Fair Trade Tourism is a not-for-profit company that provides a networking platform, business support, and certification to enable the tourism sector to operate with Fair Trade Tourism's six principles and responsible tourism embedded in their day-to-day tourism offering. We work in partnership with the entire tourism value chain – from micro enterprises in the destination through to large tour operators in key source markets. Working together, we ensure that the people and places whose culture, land and resources create opportunities for rewarding travel experiences benefit from them, and that they are empowered to safeguard the nature, culture and heritage that define them.
FTT was initially a project conceptualised under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) - South Africa in 2001, and became an independent entity in 2004. The organisation has provided leadership in responsible and Fair Trade Tourism in Africa and globally ever since.
In 2012, Fair Trade Tourism was among the first certification bodies in the world to be officially "recognised" by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC). We maintain our commitment to applying best practice in sustainable tourism certification, including independent audits and periodic revisions of our standard to ensure that it remains locally relevant and reflects ever-shifting sustainable development priorities to which tourism businesses must adapt in order to continue creating better places to live, work, and visit.
OUR VISION
OUR MISSION
Through certification, develop the market for Fair Trade Tourism in a way that benefits people, business and the environment.
Six Principles of Fair Trade Tourism
1 fair share - all participants involved in a tourism activity should get their fair share of the income, in direct proportion to their contribution to the activity
2 fair say - all participants involved in a tourism activity should have the right and opportunity to participate in decisions that concern them
3 respect - both host and visitor should have respect for human rights, culture and environment; this includes
- safe working conditions and practices
- protection of young workers?
- promoting gender equality
- understanding and tolerance of socio-cultural norms
- reducing consumption of water and energy, as well as reducing, reusing and recycling waste
- conservation of biodiversity and natural resources
- HIV/AIDS awareness
4 reliability - services delivered to tourists should be reliable and consistent; basic safety and security for both host and visitor should be ensured
5 transparency - tourism businesses should establish mechanisms of accountability; these include
- ownership of tourism businesses must be clearly defined
- employees and other participants should be able to access information that concerns them
- sharing of profits, benefits and losses must be transparent
6 sustainability - the tourism businesses should strive to be sustainable; this includes
- increased knowledge through capacity-building
- improved use of available resources through networking and partnerships
- economic viability through responsible use of resources
- reduction of leakage through local purchasing and employment
- support to historically disadvantaged entrepreneurs
Affiliations
Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency - Signatory & Advocate for Action!
Fair Trade Tourism has committed its voice to join those of our travel and tourism colleagues around the world in declaring a climate emergency and we urge all other tourism stakeholders to do the same - small, large, public and private alike.
We are proud to play our part in ensuring that climate action is swift, just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive, and our corresponding Climate Action Plan will ensure that we advocate for and catalyse climate action through our network and in our own operations.
Visit Tourism Declares a Climate Emergency to join the movement and take action now.
One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme - Multistakeholder Advisory Committee
The One Planet Network was formed to accelerate the United Nations' 10-Year Framework of Programmes on sustainable consumption and production (SCP) in favour of the circular economy as a pathway for sustainable development. FTT sits on a global advisory committee of the Network's One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme, which is led by the UNWTO in partnership with UNEP.
One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme - Multistakeholder Advisory Committee
The One Planet Network was formed to accelerate the United Nations' 10-Year Framework of Programmes on sustainable consumption and production (SCP) in favour of the circular economy as a pathway for sustainable development. FTT sits on a global advisory committee of the Network's One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme, which is led by the UNWTO in partnership with UNEP.
The Code - Local Code Representative (LCR)
The Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Exploitation in Travel and Tourism ("The Code", for short) is a global initiative that aims to increase the protection to children from commercial sexual exploitation in travel and tourism. Fair Trade Tourism is the official LCR for The Code in South Africa where it has been mandated to support its implementation. By signing up, tourism businesses commit to implementing the 6 Criteria of The Code so that their teams are empowered to know what to look for, and what do to. By joining hands in tourism, we can protect our children and stop them from being sexually exploited. Don't look away...
STOP Sexual Exploitation of a Child
Our Board of Directors
Lee-Anne Bac
Lee-Anne is a Director at BDO (South Africa) and is a specialist advisor to the tourism sector. She was a member of the FTT Certification Panel from its inception in 2003 until its dissolution in September 2013, and has served on the Board every since.
Judy Kepher-Gona
Judy Kepher_Gona, former CEO of Ecotourism Kenya and the Basecamp Foundation Kenya, and current Sustainable Tourism Advisor and Founder of Sustainable Travel & Tourism Agenda, is a leading African sustainable tourism advisor, coach, and strategist.
Des Mahony
Des Mahony is a Director at a private equity manager. He also works as an arbitrator and is involved the governance structures of a school and professional bodies. He joined the Board in March 2005 and brings financial expertise to the team.
Salifou Siddo
Dr Siddo joined the Board in 2017 and is the current Chairperson. He is also the Chief Executive at SME TradeLinks and has held previous Chief Executive positions at both the Tourism Enterprise Partnership (TEP) an the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa.
