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October 20, 2022

We won an Award!

Meaningful Tourism Award 2022 given to Fundación Panameña de Turismo Sostenible (APTSO).

We are proud to announce that the jury of the Meaningful Tourism Award 2022 has chosen APTSO as a Bronze Award winner in the category  of Organisations/Governments.

The names of the 18 Award winners were revealed during the Meaningful Tourism Panel at the ITB ASIA in Singapore.

The CEO of the Meaningful Tourism Center, the organizer of the Award, Prof. Dr. Arlt stated: “We are delighted to see how many stakeholders around the world have started to create new approaches to tourism. Neither to see the customer as king nor to concentrate on short-term profit and not treating environmental issues as the only concern will create a positive future for the industry. The task is not to ‘balance’ the different stakeholders’ interests, but to align them in a way that benefits and satisfies the interests of all stakeholders. The companies and organizations selected can consider themselves as being among the avant-garde of tomorrow’s tourism development.”

This was the first edition of the Meaningful Tourism Award, which will in the future be organised annually.  The Meaningful Tourism Center is based in Hamburg with several regional representations and offers trainings, publications and workshops for private and public organizations which see the need to move forward to a Meaningful Tourism.

This award is for Panama and for all the participants of the Panama Alliance for Community Tourism (PACTO):  the Panamanian Authority of Tourism, Fundación Natura, GEF/UNDP, our board,  our partners, and the 10 participant communities for inspiring us, states Annie Young, President of APTSO.

The challenges of the tourism industry are more critical than ever due to the climate change crisis, which has exposed new perspectives about the relationship between tourism, communities, and sustainable development.

The Panamanian Sustainable Tourism Foundation (APTSO.ORG), whose mission is to facilitate sustainable development in Panama through tourism, launched the SOSTUR NETWORK on August 3, 2022. A digital platform for rural communities and tourism businesses to share their vision and support the implementation of regenerative tourism strategies.

The SOSTUR network supports the strengthening and development of rural and community tourism enterprises in Panama to promote new sources of employment, value culture and contribute to the sustainability of Panama’s natural resources.

During the launch of the Network, representatives of ten pilot communities located in national park buffer zones and areas of high biological and cultural diversity presented their tourism projects to local and international agencies and provided details of how they hope to achieve successful partnerships to promote their products and services.

The Panamanian Foundation for Sustainable Tourism (APTSO), and other local and international partners have created The Panama Alliance for Community Tourism (PACTO) as a multi-year initiative to build strong and resilient communities in Panama through regenerative tourism. This goes beyond “sustainable tourism” and simply trying to minimize the negative impact of tourists. Rather, the innovative PACTO collaboration utilizes community tourism as a tool to generate new opportunities and achieve measured goals defined by local communities and indigenous groups. PACTO is a process to design and implement a regenerative National Community Tourism Strategy for Panama that delivers many of the goals outlined in the National Master Plan for Sustainable Tourism.

The APTSO team has worked with ten pilot communities, strengthening their leadership and technical skills, co-creating flagship projects, supporting community exchanges and testing new adventure alternatives to connect them with the tourism industry through the SOSTUR network. APTSO continues to support the communities with capacity building in the areas of infrastructure and tourism facilities with potential donors.

Annie Young, the President of APTSO, expressed during the launch that the SOSTUR Network seeks to promote a new and authentic way of traveling in Panama through local adventures that connect travelers with rural and indigenous groups to generate alternative income, sustain the quality of life and pride of the participating communities.

For more information, please contact us at info@aptso.org

Visit: www.sostur.org