Mexican ecotourism project receives Skal award

For twelve consecutive years, the Skal International “Sustainable Development in Tourism” Awards have been presented during the Opening Ceremony of its annual World Congress. Skal recently closed its 74th World Congress aboard the Carnival Glory, the first time this yearly event took place on a cruise ship. This year, Alltournative won an award in the category of General Countryside.

Alltournative is a Mexican ecotourism project born in 1999 designed to create social and ecological conditions to promote sustainable development. At that time the Riviera Maya was a beach tourist destination but did not include one of the greatest treasures of this region: the Maya culture legacy.

Isolated in the jungle, Maya communities were on the brink of selling off their natural heritage in the face of an extremely bleak economic future. However, thanks to an enormous creative effort on the part of both parties the groundwork was laid for what today has become a recognized success story in practical sustainable development. The inhabitants of the region have found with ecotourism an economic activity that preserves their natural resources and their culture.

Alltournative offers small groups eco-archaeological expeditions in exclusive locations operated and owned by native people in the communities, and in most of the expeditions they visit archaeological sites. In its commitment to develop sustainable tourism in the area, Alltournative creates environmental and social conditions to achieve the following objectives:

• To protect the flora and fauna of the region.

• To contribute to the creation of a worthy way of life for the inhabitants of local communities encouraging regional social and economic development.

• To create direct jobs inside the community and avoid migration of the inhabitants.

• To preserve cultural traditions and customs.

• To contribute to a better children’s education in the communities.

Throughout 14 years in business, Alltournative has been recognized for the quality and personalized service, and overall for the commitment to the environment and towards the Mayan communities.

Some awards achieved are:

• Ecotourism National Award 2002.

• Economy Development Award 2005.

• Global Reporting Initiative 2007.

• Social Responsible Enterprise ESR 2007, 2008, 2009.

• “Diversification of the tourism product” in the category nature 2008.

For more information, go to www.alltournative.com

Skal is a member of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP) .