Celebrating the victories of 2021
Celebrating the End of Another Year
As an organization ATKOMA is still fairly young. Starting in 2019, we have been trying to grow our business facing a very harsh international scenario. Research shows that the first four to five years are the critical survival period for young businesses. However, with COVID-19 the statistics are even less favorable. Despite this unusual scenario, ATKOMA has been able to grow and has more than one reason to celebrate. This blog will do a recap of 2021, celebrating the victories of 2021.
Green Destinations Top 100 Sustainability Stories
The Green Destinations Top 100 Sustainability Stories was definitely one of our biggest wins of 2021. It not only brought international recognition to our conservation efforts and to Ataúro, it has also grown our social media presence. The award announcement and the blogs crafted after this win increased our website traffic, becoming our most shared posts ever.
The award was given to Ataúro and ATKOMA as recognition towards the Tara Bandu Marine conservation area. Green Destinations carefully assessed different aspects of the Tara Bandu project and we have scored very high in areas such as ‘Destination Management Policy or Strategy’, ‘Nature Conservation’ and ‘Visitor Behavior at Sensitive Sites’. If you would like to know more about this win you can read our announcement blog or this blog that shows more in depth what is the Tara Bandu concept.
Another great news is that we have been selected as Top7 stories and qualified to the people’s choice awards in the category ‘Nature & Ecotourism’. Vote for us through this link and help us promote sustainable tourism and community involvement at the ITB Berlin 2022!
Whale Heritage Candidate Site and Mission Blue Hope spot
By now you are probably aware of Atúro’s amazing wildlife and its one-of-a-kind biodiverse waters. What you might not know is that in 2021 we were nominated a candidate to become a Whale Heritage Site. This nomination is due to the different cetacean species that cross the strait of Ombai-Wetar every year turning Ataúro’s waters into an important migration area. We have also been recognized as a Hope Spot by Mission Blue, meaning that the waters surrounding Ataúro are key to world marine conservation. Read more about these two wins in this blog.
Financial Growth – tour and visitor fees
Despite the hard economic and health crisis, ATKOMA has been able to continue growing financially. We are happy to announce that we’ve reached $1.600 in tour revenue from January to December. We would like to take a moment to appreciate all members and visitors that somehow have been a part of our history. Thank you for every tour and itinerary that you’ve taken part in! We are looking forward to working closely with our members and receiving more visitors in 2022.
Vision 2022
Now that you know this year’s biggest wins, we want you to tell us what was your favorite one and what do you see us accomplishing in 2022. Let us know what kind of things you want to see on our social media. You can suggest new tours, promotions, contests, stories and much more. Send us a message on Facebook or Instagram and let us know what you are thinking! Thank you for being a part of our 2021 and we are looking forward to what 2022 will bring us.
