BANGKOK, 15 March 2018: Three young people under 30, a Filipino, Mexican and Pakistani, have won top honours in the first global essay competition organised by a travel trade publication to underscore the contribution of Travel & Tourism to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The co-winners of The Olive Tree awards competition are: Michael Jaleco Lacson, 29, Filipino, Social Mobilization Associate, Worldwide Fund for Nature, and Mariana de la Garza de los Santos, 19, Mexican, a student of Innovation and New Business Creation, University of Monterrey, Mexico.
Each will get a cash award of USD750.
The runner-up is Maryam Asim, 29, Pakistani, Technical Consultant. She gets a cash award of US$500.
All the prize money was sponsored by Sonu Shivdasani, CEO and commercial and creative lead, Soneva Resorts.
In addition, the co-winners separately won one-week stays at Soneva Resorts and Jetwing Hotels of Sri Lanka.
The winning essays, along with 13 other shortlisted essays by young people from Sri Lanka, India, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Nigeria, have been printed in the March-April edition of The Olive Tree the first and only publication devoted to strengthening the contribution of Travel & Tourism to the UN SDGs.
The competition was launched on 21 September 2017, the International Day of Peace, by Travel Impact Newswire executive editor, Imtiaz Muqbil, who is one of the longest-serving travel trade journalists in the Asia-Pacific.
A second round of the competition will be launched later in March 2018.
