50% OFF whole suite plus free webinar series The world of tourism is changing rapidly and no more so than the mass march to sustainability.
Energy sustainability, water sustainability, carbon emissions sustainability, cultural, social and environmental sustainability – all will have major effects on all of our tourism businesses and careers over the coming years, at every level.
And, more and more, our very economic sustainability and survival depends on how well we manage the impacts of all the other sustainability issues.
How to ensure this survival and create a sustainable future?
Keep up with the times, the developments and the potential effects… For today’s view of the future read this year’s Sustainable Tourism Report.
And keep fresh and up to date with developments and current opinions with the regular Sustainable Tourism Report Webinars where industry leaders provide you their informed views. FREE
Regular monthly Sustainable Tourism Report webinars are now FREE for all purchasers of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suite.
The Sustainable Tourism Report Suite includes: Sustainable Tourism Ministers Briefing, Sustainable Tourism Report, Sustainable Tourism Marketing Guide, Tourism & Carbon Markets – in total 212 pages that will give you the information required to survive and prosper in our move to a sustainable world. Individually priced or as a package for: UK£550, US$990, €660
Buy now save up to UK£275, US£495, €330
Apply now for further information, executive summary, contents guide and this weeks special 50% off offer.
Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, Rezidor Hotel Group, Northern Ireland Tourist Board, University of Brighton, Tourism Ireland, The Nature Conservancy, Cleaner Climate, Virgin Group, Micato Safaris, Hilton Hotels Corp, Visit Britain, Canada Tourism, Tourism Innovation Group, Dublin Institute of Technology, Sabre Holdings, EplerWood Consultancy, Nichols Tourism Group, The Adventure Company, Exclusively Canada, University of Wales, University of Guelph, Sustainable Side of the Street, IFC, Discover Ltd, Griffith University, Australia, Yukon Tourist Board, Ipswich College, Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum, The Tourism Company, Citizen Development Corps, University of Hertfordshire, Disney Corp, Anglia Ruskin University, Kidderminster College, Olive Green Group, Six Senses Group, and many, many more.
I’m in a flyblown Central Asian mountainside café, looking at the flourishing beehives on the incline opposite and listening to the furious roar of the ice-fed river swirling and gushing outside.
Neatly lined up on the café’s glass shelves are thin plastic secondhand 2 litre water bottles full of an amber liquid and on sale for 50 Somoni ($11) a go. What’s in the bottles? Honey apparently. Each bent and buckled bottle holds 2kg of honey from those bees opposite. Pure authentic honey 100% sustainably sourced, packaged and delivered. That’s the thing about Tajikistan: In this poorest of the ex Soviet republics, sustainability is not a mantra of the middle classes – it’s a financial, cultural and social imperative.
If you or your clients want eco-luxury tell them to go to Switzerland or the Maldives. If they’re prepared to pay with money, pain, bruises and sleepless nights for heartbreaking beauty and true authenticity then Tajikistan’s Pamir Mountains are for them.
Pain and bruises? Yes, the journey to our stop in the café involved a full day drive along a dangerous track perched high on the Tajik side of the sensational Panj river gorge (the border between the Tajik part of Badakhstan and the Afghan bit). All day we’d bumped along uncomfortably in our 4wd, negotiating the occasional landslide and frequent ford, collecting bruises, but also grabbing memories of fabulous soaring sights, and gut-wrenching views of the people on both sides living truly grueling spartan lives.
After such tough days, you feel you truly deserve a comfortable, not to say luxurious, night. This is very rarely to be had in Tajikistan. That is not to say that good accommodation doesn’t exist, it simply depends on your interpretation of the term ‘good’.
If you or your clients call ‘good accommodation’ slick service, impeccable hygiene, downy comfortable beds, European-style fusion food and quality bathrooms – they will be disappointed.
If, on the other hand ‘good’ to them means a warm and heartfelt welcome, the generous sharing of cripplingly limited resources and a pride in their hosts’ culture and environment – in other words true hospitality – they will be more than satisfied. The sad fact, or, perhaps the great opportunity is that tourism infrastructure in the Pamirs and Badakhstan, in truth, doesn’t yet exist.
The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) has earmarked tourism as a cross-border development opportunity and is now working to create methods for Tajik and Afghanistani SMEs in the area to take advantage of it but there is a very long way to go indeed.
A very big prize is on offer. The AKDN’s chosen venue, the Wakhan Corridor, originally created by the British as a buffer between its Indian (now Pakistan) interests and China, is a stunningly beautiful wilderness. On the one side of the river Afghanistan and on the other, Tajikistan – divided in 1925, kept separate and patrolled vigorously, latterly by the KGB, until 2006. The AKDN sees the potential for this area for tourism, economic development and, perhaps, harmony and is working to realize this.
At the moment, then, intrepid tourists can benefit from a real travel experience to a ‘Virgin’ mountain destination. They will be able to see at close quarters the sights of the Central Asian Silk Route - the confluence of East and West – where millions of travelers went before them taking commodities, ideas, cultures religions and armies to change our history. They will be able to feel the majesty of the scenery and the quietness at the 4,000m+ mountain passes. They will be able to share the lives of the local people.
But not for long, in a short time the area will develop its own (hopefully sustainable) tourism structure and one more set of values will travel through the mountains – tourism!
Authenticity is a big buzzword in today’s tourism industry, frequently used but rarely achieved. The truth is that it is a stage in development, not often the end product. What destinations usually provide is a form of cultural and environmental commoditization – in other words a sanitized version of the real thing.
Tajikistan, the Pamir Mountains and the Wakhan Corridor are the Real Thing, may they remain so for as long as possible…
Valere Tjolle
Valere Tjolle edits Tourism Vision for travelmole and the annual Sustainable Tourism Report Suite
Forgetting about the monumental Two billion dollar ballsup – the ASH travel trauma may be able to help the sustainable tourism movement
“Planet Strikes Back” cried eTurboNews, maybe that’s going a bit far but they certainly have a point. The Icelandic ash cloud has cost the industry at least US$2bn or €1.5bn so far and there are still thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded. And airplanes well out of their patterns, so all the bills, and the full costs have yet to come to roost.
It’s no wonder that big industry chiefs are either numb or apoplectic with rage. As Peter Long of TUI said “It was a shambles”
The industry and the politicians have divided into three camps – those that are genuinely damaged, paying the bills and trying to help, those that are trying to make a fast buck out of a crisis, and those who are turning a short term disaster into a sustainable opportunity.
The sad fact is that this charade could have happened nowhere else in the world other than Europe. In the US, for instance, this particular sort of challenge is up to the airlines to manage, the authorities simply inform them of the presence of volcanic ash. It’s up to them to determine their own action.
However, like everything else in tourism, there are losers and winners. Winners? Yes – and for once there were sustainable tourism winners, for instance: The ‘Man in Seat 61’ was sitting pretty – the specialist rail travel site had OVER A MILLION HITS in the month The GREEN TRAVELLER site apparently had at least three times as many hits as usual Flightless Travel got, apparently, 700% more hits on their site.
Eurostar made an extra 30,000 seats available at £89 one way that’s getting on for £3m of extra revenue. And Deutsche Bahn pulled in a fortune
Thousands of coach companies, too cashed in on this passenger feeding frenzy. Good Samaritans Lonely Planet gave FREE downloads for 13 x £5 city guide iPhone apps to help stranded tourists– at least 3million of them were downloaded in 3 days. Plus, of course the hassle further demonstrated the efficacy of land and sea travel so more money was placed in the sector and a couple of really big deals were done indicating what travel and tourism may look like in a few years time: Deutsche Bahn is to pay £1.5bn for UK coach and train operator Arriva see: STORY and see also our story
And in a small deal with big potential Streetcar, the UK’s biggest car club operator, has been taken over by US rival Zipcar in a $50m deal that will extend its dominance of the booming car-share London market.
The market is moving and within just a few years public organizations like Deutsche Bahn and private organizations like Stagecoach could easily be offering integrated transport solution(air, ship, coach, rail, car, bike) taking full benefits from sustainability.
Consolidation looks closer and closer. Who would bet against a few very big entities offering seamless train/coach/ship/hotel travel and reservations solutions within 5 years?
What a lot of damage a volcano can do… to our preconceptions!
Valere Tjolle
Said Cathy Mack: " "Glad to say that GREEN TRAVELLER traffic was up ten fold during ash week. Eurostar also carried out some research during this period to see how travellers felt about their rail journeys that week - 84% said they would choose rail over air for their next European journey, see THIS"
This years Sustainable Tourism Masterclass is to be held on 17th September in London in conjunction with Innovation for Sustainable Development Center. Full details will be announced shortly but the format will be similar to previous successful years events.
To broaden the availability, scope and range of the masterclass, to provide more speakers and presentations, and to make the masterclass information available to benefit more attendees, a series of six 90 x minute webinars are to be run before and after the event.
The masterclass is kept to a maximum of 25 participants to provide in depth understanding and discussions. The package cost includes full information pack, luncheon and supper, and participation in all webinars: £500 (€600) per attendee.
The webinars will be held on 4th June, 2nd July, 6th August, 3rd September, 1st October and 5th November. The webinars are limited to 200 participants to ensure full opportunity to engage in the question and answer sessions. Each webinar costs £10 per person per webinar, £50 per set of 6.
Bookings made for the complete Masterclass & Webinar package by end April will attract a 50% reduction ie £250 (€300) – subject to space being available at the time of booking.
Sustainable Tourism Masterclasses have been held for the last three years and have attracted full houses attendees and top speakers of global repute.
The masterclass offers the opportunity to network in an informal but information-packed day.
Provisional bookings are now being taken for both events upon payment of 50% deposit – remainder payable at the time of confirmation and publication of masterclass and webinar programme.
Given the current high profile of sustainability, both masterclass and webinars are likely to be popular and early booking is recommended.
"I look at these MasterClass Webinars and marvel at the time and money I did not have to spend to harvest the wisdom of so many international movers and shakers - The great thing about the MasterClass Webinar series is how it makes available to the world the accumulated experience of leading thinkers and thinking leaders.” Lelei LeLaulu, co-chair, Innovation for Sustainable Development Center
To book contact valere@travelmole.com
Last years masterclass stories:
Converging World Boss For Masterclass: SEE HERE Hear Top Speakers at Masterclass: SEE HERE Caribbean Tourism Carbon Guru: SEE HERE
PASSIONATE ABOUT SUSTAINABLE TOURISM? DO SOMETHING PRACTICAL TODAY – TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW ABOUT...VESTAS
Valere Tjolle – Publisher and Editor - Travelmole VISION on Sustainable Tourism The global sustainable tourism trade & professional medium and... Totem’s Sustainable Tourism Report Suite 2010... Co-founder of the Vision-Destinet European Sustainable Tourism Awards
Travelmole VISION on Sustainable Tourism newswire is sent weekly to over 40,000 Travel & tourism trade professional subscribers and read by up to 450,000 travelmole.com subscribers.
This excerpt - a fascinating, sustainable tourism attraction & hospitality concept operating in South Africa – is one of large range of case studies in this year’s Sustainable Tourism Report – get a free executive summary, contents and special offer – email valere@travelmole.com
Noordhoek Farm Village looks like an old, traditional farm at the foot of the mighty Chapman’s Peak, close to the sea in a mid-market suburb of Cape Town. But it is much more. In fact, some very clever and accomplished people have all arrived here at one point in time to create something very special – an almost sustainable, almost self-sufficient, almost zero-waste destination AND successful, AND useful, tourism attraction
This is how it works: Franck Dangereux was voted best chef in South Africa from 1999 - 2005. In 2006 Franck was voted 28th Best Chef in the World and his book "FEAST" won a global award. In August 2006 Franck opened the Foodbarn Restaurant at Noordhoek with his business partner Pete de Bruin. A sensible move, Franck lives down the road so he can save on his carbon footprint and his energy by working close to home.
Franck, naturally, as befits a great chef, also likes to work with the very best and freshest of ingredients. The excellent soil and sun and air of Noordhoek produces wonderful fruit and veg – good idea then to have a garden centre/nursery on the farm – hey presto - Greenways Nursery was established! Farm to fork 10 metres or a maximum of three minutes.
But, food and hospitality throw up a great deal of waste. Enter Mary Murphy, environmental activist and educator. Apart from many other talents, Mary specializes in worms. Yes worms. She was best known for her earthworm farm at Cape Town's Mount Nelson Hotel, which has been successfully reducing one ton of waste every month for the past four years. Mary was persuaded to open ‘Full Cycle’ at Noordhoek.
FullCycle has now set up a large vermicomposting centre at Noordhoek . The food waste from the restaurants at the Noordhoek Farm Village is collected daily and fed to the worms. The 'waste' is collected by bicycle and trailer, and the vermicompost and vermitea are used in the gardens at the Noordhoek Farm Village, other ‘rubbish’ is recycled into usable and beautiful artifacts.
Which are in turn sold through the retail shops lining the compound. Of course, all this activity attracts like minded people, so, before you know it, you’ve got a Café Roux, offering al fresco dining and drinking, music and laughter and more people coming to enjoy the fun. Locals and tourists, families and friends.
One thing leads to another and, of course, a village needs a pub, so what more sensible option than for ‘The Toad’ to open up on the farm. The Toad in the Village, a country pub and restaurant, opened in December 2008. In winter both the ground and upper floors boast large roaring open wood fires and in summer the outside beer garden and upper deck between the trees give it an ‘every season’ feel.
All these people visiting for a great occasion need other things too – shopping and relaxing, perhaps? There is a full range of shops and services to fulfil many relaxing needs.
Shops around the village green include an old-fashioned trading post, a health and beauty salon, a funky designer’s, a local craft shop and an art gallery specialising in local artists. Continuing the good food theme, a fine wine boutique and an internationally acclaimed bakery and delicatessen provide more outlets for local South African agriculture and viniculture.
Noordhoek is almost synonymous with horses, horse-riding and all things equine so it is common to see horses ambling down the village lane, and a popular activity is a horse ride along the white sands of Noordhoek beach. In the Old Post House Building is a tack and leather shop- stocking a range of local leatherware, gifts and a range of horse riding gear.
Noordhoek is bordered by Table Mountain National Park and surrounded by a conservancy so a structural plan protecting low-density zoning was passed in the late 1970’s. Even the paddocks are protected to ensure the equine nature will always remain. “It’s all too much, you’ll just have to come and live here” Says Pam Goulding who runs the estate agency on the farm.
Noordhoek Farm Village is the result of a great deal of vision, planning and years of hard work and commitment by the developer Jeremy Wiley, who knew that a serious and sustainable tourist attraction could be built around good food and recycling. Who would have believed that 10 years ago?
Another piece of the jigsaw has just been put in place – the Noordhoek Hotel - a delightful boutique hotel built around a luxuriously scented garden – where mien host is the affable, incredibly committed, knowledgeable and professional Colin White. With all this and a commitment to ecological building and low energy operation,
Noordhoek Farm village is a true sustainable tourism destination for the 10’s, offering vision, education a substantial contribution to the local economy and, above all, a commitment to a functioning ideal.
Valere Tjolle
Full Suite of 4 2010 Sustainable Tourism Reports will be available shortly For anyone interested in sustainable tourism these are must-have reports. They will: Inform your planning * Inform your investing * Inform your colleagues * Maximise your ROI * Help you create winning sustainable strategies. Get a free executive summary, contents and special offer – email valere@travelmole.com
It’s been a hard day. The 4wd has smashed into an ex river course and broken a tyre so it had to be changed in the baking sun/torrential rain. We’re late, so no time to stop even for a drink before we have to engage the Defender’s 4 wheel drive and scramble up a muddy vertical incline to the tented camp. A welcome soft drink, cold towel, and welcome from the manager - my kind driver departs, leaving me to a briefing from the assistant manager/pilot – nice guy from Kerala.
The briefing involves: “We’ve got a few black scorpions and occasionally see puff adders” – “So no armed guard to see me to my room and frighten the lions like last night, at your other camp then!” – “No but you’re our only guest tonight so we don’t want to lose you” – “Only me?” – “Only you!” “How many staff?” “thirty-four”. Wow.
Time to wash and change, admire the view from the veranda (stunning vast, deep, long basalt rock-strewn valley made green by the recent rain) and explore the room/tent (style and utility combined – toiletries, tea, big shower, comfy bed, large verandah – no scorpions or snakes).
Dinner for one; small table right in the middle of the restaurant with a view. Set for two? Local custom? No, the manager, Lena, sits down beside me. “They want to know what you want to eat” she says – “Do I have to choose” – “No, we’ll have everything on the menu, I want to try it ALL!”
I realized that Lena was a larger than life character. This is confirmed when she shows me her feet “Size 10, you know, because I didn’t wear shoes until I was 12 years old – none of us did – plastic bags sometimes, but not shoes – and we didn’t have money either”
So what’s the story? Lena’s grandparents had been moved from South Africa to make way for a military camp. She’d spent her early life as a goatherd, actually bored out of her wits, she was constantly getting into trouble. And when her community was one of the first to apply to organize a conservancy, with a tourist lodge - Lena had applied for a job as manager. “I could do it” she said. But her brother had got the job, because he had precedence, and she’d gone to another lodge to work, very hard, because now she had something to prove.
When her brother had fouled up (“due to them having given him money,” she said – “it was new to us, we didn’t have money before”) Lena had got the job and here she was.
“But you’re a real professional, Lena!” “Yeah, they train us, they even sent me to the Kansas City Ramada to work – all those cream cakes I’d never seen before – I was a skinny little thing when I went there, look at me now! I did everything, marketing, front of house, chef, washer-up, reservations, reception, chambermaid, waiting, concierge – everything. You can’t manage staff until you can do their jobs yourself, can you?”
“Wilderness Safaris /) and the Conservancies change people’s lives, you know”
I’m in Namibia and this was a typical conversation, not just at the award-winning Damaraland Camp on the country’s first conservancy – Torra, but everywhere. The country is riding high on the success of the unique conservancy programme which allows local communities take charge of their local wildlife. The programme delivers financial benefits, a sense of ownership and pride to the communities; a burgeoning wildlife population to the country, the tourists and the environment; and major commercial opportunities to SMEs like Wilderness Safaris. Plus, of course, a successful formula for the knotty mix of tourism and conservation that is an exportable, transferable commodity.
I wasn’t surprised the next early morning to be shown round the conservancy by one of the brightest, youngest and most accomplished wildlife guides I’ve ever met. Raymond explained that he was training an assistant, Anthony – and they both managed to give me a morning to remember. We tracked desert elephants and found them again and again added to a vast variety of other wildlife that the pair knowledgeably identified in the remarkable terrain.
Later, in Windhoek, I talked to Rob Moffat of Wilderness, a passionate advocate of both Namibia and the conservancy system. “It really works, you know” he said “We plough back everything we can and we get total commitment. At the end of the day it boils down to ownership and involvement”
So far Namibia is a real success story. The conservancy system is working so well that, spurred on by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (http://www.met.gov.na/) the Millennium Challenge Corporation is in the process of investing over $300m in the country including a hefty $60m in tourism.
And for some very good reasons…
Namibia was the first African country to incorporate protection of the environment into its constitution.The Government of Namibia has reinforced this by giving its communities the opportunity and rights to manage their wildlife through communal conservancies.In existence for over 20 years, the Community Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) Programme is a successful multi-faceted approach to rural development and conservation. Covering a massive 16% of the country over 130,000 square kilometersof prime wildlife habitat, the conservancy movement has grown dramatically over the past decade with 59 communities (with over 230,000 members) already registered and a further 30 in the pipeline.
Economic benefits to communities have increased tangibly since the start of the CBNRM programme, from less than N$600,000 in 1998 to N$41.9 million (US$ 5.7 million) in 2008.Most of this growth has come from tourism.As tourism to the normal destinations in Namibia have grown, there has been a parallel growth in the level of interest demonstrated by tour operators, lodge investors and independent tourists in the remote wildlandsof Namibia, much of which are now covered by communal conservancies. Many of these conservancies contain spectacular scenery, rich cultures and burgeoning wildlife populations including elephant, rhino and lion, all of which make them highly attractive to the tourism sector.
Within the Communal Conservancy Tourism Sector, there are now 29 formal joint-venture lodges and campsites (like the relationship between Torra and Wilderness Safaris) that work in collaboration with the host communities to achieve both conservation and development objectives at the local level. And there’s another 15 on the way. At the moment joint ventures conservancies represent 856 beds, 789 full-time jobs and over 250 seasonal positions.More than N$ 145 million (US$ 19 million) has been invested in tourism in communal conservancies in this way by the private sector since 1998.
In this way, tourism contributes direct cash payments to conservancies, salaries for employees, staff training, and related benefits such as payments of cash and in-kind contributions (equipment, donated services, etc.) to village development committees, local schools, etc.These are new or additional activities which give many households access to cash and other benefits that they never had before, and that would not have been possible prior this innovative conservancy legislation in 1996. This has directly translated into conservation benefits with poaching being almost totally eliminated, communities setting aside land for exclusive use of wildlife and resulting expanding populations of all wildlife even including animals such as elephant, lion and black rhino.
And there are many less tangible social benefits like greater confidence and empowerment, on-the-job training, travel opportunities, improved governance, accountability and transparency.
Namibia’s got some of the most sensational scenery and wildife in the world, and it’s being turned to real community advantage by a potent cocktail of enabling legislation, private sector involvement, and massive, educated, donor funding and technical assistance.
The proof of the pudding? A dramatically enhanced wildlife count, strong and stewarded cultural values, a prosperous and growing tourism economy, satisfied visitors, a profitable private sector but most importantly enthusiastic, educated and committed people like Lena, Raymond and Anthony – the necessary seed corn for a truly sustainable tourism industry.
The Art and CultureTeam at Manenberg getting set for World Cup Benefits
What comes to your mind when you think of Cape Town? A fabulous warm winter sun destination with glorious beaches, stunning scenery, great shopping, superb food, colourful music and wild nightlife – but tempered with the edgy threat of violence, robbery and mugging perhaps?
South Africa’s beautiful, feisty and independent ‘Mother City’, (ruled by the Democratic Alliance rather than the ANC) is on a fast-track roller coaster route to racial empowerment after the 46-year bottling-up process of Apartheid.
And now, not only has this tourism destination par excellence won the prestigious Virgin Responsible Tourism Destination Award, but also it is to be a principal host of the – mass participation - 2010 FIFA World Cup. Mutually exclusive goals, you may presume.
When I interviewed Sindiswa Nhlumayo, Deputy Director General of South Africa Tourism last year, I was very impressed with her clear articulation of the SA policy to focus tourism and the world cup for local economic empowerment SEE VIDEO
So it was worth a trip to South Africa to see how all this principle is applied in practice:
Everybody in Cape Town talks and, in particular they like to talk about sport – cricket if you’re coloured, rugby if you’re white and soccer if you’re black – generalizations of course because you can talk about sport (or politics or anything else) to anybody. Try curbing their friendliness and passion. The enthusiasm is catching.
And they all love to talk about the stadium. Greenpoint by name, and perhaps green by nature, the superb 70,000-seat stadium has the usual long list of energy-efficient, water-conservation and waste management technologies and systems. But, most important are the efforts that have been made by the City to make environmental, social and economic sustainability an integral part of each action informing responsible operational thinking at every level.
For instance, the stadium has minimal car parking places which means that spectators will have to arrive by local taxi (benefitting local business) or walk 30 or so minutes along the specially-created Fan Walk. Apart from being of benefit to spectators to get fresh air, it should also be advantageous to local traders’ financial health and spin economic benefits widely.
All of the green issues have obviously been considered and discussed very widely indeed. Although the UNEP Green Passport has not been printed, the locally-instituted Green Goal initiative has just issued an in depth 45 page progress report covering everything from Community Based Organisations to venue-specific training sites. Lorraine Gerrans, SEE VIDEO Cape Town’s manager of the project told me last week that no effort has been spared to make sure the event leaves a positive legacy for the region’s people.SEE WEBSITEAND ANOTHER WEBSITE
Will tourism benefit, or be damaged by the one-off world cup event? Well, the fact is that June is off season in Cape Town and, after a terrible high season (maybe 20%+ down) the football event visitors will certainly provide much needed top-up revenue.
And Cape Town Tourism has taken quite enormous steps to make its tourism truly sustainable. Sadly it is unusual to talk to destination marketing organizations who really understand the opportunities inherent in sustainable tourism, but, if Marisah Smith, marketing officer of Cape Town Tourism is an example, Cape Town really talks the talk AND walks the walk.
Of course they should. Yes, Cape Town won the responsible tourism prize in 2009 SEE AWARDS But it has been practicing the process for at least 7 years since the Cape Town Declaration in 2002 SEE CAPE TOWN DECLARATION
And key to the process is the recognition of tourism’s power as a method of economic development. In this respect, it certainly helps to have a minister of tourism who has power and responsibility for both areas. Lianne Burton, CapeTown's destination marketing manager told me that it is really beneficial to be part of a powerful department headed by Mansoor Mohamed, who is the City’s Executive Director for Economic, Social Development and Tourism. A particular added advantage is that Mansoor is passionate and knowledgeable about the environment.
What does all this mean in practice? These sorts of policies should spawn diverse, profitable, innovative and sustainable tourism enterprises that reap the benefits of tourism, educate and financially empower the population bottom-up and create a beneficial, truly sustainable industry.
A couple of Cape Town examples: Noordhoek Farm Village, the brainchild of Jeremy Wiley is close to the Atlantic by the statuesque Chapman’s Peak Parkway SEE Noordhoek Village
The village -in effect a traditional farm homestead - encompasses two superb restaurants, a gastropub, a world - class bakery and deli, a riding stable (for beach treks), a luxury boutique hotel, a number of shops and a tourism information centre. There is a market garden to provide fresh food and a recycling centre to get rid of the consequent waste. Local people, domestic, regional and international tourists are thereby able to enjoy a truly local offer that compromises not one jot on quality or service.They really GET IT - adding another quality to the sustainability mix - QUALITY.
At the other end of the scale Manenberg is a 70,000 resident Cape Town township that was created by the apartheid government for low income coloured families in the Cape Flats. Manenberg is the scene of another emerging destination – the Manenberg Waterfront bordering on a large inland lake, created by the local silica mine. The area is rich in flora and fauna, especially birds. The Waterfront Development currently includes an Arts and Culture Centre as well as opportunities for a trade and craft market, residents who live alongside the Waterfront are developing campsites, walks and recreation facilities. SEE Proudly Manenberg
So, the message is big events and tourism can benefit residents of destinations at all levels, whether you’re rich or poor, white or black or coloured. Cape Town is doing it.
The only clouds on the horizon… will the Greenpoint Stadium prove to be a nearly billion dollar white elephant? …will truly local traders actually get to sell their wares to the FIFA – controlled fans?…Will the open borders (part of the SA/FIFA proposal) let in trafficked children, prostitutes and criminals?... will the water (or the beer!) run out?
The City of Cape Town and its public/private partnership tourism organization is truly inspirational. Their tough attitude is characterized in a recent local press spat after Lianne Burton, marketing manager emphasized the need for quality rather than quantity of tourists.
Let’s hope that the 2010 World Cup truly puts this beautiful, warm, sexy, sassy city on the map and really showcases its sustainable tourism achievements. It’s not hard to fall in love with Cape Town and its engaging inhabitants – the challenge for Cape Town is to morph a brief and passionate affair into a fulfilling long term relationship.
Valere Tjolle
Full Suite of 4 2010 Sustainable Tourism Reports will be available shortly For anyone interested in sustainable tourism these are must-have reports. They will: Inform your planning * Inform your investing * Inform your colleagues * Maximise your ROI * Help you create winning sustainable strategies
Valere Tjolle is Sustainable Tourism Editor the world's largest global online community for the Travel and Tourism Industry - travelmole.com - and edits travelmole's VISION on Sustainable Tourism, VISION on Climate Change, VISION on ProPoor Tourism and VISION on Green MICE.
He is an authority and key proponent of direct and alternative marketing and product creation in the travel and tourism industry with over 40 years in-depth "hands on" experience at every level.
In the travel industry since the 1970's, for the last 12 years, Valere has specialised in the ethical development and marketing of sustainable tourism projects. Projects have included tourism developments in Africa, USA, UK and Eastern Europe for clients as diverse as the European Union, the World Bank, the Department for International Development and local and international travel and tourism entrepreneurs.
Valere is also advisor to a number of travel-oriented enterprises who wish to get greener AND more profitable
