Passions of Paradise was awarded for excellence in Sustainable Tourism and the company’s Sales and Marketing Manager Adam O’Malley was selected the Young Achiever at the 2014 Tropical North Queensland Tourism Awards last night (November 21).
Accepting the Sustainable Tourism award, Passions of Paradise Chief Executive Officer Scotty Garden acknowledged the work of the Passions team in committing to sustainable practices across all aspects of the Cairns business.
“We are privileged to work in the World Heritage area of the Great Barrier Reef and are mindful of our role as a guardian of this precious asset,” he said.
“The future of the Great Barrier Reef is important not just to our locally-owned business, but to the world, so we set the goal for Passions to become a leader in sustainable tourism through research, education and conservation.
“Passions contributes to a number of voluntary programs including the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s Eye on the Reef where our staff and passengers gather information on the health of the Reef.
“We have achieved carbon-neutral status and appointed an environmental and sustainability manager to coordinate research and training.
“Since making these changes, Passions has been awarded Eco-Tourism Climate Leader Status, been made a partner of PADI’s 100% Project Aware and earned Ecotourism Australia’s 2013 Innovation in Ecotourism Award.”
Mr Garden congratulated Adam O’Malley on his selection as the TNQ Young Achiever.
“Adam joined Passions as a dive instructor in 2007 and worked his way up through the company to the position of Sales and Marketing Manager,” he said.
“Adam has volunteered for a number of industry representative positions and is currently the secretary of Adventure Cairns, the Cairns representative of the Adventure Queensland Board and the vice-chair of Young ATEC.
“He shows leadership within the company by helping drive many of our eco initiatives and was behind Passions of Paradise becoming the first operator to have a webcam on the Great Barrier Reef.”
