Small World Journeys wins bronze at National Tourism Awards

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Cairns-based educational tour company Small World Journeys, a woman-owned small business that operates multi-day tours for student groups, was awarded Bronze for Specialised Tourism Services in the 2020 Australian Tourism Awards. The business was recognised for its ongoing contributions in the educational tourism sector and its focus on sustainability.

Small World Journeys was awarded Gold in the recent Queensland Tourism Awards in November 2019 for Specialised Tourism Services, which brought them to the national competition last night. The Australian Tourism Awards are the tourism industry’s peak awards – for more than 30 years the awards have been recognising and promoting excellence in tourism. A wide and diverse range of tourism businesses enter their state and territory Tourism Awards.

Small World Journeys runs tours from 4-14 days for domestic and international school groups that sync with curriculum to meet class academic, cultural and sustainability goals. Activities on these trips include community engagement and contribution activities such as a mangrove education and clean up project, coral bleaching surveys at The Great Barrier Reef, and learning to sew re-useable sanitary pads for Aboriginal women in remote communities, in addition to “traditional” tourist activities such as snorkelling, farm visits and swimming under waterfalls. It is also company policy to include an activity with an Aboriginal guide in every tour offered to support Traditional Owners and promote pride in culture.

“Our goal is to make Cairns better because we exist”, said Laurie Pritchard, owner and Managing Director of Small World Journeys. “We are educating young people on our tours, and we’re planting seeds in their minds that supporting the community they are travelling is an essential element of sustainable tourism. It’s so great to be recognised at national level for what we’re doing.”

About Small World Journeys
SWJ is an educational tour operator whose focus is teaching both Australian and international student groups about Aboriginal culture, sustainability and community service, among other topics.

Media enquiries
Laurie Pritchard, Managing Director
Phone: 07 4054 6693
Email: laurie@smallworldjourneys.com.au