SOUTH AFRICA NUMBER ONE IN FAIR TRADE TOURISM!
The world’s first ever Fair Trade travel packages will go to South Africa! They were revealed 28 October 2010 at an exclusive event in Switzerland. One South African and two Swiss tour operators (Kuoni Private Safaris, Reise Service Imagine and Kuoni Travel) have been working closely with Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa (FTTSA) to develop this groundbreaking new approach to tourism. All components of the packages (tour operator/s, transport, activities and accommodation) as well as all contractual relationships in the value chain have been audited against Fair Trade standards. This pioneering work marks the first time in the nearly 50-year history of the global Fair Trade movement that such systems are being developed for the international trade in tourism services, and has been officially endorsed by the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations (FLO) International.
Fair Trade Travel (FTT) will ensure that workers and owners of tourism establishments benefit by requiring longterm trading relationships, full prepayment and binding cancellation agreements. An additional amount (called a premium) will be channelled directly into a central fund and used for development projects across South Africa. The system also monitors that price levels and contractual agreements are fair and that they are being followed, ensuring a fair deal especially for small and emerging tourism service providers. By extension, FTT will ensure that as much money as possible generated by tourism, one of South Africa’s biggest earners, is retained in the local economy.
For the Swiss public, the world’s biggest consumers of Fair Trade products (such as bananas, coffee and wine) per capita, this new development offers a possibility to extend their ethical purchase decisions beyond everyday products to also include holidays that guarantee a better life for people in the South.
The ambitious project was started in July 2009, when Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa (FTTSA) received funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) to investigate the possibility of developing tools and procedures for Fair Trade labelling of travel packages to South Africa. During the course of the project FTTSA and their partners (arbeitskreis tourismus & entwicklung - akte in Switzerland and EED – Tourism Watch in Germany) have developed, in collaboration with various tourism and Fair Trade stakeholders, standards, criteria, indicators and procedures for both company and trade audits.
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Information
For further information, or to be added to the mailing list, please contact the Project Manager:
Katarina Mancama
Tel: +27 (0)12 342 2945
Fax: +27 (0)12 342 2946
E-mail: Katarina@fairtourismsa.org.za
