Owner and Managing Director of Carins-based educational tour company Small World Journeys Laurie Pritchard was awarded Silver for Specialised Tourism Services in last night’s Australian Tourism Awards. The business was recognised for its ongoing contributions in the educational tourism sector and its focus on sustainability.

Small World Journeys, a small business that operates multi-day tours for student groups, was awarded Gold in the recent Queensland Tourism Awards in November 2018 for Specialised Tourism Services, which brought them to the national competition last night. The Australian Tourism Awards are the tourism industry’s peak awards – for more than 30 years the awards have been recognising and promoting excellence in tourism. A wide and diverse range of tourism businesses enter their state and territory Tourism Awards. Over 200 reach the prestigious status of becoming a national finalist.

“Our goal is to make Cairns better because we exist,” said Pritchard. “We are educating young people on our tours, and we’re planting seeds in their minds that supporting the community they are travelling is an essential element of sustainable tourism. It’s so great to be recognised at national level for what we’re doing.”

Small World Journeys runs tours from four to 14 days for domestic and international school groups that sync with curriculum to meet academic, cultural and sustainability goals. Activities on these trips include community engagement and contribution activities such as mangrove education and clean up, coral bleaching surveys, and the creation of hygiene packs and meals for the homeless and needy. It is also company policy to include an activity with an Aboriginal guide in every tour offered to support the Indigenous community and promote pride in culture.

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