Imvelo Responsible Tourism Awards - finalists

Imvelo, running for the tenth year, awards tourism businesses that demonstrate sustained responsible practice in their operations in terms of their natural, social and economic environments.

Brett Dungan, chief executive officer of FEDHASA says 38 tourism businesses made it to the finals in this year's awards programme.

The finalists:

• African Chapter Tours,
  
• African Impact,
  
• Avis Rent-a-Car,
  
• Awol Tours,
  
• Backpack in Africa Travel Centre in Cape Town,
  
• Camp Jabulani,
  
• Cape Grace Hotel,
  
• Cape Town International Convention Centre,
  
• Centurion Lake Hotel,
  
• Drakensberg Sun Lifestyle Resort,
  
• d'Ouwe Werf,
  
• Emzini Tours,
  
• Flamingo Casino in Kimberley,
  
• Garden Court Eastern Boulevard - Cape Town,
  
• Garden Court Hatfield,
  
• Grootbos Private Nature Reserve,
  
• Kondowe Nature Reserve in Limpopo,
  
• Kayak Africa Mumbo Island Camp in Malawi,
  
• Motsethabo Tours in Alexandra,
  
• Nkomazi Game Reserve in Mpumalanga,
  
• Palazzo Montecasino,
  
• Riverside Lifestyle Resort,
  
• Shangana Cultural Village,
  
• Southern Sun Hotels,
  
• Southern Sun Grayston,
  
• Southern Sun Newlands,
  
• Southern Sun Waterfront,
  
• Sun City Resort,
  
• Sun International Zambia,
  
• Table Bay Hotel,
  
• Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company,
  
• The Backpack & Africa Travel Centre,
  
• Tourvest Destination Management, Townhouse Hotel,
  
• Town Lodge Grayston Drive,
  
• Tsheola Dinare Tours & Transport,
  
• Turtle Bay Beach Club in Watamu, Kenya,
  
• Vineyard Hotel & Spa'
  
• Windmill Casino in Bloemfontein.

Imvelo - which means 'nature' in South Africa's Nguni languages - encourages industry members to accept voluntary guidelines promoting responsible tourism. The awards are in line with the responsible tourism guidelines for the South African hospitality industry and the UN World Tourism Organisation's code of ethics, and are supported by the Heritage Environmental Rating Programme.

The categories

Awards will be made in the categories Best social involvement programme, Best practice - economic impact, Best overall environmental management system, Best single resource management programme - for energy, water and waste, Most empowered tourism business and Investor in people. An overall Imvelo winner will be selected.

A Chairman's Award could be made at the discretion of the FEDHASA chairman to any Imvelo entrant or any other organisation in the tourism industry that made a significant contribution to responsible tourism over the past year.

Winners will receive their awards at an awards ceremony to be held in Johannesburg on World Responsible Tourism Day, 9 November.

The 2011 awards are supported by Absa, the Department of Water Affairs, Eskom, the Industrial Development Corporation and Don't Waste Services.

For more information go to www.imveloawards.co.za.