FTTSA welcomes newly certified client Mdumbi Backpackers!
FTTSA elected to Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) Steering Committee!
Win a one night stay at the Fairtrade Hotel room!
National Development Agency (NDA) Project Finale
And the winner is…. Launch of the FTTSA/Getaway travel blog
Success story: Bulungula Feeding School Children
International Events
Upcoming Responsible Tourism Awards
Resources
News from The Code
Did you know?

FTTSA welcomes newly certified client Mdumbi Backpackers!
We are proud to announce Mdumbi Backpackers as the latest business to be certified by FTTSA! Mdumbi, located on the Wild Cost in the Eastern Cape, is a community-focused initiative whose primary objective is to maximise positive socio-economic impacts in the local area. Direct revenue generated by the business is one way they do this; monthly payments are being directed towards a local community association while agreements have been signed for even broader community impact.  This includes  30% ownership by local employees, 10% of profit being directed towards the local community association and 9% of profit going towards TransCape, an affiliated non-profit organisation whose work in the region spans the areas of education, organic vegetable production and awareness raising around health and well-being
(to name a few).  To learn more, visit Mdumbi Backpackers.

FTTSA elected to Global Partnership for Sustainable Tourism (GPST) Steering Committee!
FTTSA has been elected to the Global Partnership for Sustainable Tourism (GPST) Steering Committee for the tourism stakeholder seat in the Africa Region. The GPST is a multi-stakeholder voluntary initiative comprised of 18 national governments, 5 UN organisations, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 17 international and business organisations as well as 16 NGOs.  The Partnership will rely on the strong commitment of its members to ensure its financial viability and to support its activities, notably in the field of project development, implementation and replication.

Win a one night stay at the Fairtrade Hotel room!
To stand the chance of winning a one night stay for two people in the Fairtrade hotel room at The Peech Hotel (an FTTSA-certified tourism business), all you have to do is ‘like’ the Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa page on facebook before 31 of March 2011. The lucky winners will be announced on the FTTSA page on 1 April 2011. The prize is valid from 1-30 April 2011, terms and conditions apply. To find out more information about the Fair Trade Hotel room, click here.

National Development Agency (NDA) Project Finale
Grahamstown), Bulungula Lodge and Coffee Shack Backpackers. The aim of the workshop was to officially wrap up the 2 year project devoted to Strengthening Community Tourism for Sustainable Local Economic Development. The workshop also provided the beneficiaries with additional skills and capacity building interventions, which included Risk Management training (facilitated by SATIB) and entrepreneur skills training (facilitated by a successful, local entrepreneur, Paul Miedema, owner of FTTSA-certified Calabash Tours ), information on how to work with tour operators (facilitated by Abang Africa) and an inspirational talk by Lindiwe Sangweni-Siddo, owner of the successful Soweto Hotel. In addition, Abang Africa will act as the beneficiaries’ tour operator mentor for the coming 12 months; this includes promoting the products and providing support in terms of product and systems improvements. The beneficiaries expressed great thanks for the work that NDA and FTTSA have done over the past few years and for the many opportunities offered to them through the activities that FTTSA coordinated, such as the travel blog described below!

And the winner is… Launch of the FTTSA/Getaway travel blog
FTTSA, in conjunction with Getaway Magazine and the National Development Agency (NDA) offered an opportunity of a lifetime to one lucky travel junkie. The competition was advertised throughout January and the lucky winner was identified. Her name is Joy-Anne Goodenough and clearly she is excited about this opportunity! Joy-Anne said she “cannot wait to hit the road for this Fair Trade in Tourism trip of a lifetime” and she “hopes through words and photographs to be able to share her experiences with all who read the blog!”. We at FTTSA congratulate Joy-Anne on winning the competition and we encourage all readers to follow her adventures. To read her blog, go to the FTTSA website and simply click the ‘Follow the blog on Getaway’ button.

 Success story: FTTSA-certified Bulungula highlights school children’s feeding scheme crisis
The Bulungula Incubator sent out an urgent appeal for funds on 21 January in response to the cancellation of the Eastern Cape government School Feeding Programmes. The response was overwhelming - R171,551 was raised in just 2 weeks, which is enough to continue the feeding programme until the end of this school term! Because of the quick and generous response to the crisis, meals for learners of No-ofisi Primary School have continued uninterrupted and, in addition to this, support has already been extended to the Xhora Mouth School and logistics for supporting three more schools in the area are underway. Over 900 children are receiving a hot meal every day of the school week with the funds that were contributed and once the other three schools are included, support will be extended to approximately 2000 children. The parents of the community have donated their time to do the cooking. Because of the public outcry to the cancellation of funds by government, there have now been some statements that they will be reinstated.
Source: Bulungula Incubator website. To see photos of the feeding programme and to learn more about the Bulungula Incubator, click here.

 Do you have a success story to share? Let us know and you could be featured in our next newsflash!

Please send your enquiries and success stories to khaya@fairtourismsa.org.za

International Events

ATA World Congress, Dakar, Senegal, 25 - 29 May 2011
The Africa Travel Association (ATA) is the leading global trade association which promotes travel and tourism in Africa, and strengthens intra-African partnerships. ATA partners with the African Union Commission (AUC) to promote sustainable development of tourism to and across Africa. ATA's annual events bring together industry leaders to shape Africa's tourism agenda. The Ministry of Tourism and Handicrafts, in liaison with the Private Sector and Small Businesses of the Republic of Senegal, will host the 36th Annual ATA World Congress in Dakar. South Africa last hosted this leading African tourism industry event in 2001, when it was held in Cape Town. For more information, go to ATA online.

11th WFTO Biennial Conference, Mombasa, Kenya, 22 - 27 May 2011
In a move that demonstrates clearly the shared responsibility that Fair Trade entails, for the first time the conference is being hosted and organised jointly by the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO) Pacific and the Kenyan Fair Trade Association (KEFAT).
A stimulating programme is being developed to allow members to discuss major issues around both the organizational structure of WFTO itself and of the methodology of doing business between the member organizations and the external market. To register, download the 11th Biennial Global Conference Registration Form or log on to WFTO’s Internal Site and download the registration form.  If you forgot your username and password, please contact communications@wfto.com  and you will be given new access details. Please send the completed form to conference@kefat.org with a copy to communications@wfto.com

Upcoming Responsible Tourism Awards

Sustainable Development in Tourism Awards
Attention responsible tourism businesses! Do you have best practices in sustainable tourism operations to showcase? Then the 'Sustainable Development in Tourism Awards' could boost your exposure! Learn how to enter the awards here. The deadline for entries is 30 April 2011.

Resources

Food for Thought: Read why South Africa didn’t make it into the world’s top 10 ethical destinations in 2011
According to a recently published article on Responsible Travel Report, certain countries that made their previous ‘Ethical Destinations list’ were omitted this time around. Unfortunately these included all African countries. Although South Africa, Ghana, Namibia and the Seychelles are still making considerable environmental efforts, for all of them there was an important deal-breaker, which led to their elimination from the Top 10. In South Africa and Ghana, some of the most vulnerable people were evicted from their houses, often without proper alternative housing, compensation or in some cases even without prior notice. In South Africa, these people were forced to relocate to make space for development projects leading up to the World Cup Soccer Tournament. The World Cup also caused an increase in sex trafficking into the country. To abate this negative side effect of an increased tourist influx, The Tourism Child Protection Code of Conduct (“the Code”), was launched by FTTSA in June 2010, prior to the World Cup, with the support of UNICEF and the International Labour Organization (ILO). The Code is an instrument of self-regulation which provides increased protection to children from sexual exploitation in travel and tourism and by now, over 40 South African tourism establishments and industry associations have pledged their support to the Code and pro-actively fight against Child Sex Tourism. FTTSA acts as the Local Code Representative for South Africa and aims to expand the movement to all of its nine provinces to ensure that the tourism industry, travelers and South African communities in general are aware of this crime and learn how to prevent it. To find out more about this important initiative and how you as a tourism business can sign up, please visit The Code South Africa and/or The Code International.

News from The Code
On 26 January, FTTSA organized a media event at the FTTSA-certified Peech Hotel in Melrose.
The purpose of this event was to inform the media of work done so far to introduce The Code in South Africa, and to create partnerships with the media to widen the reach of this initiative. Key travel and consumer media such as Getaway, SABC and Mail & Guardian attended the event. Katarina Mancama gave a brief overview of the project; Grace Banya from ILO and Stephen Blight from UNICEF (the key donors of this project) gave an insight into their motivation for providing funding to the project; Bruce Prins from Accor hotels reflected on the work done on the ground in terms of training hotel staff to be more aware of the issues surrounding child sex tourism and the prevention thereof; and Roshene Singh from South African Tourism summarized the need for everyone to work together to protect our children from exploitation. The event was a success, and FTTSA hopes to be able to give information on new partnerships in the near future.
For further information about The Code, and how to become associated with this crucial project, please contact Julia Kandzia, Project Coordinator on: thecode@fairtourismsa.org.za

UNWTO’s latest Sustainable Development of Tourism bulletin is now available online
Feature articles cover the following subjects:

The bulletin is available for download (PDF) here.

The Travelers’ Philanthropy Handbook: New Publication Details Rapid Growth and Importance of Travelers’ Philanthropy
The Travelers’ Philanthropy Handbook, released on 21 February 2011, marks the first comprehensive look at travel industry ‘give back’ programs that are generating contributions of ‘time, talent and treasure’ to support local projects in tourism destinations. Produced by the Center for Responsible Travel (CREST) of Stanford University (USA), the 250 page Handbook includes original essays, case studies, and surveys by some 30 experts, plus a Foreword by Nobel Peace Laureate Dr. Wangari Maathai. Although a relatively new form of corporate social responsibility (CSR), travelers’ philanthropy is growing rapidly. “While precise statistics are not available, our research confirms that today thousands of tourism companies are, together with travelers, generating tens of millions of dollars in contributions assistance that is flowing into community and conservation projects in tourism destinations around the globe,” states Dr. Martha Honey, CREST Co-Director and the Handbook editor.
To download your free copy of the handbook, go to www.responsibletravel.org, where it can also be purchased in CD-Rom and book format.