Eliana Willis

The National Park Foundation and partners are excited to announce the winners of the 2022 Share the Experience photo contest and launch the 2023 contest.The Share the Experience photo contest invites amateur photographers to share photos of their favorite views, moments, memories, and adventures from national parks and public lands across the United States, with safety top of mind.
“America’s national parks are home to a tremendous diversity of natural landscapes, wildlife, history and heritage,” said Will Shafroth, president and CEO of the National Park Foundation. “Congratulations to this year’s contest winners whose images capture the beauty of parks inspired by each photographer’s unique personal connection to these places we share.”
Nearly 8,000 photos were submitted to the contest which ran from June 22, 2022 through December 31, 2022. The winning image is featured on the America the Beautiful: The National Parks and Federal Recreation Lands Annual Pass, which covers entrance and standard amenity fees for participating federal locations throughout the country.
Top Three Winners
ADVERTISEMENTFirst place: A colorful Eastern Collared Lizard stands out bright and beautiful among the desert landscape of Wupatki National Monument. This photo, captured by Paulette Donnellon, will be featured on the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass.Second place: A photograph by Aaron Enloe of a sunlit creek with a backdrop of snow-covered mountains in Inyo National Forest. Third place: Josh Keogh’s photo captures a peaceful moment while kayaking at sunset along the minor islands at Isle Royale National Park.The National Park Foundation is also excited to launch the 2023 Share the Experience photo contest with co-sponsor Booz Allen Hamilton, the contractor and partner for the Recreation.gov platform. This year’s contest invites amateur photographers to submit their favorite recent shots.
The grand prize for the winning image is $10,000, followed by $5,000 and $3,000 for second and third place. Winners also receive outdoor gear provided by Celestron and Hydro Flask, hotel vouchers courtesy of Historic Hotels of America®, and an annual National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass.
Prizes will also be awarded for the following six categories:
Outdoors for All
Demonstrate how public lands welcome and connect us by highlighting the diversity of locations, activities, and visitors. This category spotlights people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities, exploring and enjoying the spectrum of experiences available at our public lands and waters.Everyday Adventures
An incredible experience doesn’t require visiting an iconic destination. Adventure can be found in the everyday. Discover new places and capture activities and imagery from lesser-known public lands and waters across the country.History & Heritage

From monuments and battlefields to re-enactments and cultural celebrations, this category is meant to showcase the rich history and diversity of the United States and the special places and traditions that preserve and promote them.Scenery & Seasons
The scenic vistas, sweeping landscapes, and beautiful flora of public lands can be found in far-off locales or closer to home than you think – capture fall foliage, forests, winter wonderlands, flowers, mountains, deserts, canyons, lakes, seashores, rivers and more.Wildlife
Take a walk on the wild side with photos of the incredible array of animals that call federal lands and waters home. Remember to always keep your distance and stay safe!Night Skies
Starlight and starbright, capture the magic of a night out under the stars. Slow the shutter speed down and see what develops! Remember to stay in designated areas and follow all guidelines about hours for visitation.The 2023 Share the Experience photo contest is hosted by the National Park Foundation and Booz Allen Hamilton in partnership with the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and Recreation.gov. Share the Experience is the official photo contest of America’s national parks and federal recreational lands and waters, showcasing the more than 500 million acres of federal lands and waters and drawing entries from across the United States. The 2023 contest is now open and accepting entries through December 31.
Please visit sharetheexperience.org to learn more about the contest, including how to submit an image, the full list of prizing, and contest rules. You can also follow @NationalParkFoundation on Instagram for photo inspiration.

Older
RITZ-CARLTON RESERVE DEBUTS IN CHINA

Newer
Pitch up to Mr Toad’s for The Ashes 2023 cricket series More

Dubai Economy and Tourism (DET) CEO Issam Kazim has told the emirate’s hospitality leaders he wants to convert holiday-makers into residents.
Speaking at DET’s latest City Briefing, held at Dubai World Trade Centre on Thursday June 15, Kazim said: “Today we have two new KPIs. We want to make sure Dubai continues to be one of the best cities to work in, and more importantly, one of the best cities in the world to live in.”Around a quarter of all Dubai tourists return within a year. Kazim said convincing those people to make Dubai a permanent home is key.He added: “Once you bring them in, you’d hope they spend more money next time and stay for longer. Eventually, they would consider living in Dubai, and we have all the visas to facilitate that. We’d like them to work here, live here and retire here.
“It’s all about closing the loop.”
Dubai has a high proportion of tourists visiting friends and family, Kazim explained. “The more we grow the community here locally,” he added. “It both retains spend, and it brings in even more first-time visitors. That needs to continue.”
The latest data from Dubai’s tourism performance (which goes up to April 2023) shows that the average length of stay in the city is four nights. Increased from 2019. In total, 6.02 international visitors came to Dubai from January to April 2023, closing the gap on 2019’s 6.26 million during the same period.ADVERTISEMENTDubai’s population is around 3.5 million, 85 percent of which are expats.The Dubai Economic Agenda (D33) plans to add billions of dirhams to the economy across more than 100 projects in the next 10 years. It was announced at the start of the year by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai.
By 2033, Sheikh Mohammed would like to see Dubai one of the top four global financial centres, doubling the city’s economy.
The plan includes a programme to support 30 private companies to achieve unicorn status ― worth more than US$1 billion (about AED3.67 billion). Other business incubators will support the growth of private companies, with 400 of the most promising identified.
Dubai was voted Middle East’s Leading City Destination 2022 at last year’s World Travel Awards.
Source: Hotelier Middle East

Older
FUERTEVENTURA BECOMES THE FOURTH CANARY ISLAND ON BA EUROFLYER’S ROUTE MAP

Newer
Saudi Arabia announces US$500M E-Sports City in Riyadh More

A new project from Modon Properties has been announced, located on Abu Dhabi’s Hudayriyat Island, and featuring what they’re calling the world’s “largest man-made wave pool.”
“Set to open by the end of 2023, Surf Abu Dhabi will be the biggest and most advanced artificial wave facility in the world. Designed in partnership with Kelly Slater Wave Co., the landmark destination will offer a high-performance surfing experience, featuring the world’s longest ride, biggest barrel, and largest man-made wave pool. Underscoring Abu Dhabi’s sporting and leisure credentials, the exclusive surfing complex seeks to attract everyone from beginners to pro-surfers. Surf Abu Dhabi will provide an ideal location to host major international events and will play a major role in developing the surfing community locally, regionally, and globally.”
Specifics on just how big the pool will be, and the size of the waves it will be able to produce, are still scarce. However, per a report from TimeOut, the pool will span 51 million square meters. The Surf Ranch in Lemoore, CA is reportedly 2,300 feet long – that’s only 700 meters.
So, it’s bigger. Much bigger. You do the maths.

Older
Etihad Airways partners with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One

Newer
MOXY HOTELS DEBUTS IN THE ARCTIC PLAYGROUND OF TROMSØ More

Public, private and academic sectors uniteIn line with Sustainable Development Goal 17 on partnerships for development, the ESG Framework for Tourism Businesses project brings together leading businesses and top scholars with the multilateral system to co-design a measurement tool that is meaningful and feasible for improved monitoring how tourism businesses impact, and depend on, people, planet and prosperity. UNWTO and Oxford University will carry out a comprehensive mapping of current work, interview pioneering businesses in the accommodation and reservation services industries, and further research and development.
Based on this work, UNWTO plans to issue a first beta version of the ESG Tourism Framework for accommodation and reservation services, with a view to extending it into additional tourism industries over 2024 and launch the finalized, agreed version for global uptake.
UNWTO Executive Director, Zoritsa Urosevic, said “By drawing on the power of international consensus – based on the forthcoming UN Statistical Framework for Measuring Sustainable Tourism (MST) – the ESG Framework for Tourism Businesses will provide a comparable and relevant set of indicators for tourism industries. It will empower private and public sectors with more robust data to shape innovative policies, transform business models and promote better tourism governance”.
“The ESG Framework brings together the University of Oxford’s world class academic research with the international consensus-building ability and expertise of the UNWTO.  Ensuring that this strategic approach is matched with real-world testing and consultation with industry experts, such as easyJet holidays, this project is uniquely placed to bring about meaningful impact in the sustainable tourism sector,” said Professor Alexander Betts, University of Oxford’s Local and Global Engagement Officer
Matt Callaghan, easyJet holidays’ Director of Customer & Operations, said: “We have big ambitions when it comes to making sustainable holidays mainstream and we’re committed to playing our part in supporting better tourism governance. So, as the SDG Impact Lab’s founding partner we’re delighted to be supporting the Lab’s work with the UNWTO, to develop a first of its kind environmental, social and governance framework for sustainable tourism.ADVERTISEMENTActionable data for real impactIn tourism, as in other sectors, the challenge often lies not in a lack of data, but rather in the absence of common and harmonized approaches to organizing data, especially given the complexity of numerous existing initiatives. This hinders the ability to benchmark performance across businesses and to communicate progress of the sector with policy makers. It can even undermine stakeholder confidence.
By applying internationally recognized statistical approaches, this project aims to establish a fundamental level of consensus and alignment in business disclosures, enabling more consistent reporting that is comparable:
Between businesses within the tourism sector,Between tourism businesses and those in other economic sectors, andBetween business level-data and public-level (national and subnational) data.Moreover, the ESG Framework will demonstrate the potential of supplementing business–level data with national and global tourism statistics, for more holistic and cost-effective ESG disclosures that make the most of available information.
Developed under the umbrella of the UNWTO Statistical Framework for Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (SF-MST), applicable to countries and destinations worldwide to guide the production of reliable and comparable data of tourism’s economic, social and environmental aspects, the ESG Framework for Tourism businesses will bring the benefits of consensus and harmonization also to the private sector.

Older
Premier Inn launches four-day flash sale, with rooms from AED110

Newer
Turkish Airlines, Türkiye’s ‘Most Valuable Brand’ for the Sixth Consecutive Time More