Urban Adventures winners announced!
We are very happy to announce the winners of the 2009 Urban Adventures prizes
We reviewed scores of worthy candidates in our search for three standout examples of local tour operators/travel organisations that best demonstrate how to integrate the "Power of Place" into a travel experience. We were very impressed by the many excellent examples of experiential travel product – product built around the unique qualities and core assets of a place – and, although there were many others that could also easily have won, we selected the following organizations:
- Ger to Ger Foundation in Mongolia
- Context Travel in the USA
- Community Based Tourism Initiatives (Cobati) in Uganda
Urban Adventures, a recently launched joint venture between Intrepid Travel and the WHL Group, is a new style of travel experience for those who want to get off the beaten path and really connect with a destination. Urban Adventures can be as short as a couple of hours or as long as a whole day, but in every case they take you to interesting places to meet locals and really see what makes the place tick. The three winners of the Urban Adventures prizes demonstrate the qualities we embody in all the tours we operate. We hope the financial support to these organisations will help them continue to develop the great work they are doing.
The 2009 winners:
Ger to Ger in Mongolia offers amazing expeditions incorporating unique insights into the lives of local people along the nomadic routes travelled. They also allow travellers to engage directly with and learn from the local villagers, as well as partake in local festivals.
Context Travel in the United States is very close to Urban Adventures’ heart in focussing on cities and opening the eyes of travellers to all that is unique and precious about them. During innovative walking seminars (tours) led by architects, historians and art historians, visitors share in unique takes on their urban surroundings.
Cobati in Uganda appealed to us because of the great work they are doing in unique cultural sites and in rural homestay development in villages bordering conservation areas. In addition, we value the emphasis they place on using tourism initiatives to train and mentor rural women in artisanal, culinary and hospitality skills as a means of supplementing their household incomes.
For more information about the winners, please visit the whl.travel blog and the Intrepid Travel blog.