Focusing on sustainable tourism in SA

South Africa was the first country in the world to adapt the principles of fair trade to its tourism industry and on World Tourism Day, celebrated annually on 27 September, businesses in the sector were encouraged to apply for certification.

World Tourism Day (WTD) was established in 1979 at the third session of the UN General Assembly, and came into operation in 1980. The event aims to promote growth and  development of the global tourism industry and the date was chosen because it  coincides with the adoption of the statutes of the UN World Tourism Organisation  on 27 September 1970.

Since then each year’s celebrations have taken  place with a theme, such as Tourism opens doors for women (2007), Tourism - Celebrating Diversity (2009), and Tourism Linking  Cultures (2011).

In 2012, the theme for World Tourism Day was Tourism and Sustainable Energy: Powering Sustainable Development.  Activities on the day focused on the importance of making tourism more  sustainable to preserve natural resources for future generations.

In  South Africa, September is designated as Tourism Month. The official WTD  celebrations were held at the Mbashe Royal Village in the Eastern Cape with tourism minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk in attendance, and other events took place all around  the country.

In Gauteng, the day was commemorated at Kwalata Lodge in the Dinokeng Game Reserve, just 40km north of Pretoria and an  hour’s drive from Johannesburg.

Dignitaries present included  Nkosiphendule Kolisile, the Gauteng MEC for economic development; Dawn  Robertson, CEO of the Gauteng Tourism Authority (GTA); and Kathy Bergs, MD of Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa (FTTSA).

“The use of fossil fuels has  a serious impact on the environment,” said Kolisile, “but we must win this war.  If we do nothing, the generations that follow us will find nothing on this  earth. We must leave behind more than what we found, rather than the  opposite.”

He said that current energy usage is not sustainable, but  added that it can be reversed if people work together or individually to do  their bit.

As an example, Kolisile mentioned a programme running under  Gauteng’s green economy programme, in which local minibus taxis are undergoing a conversion  that will enable them to use both petrol and liquid petroleum gas. This will  help taxi operators cut their running costs, but will also reduce emissions by  11% for carbon dioxide and 30% for carbon monoxide, according to the Automotive Industry Development Centre, a partner in the conversion initiative.

“These are the kinds of green initiatives that we must encourage,” Kolisile said, “and everyone must contribute – we don’t want any spectators on this  journey. Our kids must also be encouraged to break the rules, because we need  new ideas and new solutions.”

Tourism benefits communities

Dinokeng and other facilities are on the doorstep of Gauteng’s urban centres and  are within easy reach, Kolisile added, so the more tourists that visit these  areas, the more the local communities will benefit.

GTA CEO Dawn  Robertson encouraged tourism businesses to apply for certification with FTTSA.

“This will help us to position Gauteng as a responsible tourist  destination,” she said.

Fair trade tourism is a concept that encourages  fair and responsible business practice by South African tourism establishments,  meaning that tourists with a conscience can support an FTTSA-certified business  and be assured that the business is run responsibly in social and environmental  terms.

FTTSA was established in 2002 and was the world’s first fair  trade programme that awarded certification to the tourism sector. According to  the organisation, it is still the world’s only fair trade certification  programme for tourism.

Like the fair trade initiative, it awards  businesses that meet the stringent criteria – including fair wages and working  conditions, commitment to skills development, and a respect for human rights,  culture and the environment – with a special label which can be used as a  marketing tool to take advantage of the growing global trend towards responsible  tourism.

Although application  is done easily online, the certification programme is rigorous, said FTTSA CEO  Kathy Bergs, and not all businesses succeed the first time around. But they can  still use the detailed report, which assesses 14 key areas of their business, to  make significant improvements to their operations.

“We’ve spent the past  decade developing the process of certification and raising awareness of the  programme,” said Bergs. “Recently we signed an agreement with the Swiss  government that will help us to scale up our operations and do intensive  marketing.”

Bergs mentioned that the organisation plans to expand its  activities to the other countries in Southern Africa.

FTTSA helps those  who successfully achieve accreditation to market their business in various ways,  including visibility at local and international travel trade shows, inclusion in  the FTTSA directory, and networking opportunities.

Businesses interested  in applying for the FTTSA seal can download a brochure or visit the website for more  information.

Place of rivers

Dinokeng (Setswana, meaning “place of rivers”) is an area in northeast  Gauteng earmarked for eco-tourism, job creation and social upliftment by  the provincial government.

Dinokeng was formed when landowners in the  area willingly took down their fences and merged their lands into the reserve,  which currently covers about 18 500 hectares. It’s the only free-roaming Big  Five game reserve in the province and is unique in that it is made up of  individually owned properties. The initial stage comprised 12 000 hectares from  88 properties.

Although the land was used mainly  for farming in the past, recent years have seen a shift towards rehabilitating  it for eco-tourism. Participants in the Dinokeng project have undertaken to stop  any agricultural activity on their land and commit to tourism  development.

The greater Dinokeng area  encompasses tourist-oriented areas such as Cullinan and Roodeplaat, and covers about 280 000  hectares.

Most of the animals have been  brought in from other areas. Besides the Big Five – lion, rhino, elephant,  buffalo and leopard – the reserve is home to giraffe, zebra, kudu, eland, blue  wildebeest, warthog, hartebeest, and many more, as well as more than 300 bird  species.

In August Dinokeng officially  became a big five reserve when four buffalo bulls were released into the area.  Earlier in September the first cheetah was introduced.

Other Dinokeng activities to mark WTD included a visit to the  local communities of Mandela Village and Steve Bikoville, where media were  introduced to various upliftment projects supported by Kwalata, among them a  flourishing plant nursery and an art school. A tree-planting ceremony took place  in a children’s park in Steve Bikoville.

In  the game reserve, an Australian eucalypus tree was cut down as part of a  clearing operation in Kwalata.

“This tree  has no natural enemies in South Africa,” said ecologist and Dinokeng deputy  director Nico Grobler, who was on hand to witness the event, “so it grows  uninhibited. It has a very strong and deep tap-root system and can consume up to  400 litres of water a day.”

No indigenous  plants will grow under a eucalyptus, said Grobler.

The  wood of the felled eucalyptus will not go to waste – it will be used for  firewood, or given to local artists for carving.

Via: www.mediaclubsouthafrica.com 

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