Fair Trade Philippines Moving Towards Tourism

Fair trade is now an international movement of growing support and awareness. Many fair trade consumers are aware of fair trade tea from Sri Lanka, bananas from the Caribbean, cocoa beans from Ghana and coffee from East Timor, but the Philippines as a fair trade destination is less familiar.

The Philippines is made up of 7,107 islands and a rapidly growing population upwards of 86 million. Whilst rich in biodiversity, culture and history, roughly a third of all Filipinos live under the poverty line.

Aiming to combat poverty, the Advocate of Philippine Fair Trade, Inc (APFTI), who chair the Philippine Fair Trade Forum, has spearheaded the fair trade movement since 1994. Working with food and craft producers, APFTI provides fair trade enterprise development to micro, small and medium marginalised entrepreneurs.

The result is an increase of empowered Filipino entrepreneurs producing world class fair trade products handcrafted from native fibres derived from pineapple leaves, vines and palms; coconut products and bi-products; delicacies from pili nut, mangoes and muscovado sugar.

Whilst European traders account for a large percentage of the Philippine fair trade market, one of the main barriers is the inability for small producers to attain internationally-recognised fair trade labels. Given the financial constraints of these producers, few can afford the accreditation fees.

As such APFTI has looked to other options of connecting buyers with producers. Firstly, APFTI are in the planning stage for the creation of Philippine recognised fair trade label and accreditation system. This is part of a new campaign to develop the domestic fair trade market amongst the growing middle class.

Secondly, APFTI have started linking fair trade with tourism. Since 2007, APFTI has run ‘Meet the People’ tours through TraidCraft Exchange, a UK-based trading company and charity that has been empowering fair trade producers for over two decades. The Meet the People tour takes European guests on a 2 week tour across the Luzon Island, visiting fair trade producers, availing of eco-tourism products and staying in locally-owned accommodations and homestays.

Learning through experience about the impacts of consuming fair trade has proved to be invaluable for both tourists and producers. APFTI is now embarking on a tourism program that will incorporate the fair trade enterprise development framework to be applied to service providers in the tourism industry.

Piloting the framework in Antique, one of the Philippine’s more economically-disadvantaged provinces but richly endowed with history, biodiversity and cultural livelihoods, APFTI envisages the program to be rolled out across the country.

According to APFTI’s Executive Director Rommel Agustin: ‘We feel that experiencing fair trade is paramount in market development for our producers. Our tours have been well-received, however we wanted to create an experience where tourists know that it’s not just the product that is fair, but also accommodation, food, guiding and transport.’

Looking globally, the fair trade in tourism market has great potential, with more and more tourists wanting personal connections in their holidays. The fair trade brand has proved to be widely respected; it is time for that trend to follow into tourism.

Agustin added: ‘TraidCraft’s approach of bringing consumers to meet the producers is a wonderful model; however, we need to take it that extra step and provide fair trade enterprise development to tourism stakeholders.

‘This is where the travel industry could step in and provide the necessary tourism training skills. Fair Trade NGOs, such as APFTI, are experienced in food and craft development, but less so with tourism. Partnering up with sustainable tourism organisations, I believe, is vital for the success and sustainability of the fair trade in tourism brand’.

FairTradePhillipines

FairTradeHolidays

Cherie McCosker is living and working in the Philippines as a volunteer through VIDA – Volunteering in International Development from Australia. She advocates for fair trade, particularly in how fair trade principles can be applied to tourism.