Help celebrate and reward good local guides and services in developing countries!

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED! Announcement of winners has been slight delayed, but is expected at the end of April. Thank you for all those who got involved.

This competition is unique compared to most other tourism awards since it directly rewards the individuals who connect travellers to the local landscape and culture, with the anecdotes and knowledge that come from living locally. These local guides and services have controversially not been rewarded by some responsible tourism awards and organisations, and we thought it about time they received recognition, whether they work independently or with an organisation.

To make supporting local guides and services as easy as possible, any time you recommend or review them between now and 28th February 2009, they will automatically be entered into the competition.

Local guides and services are too often the unsung heroes of travel experiences, and yet are the ones fondly remembered for offering unique and authentic insights into local cultures.

More information about how to use Leap Local is here .

Why is this important?

In developing countries in particular local guides and services can find it difficult to prove their credibility to tourists, and so make a livelihood. Too often the locals and grassroots organisations lose out to foreign tour operators that can offer little benefit to the local communities while reaping rewards from local sites and activities. This phenomena is known as leakage, which often leads to problems since tourism activities can develop which are insensitive to local communities and culture.

Competition Structure

All local guides recommended or reviewed between November 29^th and February 28^th 2009 will automatically be entered into the competition. The winning local guides and services will be rewarded with spotlight features on the landing page of www.leaplocal.org, benefit from prizes, and PR opportunities e.g. with The Guardian (UK newspaper).

Only three months to submit your entry!

Judging Process

Over the course of the competition we will be inviting comments on the judging process from supporters of the competition, to make sure it is as fair as possible.

Competition supporters

It's not too late to get involved in supporting the competition 'Contact Us' .

Guardian journalist Vicky Baker recently visited Leap Local guides and services and will mention the competition when the article is published either this or next weekend. They are also keen to feature the winners at the end of Competition.

  GO Outdoors are making several prizes available to winning local guides and services, see here

We are pleased to have the support of Your Safe Planet, who are helping to publicise the competition with their own members and across other organisations.

www.maketravelfair.co.uk

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