The WTTC's Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, now in their 21st year, honor travel companies that exemplify the ways that tourism creates economic, environmental and cultural benefits for local people and places. Under the direction of Fiona Jeffery, founder of the Just a Drop foundation and former chairman of the World Travel Market, the judges travel the world to conduct on-site evaluations to select the finalists and winners, with the awards presented at the WTTC Global Summit. This year's finalists:
Community Award
Cinnamon Wild Yala, Sri Lanka
The Sri Lankan hotel donates steel cages to dairy farmers near the Yala National Park, one of the world's best places for leopard-watching, so that the farmers don't need to kill the big cats to protect their cattle.
G Adventures, Toronto
Planeterra, G Adventure's nonprofit arm, has launched 60 projects connected to its tours that have given more than 70,000 people greater access to education, health care and sustainable income.
Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya
Home to the last three northern white rhinos on Earth and the largest black rhino sanctuary in East Africa, Ol Pjeta also rescues chimpanzees and helps local communities with health care and water access among its initiatives.
Destination Award
Botswana Tourism Organization
Through focusing on high-end, low-impact ecotourism, Botswana tourism has created around 60,000 jobs and contributed $650 million to the country's GDP.
City of Bydgoszcz, Poland
The city revitalized its River Brda, once polluted with sewage and factory waste after the Cold War, so it is now the cleanest river in Poland and a popular tourist attraction.
Pallas-Yllastunturi National Park, Finland
The park works with local travel operators, reindeer herders and the Sami people to balance the needs of conservation and local development.
Environment Award
Biosphere Expeditions, U.K.
Running ethical and transparent volunteering trips, Biosphere reports on the income spent and the conservation outcomes and recommendations for every expedition.
Caiman Ecological Refuge, Brazil
With its combination of cattle ranching, ecotourism and conservation, the refuge is the first place in the world to reintroduce jaguars into the wild, it quadrupled its hyacinth macaw population and its Caiman Lasso Festival preserves the Pantaneiro cowboy lifestyle.
Misool, Indonesia
This ecoresort began in 2005 with a "No Take Zone" around its Raja Ampat archipelago island to protect fish and coral species. Hundreds of miles of protected zone later, illegal fishing has been reduced by 86%, while fish biomass has increased by 250%.
Innovation Award
The Nature Conservancy, U.S.
Using crowdsourcing and data mapping, the group is the first to quantify the value of the world's reefs to provide more incentive for their protection.
Native Hotels and Accessible Tourism, Spain
The hotels make accessible communication possible for all with vibrating watches for the hearing impaired, signage in Braille for the visually impaired and booking capabilities for users with many disabilities.
Soel Yachts, Netherlands
The solar-powered catamaran is powered by 36 solar panels on its roof, which, when the yacht is not in use, can supply solar power for its host resort.
People Award
The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation's China Hospitality Education Initiative (CHEI), U.S.
CHEI helps prepare students for hospitality and tourism careers and helps China train hospitality workers so they are ready to meet the industry's ongoing growth.
Desert & Delta Safaris, Botswana
The safari company has trained more than 20 members of the local community to manage its camps, covering all costs to ensure there is no financial barrier to entry.
Streets International, Vietnam
More than 250 children, many orphaned or having been trafficked, have learned hospitality and culinary skills in a training center and restaurant in Hoi An. All of its graduates have found jobs in hospitality.