The Petra Archeological Park has been selected by the Green Destinations Foundation as one of the Top 100 Sustainable Destinations for 2019 at ITB Berlin 2019. The event, the 2019 Sustainable Top 100 Destination Awards, not only highlights but also recognizes innovation and best practices in tourism management of destinations and tour operators whose hard work and perseverance has helped lead the way towards quality, attractiveness, and sustainability in tourism.
The competition was organized by twelve leading sustainable tourism organizations and networks, and destinations were nominated upon submitting a comprehensive application that addresses 30 key criteria. Applications were then reviewed by an international jury comprising of twelve experts from USA, Germany, Thailand, Netherlands, Australia, Norway and the United Kingdom, with the aim to identify the best sustainability success stories and good practices.
From a total of 100 top-sustainable destinations from around the world, 44 sustainable tourism stories submitted their applications to this year’s award. Of these 44 stories, 10 award winners have been carefully selected by a jury represented by 12 international organizations.
B4T3N2 The Treasury (Al Khazneh), Petra (UNESCO world heritage site), Jordan. Image shot 2006. Exact date unknown.
This award provides destinations with the opportunity to showcase the global state of the art green destination to the travel sector and the media at the world’s leading trade and travel show (ITB Berlin 2019).
Her Excellency Majd Shweikeh, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, was in Berlin to receive the award. She said: “Petra is one of the Kingdom’s most important and most famous archeological sites and this award underlines our ability as a sector not only to increase demand for our tourism product but to simultaneously maintain and protect our heritage in a sustainable way both for the antiquities and the local communities.” Her Excellency added: “Petra provides us with the framework to reflect everything we’ve learned onto every tourism attraction in the country and ensure that our heritage, hospitality and culture lives on for generations to come.”
In addition to winning this award, the Petra Archeological Park was also chosen as the number 2 finalist in the Best of Culture & Communities category for global leadership in protecting culture and tradition, involving local communities, and avoiding over tourism. Both of these selections will help elevate Jordan as a global leader in tourism sustainability and conservation.
Green Destinations’ awards are given to destinations that have effective measures in place to prevent tourism impacts on nature & landscape, culture & tradition, environment & climate and on host communities (over tourism).
Petra Archeological Park’s acknowledgement came as a result of USAID BEST Project support to the PDTRA in developing and submitting a successful nomination file in December 2018. The nomination content was developed in collaboration between PDTRA and the USAID BEST team and international tourism experts.
