Overview
What is Responsible Tourism
Responsible tourism is an approach to the management of tourism aimed at maximising benefits (economic, social and environmental) and minimizing costs to destinations. Simply put, Responsible Tourism is a tourism that “creates better places for people to live in, and better places to visit”, a phrase coined in Cape Town in 2002 and now widely used around the world.
Cape Town’s journey to become a responsible destination
1996
Back in 1996, South Africa was the first country to include Responsible Tourism in legislation, just two years into our new democratic era.
2002
In 2002, national RT guidelines were developed and a handbook published to help tourism businesses and destinations in adopting an RT approach.
Also in 2002 the first International Conference on Responsible Tourism in Destinations was held in Cape Town, with the ratified Cape Town Declaration becoming the world’s definition for responsible tourism.
2004
The City of Cape Town includes the principles of responsible tourism as a founding principle of its Tourism Development Framework.
2009
In 2009, the City of Cape Town formally adopted a Responsible Tourism Policy, committing all of the resources and structures of the Municipality to adopt an RT approach. This entails using six different “levers” to achieve sustainability in managing our destination. These include:
- Planning for economic development, transport and all other areas
- Regulation, including land-use approvals, rezonings, licensing, building plan approvals, and the like.
- Using buildings and other immovable property owned by the City
- Requiring organisations funded by the City to adhere to RT principles in contractual arrangements
- Managing the City’s supply chain in a Responsible manner, including transport and travel, meetings and conferences, events, and so on.
- Integrating RT principles within the City’s Performance Management framework
Also in 2009, on World Responsible Tourism Day, a RT Charter was signed by the tourism industry and the City of Cape Town. This included Cape Town Tourism, Fedhasa Cape, SATSA and SAACI.
Cape Town was recognised as the “Best Destination” in the 2009 Responsible Tourism Awards, announced at WTM in November, 2009.
2010
In 2010, Cape Town was one of the Host Cities for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, and developed an action plan for hosting this major event in alignment with the principles of sustainability. The Green Goal programme has 41 projects designed to provide a positive legacy for our destination after the event, as well as to help the event itself be sustainable. The programme was given the 2010 Impumelelo Sustainability Award for its contributions to sustainability in South Africa.
