It is no secret that tourism has become one of the world’s largest employers, currently giving work to 200-million people while being responsible for 10,2% of global gross domestic product (GDP). As a consequence, govern-ments across the world have targeted tourism as a vehicle for empowerment and poverty reduction.
But how many of us know that tourism contributes 7,1% of South Africa’s GDP, an amount of R53,9-billion annually, outstripping gold mining (R35,3-billion a year)? That’s a huge slice of the country’s economic pie, but one that has traditionally been enjoyed by a small percentage of the population.
The advent of democracy brought with it a need to transform the tourism industry to one that is truly representative and sustainable.
In this respect, South Africa has quietly been leading the way forward with an organistion dedicated to sustainability in line with the global Fair Trade movement — Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa (FTTSA).
FTTSA began in mid-2001 under the auspices of the local country office of the IUCN-World Conservation Union and is an independent non-profit organisation that promotes sustainable and equitable tourism development in South Africa.
Sustainability is key to the future of the industry, which has seen international arrivals grow by 82% over the past 10 years, reaching 6,7-million visitors last year. The country also boasts a strong domestic market that is nearly equal in value to the foreign inbound market, and set to expand further as more and more black South Africans join the ranks of the consumer classes.
In 1996 the inequalities of the past were addressed by the tourism White Paper, which invoked the language of ”responsible tourism” to signal the advent of a more inclusive industry, based on the principles of corporate citizenship. The White Paper was supplemented in 2002 with National Guidelines for Responsible Tourism Development, which specified a frame for improving the industry’s performance across the triple bottom line of sustainability, encompassing environmental, social and economic wellbeing.
And now the South African tourism industry has its own black economic empowerment (BEE) charter, unveiled last month by Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk at the annual tourism Indaba in Durban.
The charter incorporates an industry scorecard and demonstrates a firm commitment on the part of the industry to make tourism ”everybody’s business”.
It’s an important step in the move away from the ”lily white” industry of the past and, says FTTSA executive director Jennifer Seif, is the only way forward.
”The tourism BEE charter and scorecard highlight the need to include and advance black people in our tourism industry,” says Seif.
”The scorecard provides a framework for monitoring progress of individual businesses and the industry as a whole over the next 10 years. FTTSA complements the scorecard by providing an additional incentive for businesses to meet BEE and related objectives. Importantly, the FTTSA framework addresses the need for fair labour standards, which BEE alone does not address.”
Seif explains that FTTSA’s role within this dynamic environment is to advocate for a culture of fairness and inclusion within the tourism industry, and to help create the conditions for the practice of fair trade within South African tourism.
This is done through education and raising awareness, and the facilitation of a voluntary certification programme that awards the world’s first ”Fair Trade” label to tourism establishments in South Africa that operate according to fair trade principles and criteria.
”The brand helps to translate our industry’s internal language of ‘BEE’ into universal values and messages that make sense and appeal to consumers, tour operators and other stake-holders, internationally as well as within our domestic market,” says Seif.
Research by London-based Tourism Concern and other advocacy organisations shows that labour standards in tourism are among the worst in the world. ”If this underside of the industry is not reformed, then sustainable development objectives will not be achieved,” says Seif.
A label to be proud of
The Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa Trademark certifies that a tourism establishment adheres to a set of primarily social criteria: fair wages and working conditions; fair operations; fair distribution of bene-fits; ethical business practice and respect for human rights, culture and environment.
These criteria reflect the principles and standards of the global Fair Trade movement, which seeks to improve the terms of trade for producers in developing countries through trading partnerships and certification of commodity goods including coffee, tea, sugar, fresh produce, wine, cut flowers and, most recently, sports balls.
Fair Trade labelling provides the growing numbers of socially conscious consumers from around the world with credible alternatives to cheap, mass-produced goods. FTTSA applies this same logic to the South African tourism industry and marries universal standards with local development imperatives, marking new ground in the rapidly growing Fair Trade movement.