Congratulations to Professor Amare Wondirad for being awarded

Best Article of the Year 2020 by Tourism Recreation Research Journal. 

Professor Wondirad and 2 colleagues were awarded this for their article "NGOs in ecotourism: patrons of sustainability or neo-colonial agents? Evidence from Africa". Their article received high marks for originality, broad subject interest, practical usability of research, and style of presentation.  

The article explores whether NGOs facilitate and advance sustainable development or if they are agents of neo-colonialism. It is widely accepted that NGOs are involved in ecotourism; however, some critics have associated this ecotourism with neo-colonialism that perpetuates economic and political hegemonies because the concept has been advanced from the West. Professor Wondirad and his colleagues focus on a nation that was spared the experience of colonization to explore whether the practice of ecotourism can be accurately characterized as "neo-colonial."