How to Nominate for a Tourism Award: A Complete Nomination Guide

A tourism award nomination is one of the most effective ways for a destination, tourism board or DMC to earn independent, third-party validation in a crowded global market. Every year, more travellers, tour operators and investors look for evidence — beyond a destination's own marketing — that a place genuinely delivers on service, sustainability and visitor experience. This guide walks through exactly how the tourism award nomination process works in 2027: who is eligible, how judging is scored, what it costs, and — most importantly — the precise steps to prepare and submit a nomination that stands a genuine chance of winning.

This guide is deliberately process-focused. If you already understand why recognition matters and simply need to know how to nominate for tourism awards correctly, the sections below on preparing your submission and avoiding common mistakes are the ones to read most closely.

What Are Tourism Awards, Exactly?

A tourism award is a formal recognition programme in which an independent panel of judges evaluates nominated destinations, tourism boards, DMCs and tourism organisations against published criteria, then publicly honours the strongest performers — typically at an annual gala ceremony. Credible programmes share three traits: an independent jury with genuine travel expertise, transparent published judging criteria, and no public voting component. Programmes built on open online polls are easy to manipulate with bulk voting and carry far less weight with travel trade partners and investors than merit-judged awards.

Under the Hospitality Awards umbrella, tourism board and destination recognition sits primarily within the International Travel Awards programme, which also covers hotels, airlines, cruise lines, travel agencies and tour operators — meaning a tourism award nomination sits within a globally recognised, cross-industry context rather than a standalone niche credential.

Why Tourism Award Recognition Matters

For tourism boards and DMCs, a nomination is not simply a marketing exercise — it produces measurable operational benefits.

• Stronger positioning with travel trade partners. Tour operators and travel agents weigh independent recognition heavily when deciding which destinations to feature and promote.
• Amplified media and PR reach. Winning organisations typically receive press coverage and social amplification that would be costly to buy through paid campaigns alone.
• Investor and government confidence. A track record of independently judged wins signals operational maturity, supporting tourism funding conversations and destination marketing budgets.
• Team and stakeholder morale. DMC staff and tourism board employees take genuine pride in externally verified recognition of work that is often difficult to quantify internally.

Tourism Award Categories

Tourism award categories are typically organised by organisation type and specialism, so nominees are judged against genuinely comparable peers rather than a single undifferentiated shortlist.

• Tourism Board of the Year — national and regional tourism authorities
• Destination Marketing Organisation of the Year — DMOs driving visitor growth strategy
• Destination Management Company of the Year — ground-handling and experience DMCs
• Sustainable Tourism Destination of the Year — destinations leading on environmental and community responsibility
• Emerging Destination of the Year — destinations gaining rapid international visibility
• Tourism Innovation of the Year — technology, product or experience innovation
• Cultural & Heritage Tourism Award — destinations preserving and promoting cultural assets
• Tour Operator of the Year — operators delivering exceptional destination experiences

Full category listings, including regional and country-level breakdowns, are available on our Award Categories page. For a deeper breakdown of how these categories are structured and which fits your organisation, see our dedicated guide to Tourism Award Categories Explained.

How Tourism Award Judging Works

Credible tourism awards score every nomination against fixed, published criteria rather than subjective impression alone. Across the Hospitality Awards family of programmes, six weighted criteria determine the final score:

No category on this list is "popularity" or "vote count" — a useful litmus test when assessing whether any tourism award programme you're considering is worth your time and budget. For the full methodology, see our Judging Process page.

Who Can Submit a Tourism Award Nomination?

Both self-nominations and third-party nominations are accepted. In practice, a tourism award nomination is typically submitted by one of the following:

1. A national or regional tourism board's marketing or communications team
2. The leadership of a destination management company — see our related guide on DMC Awards for a category-specific breakdown
3. A destination marketing organisation (DMO) or convention and visitors bureau
4. A PR or marketing agency acting on the organisation's behalf
5. Industry peers, tour operators or travel media nominating a destination or organisation they believe deserves recognition

There are no geographic restrictions — organisations from any of 150+ countries are eligible.

How to Nominate for a Tourism Award: Step by Step

This is the part of the process that matters most, so it's worth walking through in full detail rather than a summary list.

1. Confirm eligibility and choose your category. Review the Award Categories page and identify the category that most precisely matches your organisation type — tourism board, DMC, DMO or tour operator. This is the single biggest factor in how favourably your nomination is judged.
2. Gather your supporting evidence before you start the form. Assemble visitor statistics, sustainability initiatives, testimonials, media coverage and high-quality photography in advance so the form can be completed accurately in one sitting.
3. Select your nomination package. Compare tiers on the Fee & Cost page — pricing depends on how many categories and programmes you want to enter, and higher tiers only expand participation breadth and visibility, never your odds of winning.
4. Complete the official nomination form. Submit your organisation's details, supporting evidence and photography through the official nomination form, addressing each of the six judging criteria directly rather than leaving sections generic.
5. Eligibility verification. The organising team confirms eligibility and validates the details submitted, following up directly if any information is missing or unclear.
6. Independent jury review. Judges score your entry against the published criteria outlined above — service excellence, quality and consistency, innovation, sustainability, brand and impact, and value and integrity.
7. Results and gala celebration. Winners are notified privately ahead of time, then celebrated publicly at the annual black-tie gala in Dubai, alongside winners from the hotel, spa and restaurant programmes.

Ready to put your tourism board, DMC or destination forward? Head to the Award Nomination page and nominate today — the process takes most applicants under an hour once supporting evidence is gathered.

Tang Palace Hotel — Ghana(Africa)

How to Prepare a Winning Tourism Award Nomination

Because judging is scored against fixed criteria rather than subjective preference, the strongest nominations are the ones that make the judges' job easy — evidence-led, specific and well organised. The following habits consistently separate winning tourism award entries from average ones.

• Lead with evidence, not adjectives. Instead of describing your destination as "world-class" or "unmissable," cite visitor growth figures, repeat-visitation trends, or specific service and infrastructure initiatives judges can independently verify.
• Match your category precisely. A destination management company entered in a national tourism board category will be judged against the wrong benchmark. Choosing the right category, even if it feels less prestigious, materially improves your scoring.
• Structure your narrative around the six criteria. Rather than one long general description, address service excellence, quality, innovation, sustainability, brand impact and value directly and in that order — it mirrors how judges score the entry.
• Provide recent, high-quality photography and video. Judges form an initial impression from your submitted visuals — invest in current, professional imagery rather than reusing outdated campaign assets.
• Address sustainability directly and specifically. This criterion is frequently under-addressed in tourism award nominations. Even modest, well-documented initiatives — visitor cap management, local community investment, conservation partnerships — score better than vague sustainability claims.
• Include third-party validation where possible. Tour operator testimonials, visitor satisfaction data or independent press coverage strengthens your brand and impact scoring considerably.
• Submit early, not at the deadline. Categories can close ahead of the published deadline once capacity is reached, and early submission gives the verification team time to follow up on missing information before judging begins.
• Proofread for consistency. Visitor numbers, dates and category names should match across every section of the form.

Common Nomination Mistakes to Avoid

Most weak tourism award nominations fail for avoidable reasons rather than genuine shortfalls in the destination or organisation itself. The most frequent mistakes include submitting generic, templated descriptions that could apply to any destination; leaving the sustainability and innovation sections blank; entering the wrong category to chase a "less competitive" shortlist; treating the nomination form as a formality; and assuming a higher-priced package will improve the odds of winning. As covered above, package tier affects participation breadth and visibility only — it has no bearing on the jury's scoring. Tourism boards and DMCs that treat the nomination with the same rigour as a funding proposal — clear, specific, evidenced — consistently outperform those that rush the process.

Tourism Awards vs. Other Recognition Programmes

Not every "award" carries equal weight, and it's worth understanding the difference before investing budget and staff time into a nomination. Public-vote listicles and pay-to-play directories that guarantee a badge in exchange for a fee are common in the travel and tourism space, but they carry little credibility with tour operators, travellers or investors because there is no independent evaluation behind them. Genuine tourism awards, by contrast, publish their judging criteria, disclose that a jury — not the public — decides outcomes, and are transparent that fees fund participation and administration rather than the result itself. When evaluating any tourism award programme, ask three questions: Is the jury named and credentialed? Are the criteria published? Is there a public-vote component that could be gamed? Programmes under the Hospitality Awards umbrella answer "yes," "yes," and "no" respectively. For a broader view of the full 2027 landscape, see our Tourism Awards 2027: The Complete Guide.

Featured Programme: International Travel Awards

Tourism boards and DMCs nominated through Hospitality Awards are judged under the International Travel Awards — the flagship travel and hospitality programme organised by Golden Tree Events LLC, now in its 10th edition, spanning 150+ countries and 200+ categories. You can review the programme's full remit on our internal hub, or visit the official International Travel Awards website directly, before submitting your nomination.

Frequently Asked Questions