FAIR TRADE IN TOURISM SOUTH AFRICA

Finalist Community Benefit Award 2008

Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa (FTTSA) is a not-for-profit initiative that promotes equitable and sustainable tourism, through awareness-raising, capacity-building and the facilitation of the world's first tourism Fair Trade certification scheme. FTTSA awards a special label to tourism establishments that invest in people and the environment and are impacting positively on staff, communities and local economies. To date, 32 establishments have qualified for the label including hotels, guest houses, safari lodges, cultural tours and eco-adventure activities. One fifth of these are businesses wholly or partially owned by rural black communities who were disenfranchised by apartheid.
FTTSA certification adds value to tourism business in two ways: firstly by linking products to markets (FTTSA has a worldwide network of 50 tour operators), which is especially helpful to new and small players who struggle with market access; secondly, the certification process is deliberately developmental; feedback processes help businesses to improve human resource development, workplace culture, community investment and other aspects of their operations. Certification directly and indirectly benefits staff, suppliers, communities, guests and the environment - for example, by insisting on staff involvement in decision-making processes, and through developing mechanisms to enhance guest and staff involvement in community investment activities.