Sustainable Tourism Project from Tokaj Wine Region Receives International Award

The sustainable tourism project of the Tokaj wine region has won third place in the Nature & Scenery category of the Green Destinations TOP100 Award competition in Berlin, the Development of Tokaj Wine Region Nonprofit Ltd. announced on Wednesday.

The project is based on the conservation of local white storks, with the iconic stork of Bodrogkeresztúr, Philip, at its center. The bird has lived in the village since 2006, and has spent every winter in Hungary for twelve years. It parented more than 30 chicks during its lifetime and died in 2018, when it flew into a power line.

The stork’s story has created a cult and attracts many visitors to the area.

In connection with this, a running race is organized every year in conjunction with Philip’s Day, and an environmental education center has been set up specifically to showcase the stork. In addition, there are a number of programs for tourists focusing on the bird: there is an annual stork ringing event and a winery that has named one of its wines after Philip. Furthermore, at the Philip the Stork Camp, water tourism programs are organized to showcase the wildlife of the Bodrog river and the swampy, mainly floodplain area of Bodrogzug.

Júlia Nagy, head of Green Destinations’ representation in Hungary, told MTI that

in two years they have managed to make Hungarian projects competitive with countries such as Japan, Taiwan, Slovenia, Mexico, the United States, and Portugal.

Every year since 2014, the ITB Berlin tourism trade fair has awarded prizes in six different categories to the most inspiring initiatives in the field of sustainable tourism. The first place in the Nature & Scenery category went to a Mexican initiative and the second to an Australian initiative.

This is not the first international recognition for the wine region. Tokaj was awarded the UN World Tourism Organization’s Best Tourism Village in 2023.

Via MTI, Featured photo via Pixabay