Turtle Bay Beach Club wins World Responsible Tourism Award
(Posted 20th November 2015)
This correspondent has just concluded a second visit to Watamu in the space of six weeks and was able to interact with key tourism stakeholders on both occasions. This time was it the Watamu Marine Association which came into the spotlight, as seven other international journalists and travel writers were brought by the Kenya Tourism Board to Watamu, after attending the African Travel Association’s 40th Congress in Nairobi. Much discussed was the World Responsible Tourism Award which 2015 trophy was handed to Watamu’s Turtle Bay Beach Club.
Since receiving the award earlier this month, Turtle Bay Beach Club has been receiving national and international acclaim which is a great boost for Watamu and Kenya tourism. The Watamu Marine Association’s Steve Trott and Jane Spilsbury said they were thrilled to have played a key part in helping our member win the award having helped in submitting and supporting the application. Their partnership, in hindsight, clearly was one of the major reasons from a conservation point of view why TBBC was chosen as a winner.
TBBC and their Eco Team have supported Watamu Community Waste Management spearheaded by WMA since 2009 which includes WMA’s Recycling Centre and the Blue Team. The TBBC/WMA collaboration is a perfect example, and a model, of how environmental and conservation organizations and hotels can work together to help preserve the Watamu Marine Park and the local area.
Professor Harold Goodwin, Chair of the judging panel comments on why Turtle Bay Beach Club said in a comment sent in: ‘The judges recognised the leading role they have played in establishing the Watamu Marine Association bringing together 30 marine stakeholder organisations and groups from the tourism, community and environment sectors, the Beach Cleaning and Community Waste Management and Recycling Project and in helping other local hotels to set up their own Environmental Management Teams‘
The Watamu Marine Association, in short WMA brings together tourism businesses, conservationists and communities with one mission: to preserve the Watamu Marine National Park. This is not just one of Kenya’s most famous national parks, but an aqua arcadia if ever there was one. Beach clean ups are high on the agenda, with Turtle Bay Beach Club sponsoring weekly ones led by women and young people from WMA Community Groups, who are employed part-time to gather up waste, gain income from recycling it, either by passing it on to recycling companies, or using it to create handmade gifts, which are then sold.
For more information on the award please see http://www.responsibletravel.com/awards/categories/beach.htm
(The TBBC Eco Team at the Watamu Community Recycling Centre with Steve Trott seen second from the right)
