UPDATE: 9 February 2012 – Event fully booked. No additional space available. Presentations will be posted to Slideshare as soon as possible, and tweets live from the event will use the #rtweek2012 hashtag. Stay tuned to ResponsibleCapeTown.co.za/blog or follow @respCPT for updates.

Cape Town’s tourism industry has been through challenging times recently and the future holds a great deal of uncertainty, but also opportunity. Most businesses could use some help for their bottom line.

That help may be closer than you realise.

On Monday, as part of Responsible Tourism Week 2012, local businesses have the chance to hear from local tourism companies and organisations that will be sharing the ways that a responsible approach to managing their business is helping them deal with the global economic recession and challenging economic times.

Among the confirmed speakers are:

• Helen Turnbull, Fair Trade in Tourism SA trainer and owner of Serendipity Africa, with over ten years helping tourism businesses implement responsible tourism management practices. Helen will share how the real costs and real returns for businesses change from the short to the long term. [view presentation]
• Deidre Luzmore, International Centre for Responsible Tourism alumna and author of numerous case studies on implementing responsible tourism in Cape Town and beyond, revealing five overlooked ways that businesses can become more responsible while helping their bottom line. [view presentation]
• Amiene van der Merwe of The Green Cab, sharing the real costs and business benefits of operating alternative fuel and ‘green’ vehicles. [view presentation]
• Grace Stead, industry leader in greening events and founder of Icologie, discussing the differences between green and conventional events when considering the financial bottom line. [view presentation]
• Marie Abraham, Environmental Control Officer of Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company – overall winner of the 2011 Imvelo Awards and Platinum status with Heritage, sharing unconventional ways to market and build brand value as an RT business. [view presentation]
• Sally Petersen of AWOL Tours – an FTTSA certified tour operator – will present ideas for collaboration that reduce expenses and increase sales. [view presentation]
• Iain Harris of Coffeebeans Routes, offering an iconoclastic view of the links between responsible tourism and the bottom line. [view presentation]
• Itumeleng Pooe, former CEO of Franschhoek Tourism and founder of Afri-Centric, will present ways that wine estates can move beyond biodiversity to embrace responsible tourism and strengthen their businesses.
• Bronwen Wetton, founder of the Community Tourism Development Trust, on how the CTDT helps manage social responsibility implementation for tourism businesses. [view presentation]

The format will be a Pecha Kucha – a rapid-fire series of short and less formal presentations, each under 7 minutes long. This has been proven an effective format for sharing ideas and learnings, and keeps the tone conversational and engaging. The event will close with a panel discussion among the presenters and audience.

Hosted by Responsible Cape Town with generous support from the City of Cape Town, this gathering will stimulate fresh thinking and share provocative ideas about the issues and challenges faced by Cape Town’s tourism private sector in the current economic climate, and the opportunities responsible tourism represents to manage them. It will be a rare opportunity to raise challenging questions and explore creative solutions in a constructive and real-world way.

The event is free and open to any member of one of the tourism associations – Cape Town Tourism, Fedhasa, SAACI or SATSA – which have signed a Responsible Tourism Charter with the City of Cape Town. Spaces are limited, so be sure to register by sending an e-mail with your contact details to events@responsiblecapetown.co.za no later than 17:00 on Friday 10 February. The event is fully booked and no additional spaces are available. Registration is closed.

When: 13h00 – 16h00 on Monday, 13 February

Where: Intaka Island, Century City

Cost: Free to registered delegates

RSVP: FULLY BOOKED. REGISTRATION CLOSED.

Please note that lunch will be served.