Galapagos Islands News

Every year, various websites, magazines and travel networks hand out awards for all things travel: hotels, restaurants, destinations, even beaches and dive spots! Of course, the Galapagos Islands, with its unique wildlife and ecosystem, nearly always snag some of these awards. This is no surprise, but you may not know that some hotels and other services in Galapagos are beginning to make a stir with these organizations as well. Here are simply a few of the awards that the Galapagos Islands have recently won:

The World Travel Awards: 2007: South America’s Leading Dive Destination

Several nominations, including South America’s Leading Destination (2005-2010) and World’s Leading Dive Destination (2005 and 2006).

Every year, the extremely Prestigious World Travel Awards hands out dozens of awards for all things travel-related, including services like airlines and hotels and places like beaches and golf resorts. Perhaps the most important of the award-granting institutions, it is sometimes called the “Oscar” of tourism.

Galapagos always scores very well at the World Travel Awards. This year, the Finch Bay Eco-hotel (a winner in 2005 for Ecuador’s Leading Resort) was also nominated in the South America’s Leading Green Hotel category, the Ecuador Ministry of Tourism was nominated for South America’s Leading Tourism Board and Bartolomé was nominated for South America’s Leading Beach. Winners of 2010 have not yet been announced, so good luck to Galapagos for some big awards!

2010: Travel and Leisure: World’s Best Islands

Every year, Travel and Leisure magazine and website readers pick the best of everything travel related, including hotels, cities, islands and more! In 2010, Galapagos won in the “Best Islands” category…again. It was also #1 in 2008 and #2 in 2009!

Virtuoso Travel network: 2010, Most Alluring Island Escape

Virtuoso Travel, one of the world’s leading luxury travel networks, announced its annual awards in January in Virtuoso Life, its award-winning magazine. The Galapagos Islands turned out to be a popular destination among Virtuoso’s readers and editors, as it finished third in Best Family Destination, Second in Best Outdoor Adventure, and an astonishing first place in Most Alluring Island Escape!

The New York Times: 44 Places to go in 2009: #3

Galapagos came in third in a 2009 New York Times article suggesting places to go. Some of the places are the ones you’d usually suspect, like Rome (#20) and Chicago (#14) but others were surprises, like Beirut (#1) and Buffalo (#37). Galapagos scored so high in part due to 2009 celebrations of Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday.

Galapagos regularly wins awards from SCUBA divers as well.

2010: Scubadiving.com: Best in Overall, Health of Marine Environment and Marine Life categories in the Pacific.

Scuba Diving magazine and its website, scubadiving.com, annually rank the dive destinations in the world and publish the results in their Jan/Feb. issue. This year, Galapagos took the overall win in the Pacific category, including first place in the subcategories of Health of Marine Environment and Marine Life awards. The editors mentioned the possibility of seeing large marine animals (sharks, rays, whales) as part of the reason the Galapagos scored so high.

These organizations (and more) can’t all be wrong! So what are you waiting for? Book your lifetime Galapagos vacation here!