Entries open for Lata’s excellence and responsible tourism awards
Award winners will be announced at association’s Expo in June
Troov
The Latin American Travel Association (Lata) has opened up entries for its forthcoming industry awards.
Applications are now open for the Lata Excellence Awards and the Lata Responsible Tourism Awards, with winners set to be announced at the Lata Expo in June.
The Lata Excellence Awards, previously known as the Lata Achievement Awards, recognise innovation and excellence across the Latin American travel sector. Applications are welcomed from all Lata members, including tour operators, hotels, destinations and airlines. The awards aim to recognise ‘true trailblazers, innovators and heroes’ from Lata’s membership.
For 2025, the awards include categories for the best tour operator; airline; DMC; hotel; cruise line; destination; marketing campaign; product launch; and workplace of the year as well as a significant contribution award and unsung hero award.
They will be judged by a panel including independent industry experts Kate Kenward, of Visit USA UK; Adrian Phillips from Bradt Travel Guides; Basia Kolosinska from C&M Recruitment; and Kate McWilliams from Lotus.
The Lata Responsible Tourism Awards champion responsible, ethical and sustainable tourism practices across Latin America and aim to highlight initiatives that can be replicated across the region. The gold winners of the Lata Responsible Tourism Awards 2025 will be automatically entered into the Global Responsible Tourism Awards.
This year’s categories are: nature positive; managing waste; increasing local sourcing and creating shared value; climate adaptation and resilience; responsible, all-inclusive travel; and peace, understanding and inclusion.
The awards aim to show Lata’s commitment to sustainability. It launched its sustainable travel programme in 2022 to support members and promote the region for sustainable travel. A core component of this is Lata’s eight-week Strategic Sustainability Training which so far has been completed by 107 members.
The judges for these awards are: Harold Goodwin, co-founder of The Responsible Tourism Partnership; Anne-Kathrin Zschiegner, director of The Long Run; Chris Haslam, chief travel writer at The Sunday Times; Edgar Weggelaar, chief executive of Queer Destinations; Maria Emilia Correa; co-founder and senior strategist at Sistema B; Quinn Meyer, founder of CREES Manu in Peru and gold winner of a Global Responsible Tourism Award 2024; and Megan Parkinson, head of sustainability at Lata.
Lata chief executive Danny Callaghan said: “At Lata, we truly believe we should be shouting about the incredible work that is being done across the Latin American travel industry, and we want to celebrate and recognise those achievements.
“I look forward to reading the many achievements of our members in the Lata Excellence Awards, who work tirelessly to showcase the best of travel in Latin America. We are pleased to be hosting the Lata Responsible Travel Awards for the second year running and welcome applications from non-Lata members as much as our own community for these awards.”
The awards are now open for applications, which should be submitted via Lata’s website by 6pm on April 11, 2025. The excellence awards are open to all Lata members and the responsible tourism awards are open to all, including non-members.
The Lata Expo returns to the De Vere Beaumont Estate, just outside Windsor from June 2-4, 2025.
Pictured: Lata Expo awards 2024
