Eco Team won the Presidential Award for Eco Tourism under the Niche Market Operator category at the Presidential Tourism Awards 2009. Introduced as an awards category for the first time, the Niche Market category aims to encourage and recognise new concepts of tourism in Sri Lanka.
In addition, Anuruddha Bandara, Managing Director/CEO of Eco Team was awarded the Exceptional Individual of the Year award for his many achievements in eco/adventure and community based tourism projects and contributions towards sustainable development of rural communities through livelihood development and conservation efforts.
Eco Team has pioneered many alternative tourism concepts and activities in Sri Lanka and was the first company to be recognised in this sector by Sri Lanka Tourism authorities as a licensed safari camping operator. Their unique activities and alternate accommodation options combined with novel entertainment concepts are helping Sri Lankan tour operators to reach out to the global market with a completely different set of products while Eco Team also includes specialist tours of Sri Lanka such as photography and filming missions, rock climbing and study tours.
Anuruddha Bandara, CEO of Eco Team commented, “we are naturally delighted and proud of our achievements at the Awards this year. At Eco Team we are passionate about preserving our ecosystem through sustainable tourism, and it is this persistence and drive that has got us this far.”
