South Africa Fair Trade Tourism Packages Endorsed and Ready to Market

Fair Trade Tourism South Africa (FTTSA), now endorsed by the global Fair Trade Labelling Organisation, are creating travel packages ready to market. –the  initial pilot of fairly traded travel to South Africa will be funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

Said Jennifer Sief, yesterday, “We now have a good sense of what the content of trade standards could be, and how travel packages could be certified. FTTSA is very pleased that FLO has now endorsed our project and SECO is to fund it, this will enable us to work with Fairtrade procedures and elements; in addition FTTSA is proud that this process will be led from Africa (from the South) which is especially important in an industry that is touted as a development strategy for poor countries, FTTSA will be working closely with counterparts and Fairtrade experts in Europe and consulting with other NGOs and community-based organizations from the South via an online forum. “

During 2006-2008, FTTSA participated in a global feasibility study led by the international Fairtrade Labelling Organization (FLO) to determine the extent to which conventional Fairtrade certification and licensing elements, which are currently applied to international trade in agricultural and other commodities, would apply to the worldwide tourism industry.

Although the results of the FLO-led process were inconclusive, research conducted by FTTSA on behalf of FLO suggests that practical work in destinations is needed to further the Fairtrade tourism agenda – and that South Africa is well positioned to lead a global pilot project based on the successes achieved by FTTSA to date.

According to FTTSA Executive Director, Jennifer Seif, “Although FLO’s current mandate precludes any new intervention in tourism, FLO has endorsed the upcoming FTTSA-led pilot project as a way of generating further knowledge on Fairtrade tourism.”

Starting in mid-2009, FTTSA will develop draft trade standards for monitoring the flow of money and other Fair Trade issues within the international tourism value chain, with an initial focus on the German and Swiss markets. Draft trade standards will be developed collaboratively with partner organisations in Germany and Switzerland including tourism development organisations, tour operators, Fairtrade experts and national Fairtrade Licensing Initiatives.

Travel packages incorporating these standards will then be developed by tour operators, independently audited by a Fairtrade service provider and finally marketed to German and Swiss consumers to test demand for fairly traded travel and identify target market segments.

Depending on results, the pilot will then be extended to additional source markets for example Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

FTTSA and its partners including FLO have identified a number of Fair Trade issues that will be incorporated into a working set of trade standards, including:

    * transparent pricing
    * timely payment / pre-payment to product owners
    * equitable management of allotments and cancellation fees
    * carbon off-sets
    * risk sharing
    * no speculation on exchange rates
    * minimum % retained by destination
    * incorporation of emerging products
    * anti-corruption policy

Said Seif, “The real impacts of Fair Trade Tourism accrue in destinations – to workers, communities and small and medium-sized enterprises requiring third-party assistance to improve their operations and, ultimately, their access to markets. Accordingly, standards and systems used for certification must speak to the needs, realities and expectations of destination stakeholders.” With this in mind, stakeholders from around the world will be invited to comment on the draft trade standards and other project outputs via an online forum managed by FTTSA.

“FTTSA won’t become a tour operator. We will continue to work with tour operators as a way of increasing benefit for FTTSA-certified clients. Obviously if our clients have an opportunity to be included in a Fair Trade (or ultimately Fairtrade) holiday, this should give them improved terms of trade (benefit) and access to new/higher value markets.”

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