FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON (May 30, 2008)—Fifteen groundbreaking projects from
around the world are the finalists in the Geotourism Challenge: Celebrating
Places/Changing Lives competition, a collaboration of the National Geographic’s Center for Sustainable Destinations and Ashoka’s Changemakers. The online contest was created to discover and support entrepreneurs with groundbreaking approaches to geotourism, defined as tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place -- its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents.

From the 323 entries submitted from 84 countries, the judge’s selected these 15 finalists:

1. Wildlife Conservation Society, Gabon: Establishing Gabon as the gateway to Africa’s rainforests by highlighting its pristine nature and ancient cultures
2. Blue Ventures Conservation, Madagascar: Using paying volunteer program as a strategy to protect threatened marine resources
3. Banyan Tree Hotel, Maldives: Creating a marine lab to protect, conserve, research, and educate about the coral reef environment
4. CC Africa, South Africa: Pioneering land and wildlife conservation, and giving local rural communities a meaningful share of the benefits
5. Chumbe Island Coral Park, Ltd., Tanzania: Creating a financially, ecologically and socially sustainable model to save the country’s coral reefs
6. Crete’s Culinary Sanctuaries, Greece: Offering seminars for organic farmers, chefs, historians, mountaineers and other locals to share their knowledge about Crete’s culture and nature with visitors
7. Eco-Health Farms, Latvia: Integrating ancestral traditions, nature protection and health prevention
8. Evason Phuket & Six Senses Spa, Thailand: Setting up an eco-trail that shows locals and guests the resort’s environmental practices
9. Exotica Cottages, Dominica: Integrating local expertise in gardening and conservation into the island’s ecotourism efforts
10. Great Baikal Trail, Russia: Establishing Russia’s first system of hiking trails to promote environmentally sustainable development
11. Rios Tropicales Lodge, Costa Rica: Protecting the rainforest through the collaboration of local communities, tourists, and conservation organizations
12. Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust, India: Changing local mindsets towards snow leopards
13. 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking, Nepal: Training and empowering women to be guides in adventure tourism efforts
14. Tourism Board of Bhutan, Bhutan: Making geotourism development a national policy
15. Yachana Foundation, Ecuador: Offering lodging, meals, adventure and education through experiences with local Amazonian nature and culture

The four judges who reviewed submissions and selected the finalists were Keith Bellows, Vice President of the National Geographic Society and Editor-in-Chief of National Geographic Traveler; Susan Berresford, Past President of The Ford Foundation; Leonard Cordiner, CEO of WHL Travel; and Nachiket Mor, President of the ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth.

"I was stunned at the quality of the applications,” said judge Keith Bellows. “They showcased great innovation that can be exported to other countries; terrific successes against long odds; and a far-reaching global distribution of projects. Not only did the entries make fascinating reading but I was inspired by the vision, imagination, passion, and entrepreneurship of the people who are making a difference in the lives of locals and travelers."

The global online community can vote for the three winners, through June 11, at www.changemakers.net. The winners will be announced on June 17, and will each receive a cash prize of US $5,000.

“The Geotourism Challenge received entries from the most countries for any collaborative competition we’ve held so far,” said Charlie Brown, the executive director of Changemakers. “This shows that the Changemakers global online community is influential in surfacing innovators who are helping destinations benefit from tourism while protecting the assets that make their places special."

National Geographic’s Center for Sustainable Destinations is dedicated to protecting the world’s distinctive places through wisely managed geotourism and enlightened destination stewardship. www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/sustainable. www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/sustainable/.

Ashoka's Changemakers is building an "open source" online community that competes to surface the best social solutions to the world’s most pressing issues. To date, Changemakers has attracted more than 3,500 solutions from more than 145 countries. www.changemakers.net.

CONTACT:
Barbara Fallon
National Geographic
(703) 683-4866
bfallon.NationalGeograhic@gmail.com

Delyse Sylvester
Ashoka’s Changemakers
(250) 352-0616
dsylvester@ashoka.org