- Green Destinations honored global tourism initiatives at ITB Berlin 2026.
- Projects ranged from dolphin protection in Brazil to heritage boatbuilding in India.
- The awards recognize destinations that balance tourism growth with environmental and community protection.
- Green Destinations and Messe Berlin announced closer cooperation on sustainability initiatives linked to ITB’s host countries.
Sustainable Tourism Stories from Around the World
At a time when the tourism industry continues to wrestle with a difficult question — how to welcome visitors without exhausting landscapes or communities — the organization Green Destinations used the ITB Berlin 2026 stage to showcase examples that aim to strike that balance.
During the Green Destinations Story Awards ceremony on March 5, projects from across the globe were recognized for their efforts to manage tourism in ways that protect ecosystems, support local economies, and preserve cultural traditions.
Rather than rewarding glossy marketing campaigns, the awards focus on practical initiatives that address real-world problems created by tourism itself.
And the winning stories, scattered across continents, show just how varied those solutions can be.
Dolphins, Rivers, Villages, and Heritage
One of the evening’s most visible honors, the ITB Earth Award, went to Fernando de Noronha. This Brazilian island archipelago has developed a tourism program specifically designed to protect its spinner dolphin population.
In Europe, the Van Gogh National Park in the Netherlands received the award in the Destination Management category for its Mona Project, an initiative to distribute visitors more evenly across the landscape rather than concentrating them in a handful of crowded locations.
Nature-focused projects also featured prominently.
Thailand’s island of Koh Lanta received recognition in the Nature and Scenery category for its work protecting hermit crab habitats. At the same time, another Thai initiative from the Mekong-side fishing town of Chiang Khan was honored in the Environment and Climate category. Residents there now guide visitors along river walks that highlight the visible effects of climate change on the Mekong ecosystem.
Culture and heritage were equally present among the winners.
In the Indian port city of Beypore, Kerala, a project preserving the traditional craft of wooden boatbuilding won the Culture and Tradition category award — a reminder that tourism can sometimes help sustain skills that might otherwise disappear.
Meanwhile, the Hungarian city of Miskolc, once known primarily for heavy industry, won recognition in the Thriving Communities category for its transformation into a tourism destination.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Halifax, Canada, took the award in Business and Marketing for its efforts to organize conferences with sustainability standards built into every stage of the event.
Finally, the People’s Choice Award went to Selçuk in Turkey, where the Ephesus Field Life Village project invites visitors to experience traditional agricultural life — placing everyday rural work at the heart of the visitor experience.
A Growing Role for Sustainability at ITB
Beyond the awards themselves, the ceremony also marked a new step in cooperation between Green Destinations and Messe Berlin, the organizer of ITB.
Both organizations announced plans to strengthen collaboration, particularly in connection with the ITB host country program, which highlights a different destination each year.
Under the proposed partnership, host countries may benefit from advisory support from Green Destinations on building long-term tourism strategies that balance economic growth with environmental protection and community well-being.
For an industry increasingly aware of its environmental footprint, the message behind the awards was clear.
Tourism may never be impact-free.
But in a world of crowded destinations and fragile ecosystems, better ideas — and better examples — are becoming more important than ever
