New Forest Tour receives global tourism award

Nov. 12, 2012 - PRLog -- The Tour received its commendation in the Best Responsible Transport category, beating stiff competition from around the world. There were over 1,600 nominations for a number of categories that were whittled down by a carefully selected panel of industry experts.

David Harrison, Lead Member for Transport at the New Forest National Park, said: ‘The New Forest Tour partners were delighted to be recognised for such a high profile award. The Tour plays an important role in reducing the impact of traffic and transport on the special qualities of the National Park and provides a memorable experience for thousands of customers during the summer months. I am delighted that the growth and on-going success of the Tour has been recognised in this way.

‘In 2011 the Tour saved over 147,000 private car miles and its customers generated a contribution of nearly £500,000 to the local economy. Its popularity led to the 2012 operation being extended for a further six weeks.’

Justin Francis, founder of The Responsible Tourism Awards and Managing Director of http://www.responsibletravel.com, said: ‘Once again we reveal the responsible tourism agenda-setters, the remarkable winners of the Responsible Tourism Awards. We've cast the net far and wide and received over 1,000 nominations for organisations of all sizes and types globally. It gives me great confidence that responsible tourism is flourishing, and provides further inspiration for our industry.’

Amanda Wills, Managing Director, Virgin Holidays, headline sponsor of the Awards said: ‘The Responsible Tourism Awards serve to remind us of what can be achieved with ingenuity, passion and commitment. They are also an opportunity for us to stop, be inspired, and remember why being 'responsible' in business should be - must be - second nature.’

The Awards were presented on World Responsible Tourism Day (http://www.wtmwrtd.com/) at the World Travel Market in London.

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Notes to Editors:

About the New Forest Tour

The New Forest Tour is a partnership between Bluestar, Wilts and Dorset and the New Forest National Park Authority.

Numbers have increased from 9,000 passenger journeys in 2006 to nearly 34,000 in 2011.

For more information visit about routes, ticket options and timetables visit www.thenewforesttour.info.

About Virgin Holiday Responsible Tourism Awards

The Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards were founded in 2004 to celebrate the most inspiring stories in responsible tourism. Organised by responsibletravel.com (http://www.responsibletravel.com/awards) and sponsored by Virgin Holidays, we work with Metro, World Travel Market, International Centre for Responsible Tourism and Geographical Magazine(the official magazine of the Royal Geographical Society) to celebrate and inspire change in the tourism industry.

Innovation can happen anywhere, from the smallest niche company to the largest mainstream multinational. This is reflected not only in our winners, but in the diversity of our category sponsors, Gibraltar Tourist Board, Johannesburg Tourism, KwaZulu Natal, Oman Ministry of Tourism, Rainbow Tours, Slovenian Tourist Board, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Tourism Fiji, Trinidad and Tobago Tourist Board, Visit California, Visit Norway, Wightlink.