Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts Wins PATA Award for Rainforest Restoration

Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts, a leading hospitality brand in Sri Lanka, has been awarded the 2025 Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Award for its Cinnamon Rainforest Restoration Project. The award, specifically for Best Ecosystem & Wildlife Conservation, recognizes the hotel’s commitment to sustainable tourism and environmental preservation.

The project, which began in 2022, is a 59-acre initiative in Sri Lanka’s wet zone focused on restoring a degraded area into a thriving habitat for native wildlife. The effort has resulted in the planting of over 22,000 native trees and the rediscovery of a timber species previously believed to be extinct in that location.

The article highlights the project as a successful example of private-sector leadership in conservation. It is a collaborative effort involving the Sri Lanka Forest Department, the John Keells Foundation, and the local non-governmental organization Ruk Rekaganno (The Tree Society). This partnership demonstrates how luxury hospitality can be a partner in environmental accountability, creating both commercial value and long-term ecological benefits.

Source: https://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/sri-lankas-cinnamon-hotels-resorts-sets-new-standard-for-sustainable-tourism-with-pata-award/