SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: We are accepting applications for the 2009 World Savers Awards. To apply, download and complete the relevant applications below. All applications must be sent to worldsavers@cntraveler.com by Monday, February 16, 2009.

Application: Hotel/Resort Chains
Application: City Hotel
Application: Tour Operator
Application: Resorts, Lodges, Camps
Application: Cruise Lines

To nominate a business, send their name and any contact information to worldsavers@cntraveler.com

The 38 companies celebrated on these pages are turning the travel industry's enormous potential to improve the planet into reality. Travel worldwide will generate $8 trillion in revenue this year, and these, our annual World Savers Awards, are one indication of how the industry is measuring up to that opportunity. The trend is striking: We received applications from 142 companies this year—a record during the 14 years of the awards, and a twofold increase over 2007.

The 17 judges—academics, activists, CEOs, and philanthropists (see page Jeffrey Sachs)—looked at five areas: poverty alleviation; cultural and environmental preservation; education; wildlife conservation; and health. But the process of arbitrating the awards belies the human drama of the achievements themselves. From building schools and furnishing much-needed medical supplies to restocking wildlife reserves and dispensing micro-loans, these World Savers are models for their peers—each story an inspiration for others to follow. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, here's hoping that this year's winners are flattered by every other airline, cruise line, hotel, and tour operator on earth.

THE JUDGES
RALF BUCKLEY, director, International Centre for Ecotourism Research, Griffith University, Australia
MARK CONROY, president, Regent Seven Seas Cruises
LOUIS D'AMORE, president, International Institute for Peace Through Tourism
LAURIE DAVID, NRDC trustee; environmental activist; producer, An Inconvenient Truth
MARCIA GAY HARDEN, environmentalist; Oscar-winning actress
MARTHA HONEY, director, Center on Ecotourism and Sustainable Development
MARK HOPLAMAZIAN, CEO, Global Hyatt Corp.
NEEL INAMDAR, senior adviser, ecotourism, Conservation International
SVEN LINDBLAD, president and CEO, Lindblad Expeditions
RON MADER, director, Planeta.com
JAMES McCARTHY, professor of biological oceanography, Harvard University
BRIAN MULLIS, president, Sustainable Travel International
DENNIS PINTO, managing director, Micato Safaris
SAM RAPHAEL, owner, Jungle Bay, Dominica
JEAN-CYRIL SPINETTA, CEO, Air France
SHANNON STOWELL, president, Adventure Travel Trade Association
TIMOTHY WIRTH, president, UN Foundation