Business development training on Fair Trade Tourism (FTT) certification, re-certification and membership as mechanism/ technical tool to promote sustainable consumption and production (SCP) in the southern African tourism industry
Southern Africa's rapidly growing tourism industry is more inclusive and sustainable through the application of Fair Trade Tourism practices that directly and indirectly benefit local destination stakeholders including workers and economically disadvantaged communities, thereby reducing poverty and inequality and supporting decent job creation and entrepreneurship in the post-apartheid context. The Fair Trade Tourism certification label represents best-practice responsible tourism – defined by fair wages and working conditions, fair purchasing and operations, equitable distribution of benefits and respect for human rights, culture and the environment. In the year 2017/ 18, business development training was provided to approximately 63 businesses applying for certification, re-certification and membership during the reporting period. In addition, more than 130 small tourism businesses received sustainability training from FTT at five workshops held in 2017. Each tourism business employs on average 10–25 people, with each employee supporting an average of six dependents. Through the application of Fair Trade certification, sustainable consumption and production is promoted (SCP) throughout the value chain incl. destination products, relevant tour operators and the end-consumer. Specific sustainability guidelines incorporating i.e. energy and water reduction, waste management and recycling, employment equity etc. provides the framework through which a business can both benchmark and monitor overall sustainability performance.
In 2017/ 18, more tourism businesses were FTT certified than ever before recognizing both the relevance of certification programme as well underwriting a reported global shift in consumption patterns reported by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). A critical challenge has been to collect relevant sustainability indicator data considering a) reliance on global sustainability indicators as opposed to site specific indicators and b) reluctance by the tourism industry to share performance data taking into account occupancy rates due to the competitiveness of the industry at large. FTT mediated this by creating select working groups willing to share and exchange impact information.
