Awards and Recognition
Andaman Discoveries has been honored with royal audiences three times, and received a Royal Insignia pin from Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn in 2008 in recognition of our community work in the village since the tsunami. Since early 2005, with the help of donors and volunteers, we have built and sponsored a successful community center, which has become the focal point of the community, purchased land for the new school, supported adult education classes, assisted with community-based tourism development, implemented a waste management program, and held environmental education camps and much more. Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, known as Princess Angel by the devoted nation, is famous for using her interest and expertise in science for the country's development.
Andaman Discoveries Awards
Finalist: Andaman Discoveries is one of twelve finalists for the World Challenge 2009, a global competition aimed at finding projects or small businesses from around the world that have shown enterprise and innovation at a grassroots level. As a finalist, we were featured on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Tourism Authority of Thailand 2009 Green Award Winner
Winner: The TAT Green Awards are intended to highlight and further promote Thailand's dedication to the conservation of its natural and cultural resources, and to support sustainable tourism development. The winners were chosen in partnership with responsibletravel.com, based on previous entrants into the Responsible Tourism Awards.
Travel + Leisure Global Vision Award 2008
Winner: The Global Vision Award from Travel + Leisure magazine gives global recognition to organizations within tourism and dedicated to breaking moulds and pushing boundaries, while working with the environment around them. Recipients of this award are considered to be the most progressive, forward-thinking visionaries who are setting new travel and tourism standards in areas such as cultural reservation and ecological conservation.
SEED Award for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development 2008
Winner: The SEED Initiative (Supporting Entrepreneurs for Sustainable Development) promotes and supports exceptional multi-stakeholder partnerships, which have developed innovative, locally-led solutions to the global challenges of sustainable development. SEED focuses on locally-driven, entrepreneurial partnerships in developing countries. Its goal is to inspire, promote, and build capacity to support the many innovative ways in which diverse groups are working together to improve incomes and strengthen livelihoods, tackle poverty, and marginalization, and to manage and conserve natural resources and eco-systems.
Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards 2007
Winner: A mere two years after its conception, Andaman Discoveries has won this prestigious award in the category of "Best Preservation of Cultural Heritage" for our ground-breaking work in crisis relief and sustainable community development since the tsunami. Responsible Travel is a new way of traveling for those who have had enough of destructive mass tourism and want to minimize the social, environmental, and cultural impact of their trip. Here at Andaman Discoveries, we use local knowledge and International expertise to ensure that both visitors and locals get the maximum benefit from each trip.
Wild Asia's Responsible Tourism Award 2007 – 2009
Finalist: For three years running, Andaman Discoveries' homestay program was the runner-up for Asia's largest Responsible Tourism Award, hosted by Wild Asia. The awards recognizes exemplary efforts and for making a real difference using responsible practices both at village and organizational level. Wild Asia sees the awards as the first step in engaging wider stakeholders in partnership, understanding, and working towards sustainable development goals.
Ban Talae Nok Awards
Silver: Kinnaree Award for "Outstanding Performance: Best Eco Tourism Attraction"
The Eco Tourism club of Ban Talae Nok won the silver Kinnaree Award for "Outstanding Performance: Best Eco Tourism Attraction" in the 2008 Thailand Tourism Awards, presented by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). A 20-member selection committee from TAT visited the village in August and assessed it on such criteria as environmental stewardship, community participation, sufficiency-economy philosophy, good governance, and responsibility to society. MORE >>
Muang Kluang Awards
Winner: Most Outstanding Community-based Tourism Award 2007
In 2007, Muang Kluang was awarded "The Most Outstanding Community-based Tourism Award" by the Tourism Authority of Thailand. The awards are designed to promote the conservation of the country's precious natural and cultural resources and support sustainable tourism development in tandem with the quality development of the Thai tourism industry.
Tung Nang Dam Awards
Winner: Most Outstanding Community-based Tourism Award 2007
Many people wondered if it's realistic to think that the villagers can do tourism by themselves without Andaman Discoveries support. The Tung Nang Dam community-based tourism group proved this by receiving The Most Outstanding Community-based Tourism Award for their work in promoting the conservation of natural and cultural resources and supporting sustainable tourism development. The acknowledgement of community-based tourism by the Thailand Tourism Authority and The Office of Tourism Development of Thailand's Ministry of Tourism and Sports is great news for the communities in which we work in who are already receiving international awards for their work.
