ITB Berlin 2024: Sustainability, Aqaba and Awards

In early March, Director Alison Burgh travelled to ITB Berlin by train as part of Acorn Tourism’s ongoing CBI project work in Jordan. As always, it was a busy few days packed with meetings, awards and some extremely exciting milestones for Aqaba, Jordan.

Alison has been to ITB on numerous occasions but was impressed by the strong emphasis and presence of sustainability at this year’s event. There were a wide range of new businesses, initiatives, NGOs, and speakers with a focus on sustainability that had appeared this year, showcasing more and more positive movements in the right direction.

The strong theme of sustainability was underpinned by the 10-year anniversary of the Green Destinations Top 100 Stories Awards. These are revealed every year at ITB Berlin, with destinations and businesses receiving their awards at a special ceremony.

This year we were excited to see that Aqaba, Jordan came in 2^nd place in the Environment and Climate category, working collaboratively with the RSCN Aqaba Bird Observatory. Their story submission can be read in more detail here.

This is a huge milestone for Aqaba as a destination and came at a great time for them as 2024 is also the year the city signed an agreement with Green Destinations to work towards full destination certification. This is an impressive landmark in Aqaba's journey and commitment to taking a robust and transparent approach to delivering on its Green Growth strategy goal to become a green destination. This has been a huge step in the work that Acorn Tourism has been working on as part of the wider CBI, Jordan Sustainable Tourism Programme 20221 – 2025.

In addition, Acorn Tourism has sponsored the Green Destinations Top 100 Stories fee waiver program for the last few years. This programme allows low-income destinations to enter the competition at no cost, giving them an equal chance to start their sustainability journeys. This year Belsh, Albania was placed for their story on Culture and Tradition which can be found here.

A huge congratulations to all the shortlisted and placed destinations for their reporting and storytelling efforts. The Green Destinations Top 100 Stories Awards is a great initiative - this year’s registrations are closing very soon, so don’t miss out. More information can be found here.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like support on submitting your story.