk, founder of the Karanambu Lodge, said she was honoured and moved that her colleagues and competitors would encourage her in this way. She explained that the lodge started as a domestic home but more buildings were constructed over the years as the number of visitors increased.
“With the increasing number of guests that I used to get, I soon discovered that I was being eaten out of house and home so I decided that I had to go commercial. This I think I effected in the early 1980s,” she said.
“We are actually very fortunate to be situated at an amazing place where the headwaters of the Amazon and the Essequibo meet in the wet season. This has generated a range of habitat which means we have a greater variety of wild animals in a smaller space than usual.”
Other main winners were: Puerto Rico Tourism Company (Puerto Rico), Destination Stewardship Award; Tryall Club and Villas (Jamaica), Sustainable Accommodation Award; Bowden Pen Farmers’ Association (Jamaica), Community Benefit Award; National Trust of Guyana (Guyana), Heritage Protection Award, and the Guyana Marine Turtle Conservation
Society (Guyana), Biodiversity Conservation Award.
