Selected are: Parnamirim, Santa Cruz, São Miguel do Gostoso, and Tibau do Sul
Along with 17 Brazilian tourist destinations, including four from Rio Grande do Norte, competing is already an honor in prestige for the Green Destinations Top 100 Stories. An international competition is comprised of the best examples of responsible tourism and sustainable tourism, innovative projects in environmental preservation, education, and social inclusion. The event intends to draw attention to those destinations struggling to become more sustainable and offer responsible tourism that respects the local ecosystems and communities.
The winners of this year’s Green Destinations Top 100 Stories Competition will be announced online on 15 October during the Global Green Destinations Conference 2024. The competition has been seeing growing interest from the international tourism community, and its awards ceremony will take center stage at ITB Berlin in 2025, among the largest travel tradeshow events in the world. This global recognition is expected to significantly boost the profiles of the winning destinations.
The Brazilian contenders include seven destinations from the state of Santa Catarina seeking international recognition: Arabutã, Bom Jardim da Serra, Bombinhas, Itá, Penha, Rota do Enxaimel, and Treze Tílias. Each has its own particular method of working around tourism in a sustainable manner. Santa Catarina is an emerging state for ecotourism, and the novelties just keep on coming in respect to development and the environment.
Four destinations represent Rio Grande do Norte: Parnamirim, Santa Cruz, São Miguel do Gostoso, and Tibau do Sul-Rio Grande do Norte is a state just now coming into its own as a desirable alternative to more saturated tourist areas such as the Algarve in Portugal. These destinations are known not only for their natural beauty but also for their work in maintaining sustainable tourism practices that accomplish the goals set by the Green Destinations program. Tibau do Sul is especially recognized for the protection of marine life and maintenance of its coastline, since the sheltered harbor protects the famous Pipa Beach.
Three other destinations that joined the competition from Pernambuco are Fernando de Noronha, Sirinhaém, and Tamandaré. Fernando de Noronha is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is considered internationally important for its translucent waters with unparalleled biodiversity, both with very high levels of environmental protection. The other two- namely, Sirinhaém and Tamandaré-present evidence of a recent effort to consolidate local communities around tourism while protecting their coastal ecosystems.
The other competitors are: Barão de Cocais in Minas Gerais; Bodoquena in Mato Grosso do Sul; Rio Branco in Acre. Each of these takes a peculiar look at sustainability, be it tourist growth, taking care of the environment, or social development.
Such competition, according to the renowned tourism expert Beth Bauchwitz, is very important. “Participation in the Green Destinations Top 100 Stories is not about recognition alone. This ensures a continuous learning and development process for the Brazilian destinations.” She further explained. She went on to say that competition makes destinations realize the need for development to become increasingly sustainable; this ensures long-term, communitywide, and ecosystem-wide benefits.
Green Destinations is an international organization that was founded in 2014 to support responsible tourism. It maintains a coherent certification program, complete with assessment reports and a set of supporting tools that help destinations and tourism businesses to implement sustainable strategies. It fosters a growing global movement toward more responsible tourism.
Del Institute is the institutional partner in Brazil in charge of coordinating the Green Destinations programme, which unites the destinations in that country seeking to establish better sustainability practices and obtaining international certification.
It is in this context-increasing interest in the tourism sector for sustainable travel-that the presence of Brazil in Green Destinations Top 100 Stories has fit into its commitment to sustainability by means of responsible development of tourism. Be it through conservation, cultural preservation, or community empowerment, these destinations are setting a model example that others can follow in the pursuit of a more sustainable future of tourism.
