Afrika T

Africa's new UNESCO World Heritage Sites for 2009

2009-07-05T04:37:00.000+02:00

Two new UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa for 2009

The information below includes material excerpted from the news releases of UNESCO:

The Ruins of Loropéni (Burkina Faso). Cultural Site

The 11,130m2 property, the first to be inscribed in the country, with its imposing stone walls is the best preserved of ten fortresses in the Lobi area and is part of a larger group of 100 stone enclosures that bear testimony to the power of the trans-Saharan gold trade. Situated near the borders of Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo, the ruins have recently been shown to be at least 1,000 years old. The settlement was occupied by the Lohron or Koulango peoples, who controlled the extraction and transformation of gold in the region when it reached its apogee from the 14th to the 17th century. Much mystery surrounds this site large parts of which have yet to be excavated. The settlement seems to have been abandoned during some periods during its long history. The property which was finally deserted in the early 19th century is expected to yield much more information.

View Larger Map

Cidade Velha, Historic Centre of Ribeira Grande (Cape Verde). Cultural Site

The town of Ribeira Grande, renamed Cidade Velha in the late 18th century, was the first European colonial outpost in the tropics. Located in the south of the island of Santiago, the town features some of the original street layout impressive remains including two churches, a royal fortress and Pillory Square with its ornate 16th-century marble pillar.

View Larger Map

2008 saw the addition of 2 sites, while 2007 added 4 in Africa. That brings the total to 78 out of 890, or 8.8% of the World Heritage Sites in Africa, up 0.2%. Both Burkina Faso and Cape Verde added their first World Heritage Sites this year, raising the total to 29 African nations with some WHS status.

The full list is available, with convenient statistics and interactive maps at the UNESCO World Heritage Site website.

Cape Town Green Map

2009-06-03T11:07:00.000+02:00

Check out the new, interactive Cape Town Green Map - an essential guide for visitors and residents to the eco-friendly destinations, companies, organisations, activities and much more in and around the city of Cape Town.

An excellent new resource, funded by the City of Cape Town as one of the projects in the Green Goal 2010 Action Plan [pdf 1MB] - the programme to reduce the environmental impact and increase the socio-economic benefits of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

It includes green tips and provides opportunities for anyone to suggest additions tothe map. They will (when last I heard) also be producing some print versions of the map closer to the time of the World Cup in 2010.

You can register via the site to be a part of their volunteer network to grow the content and reach of the green map over time - a positive legacy of the World Cup.

[full disclosure: I was co-author of the Green Goal 2010 Action Plan, but did not have any direct role in creating the CT Green Map]

Dambisa Moyo - asking tough questions about aid to Africa

2009-05-27T09:28:00.000+02:00

My recent post highlighting some of the complexities of travel philanthropy draws, among other sources, on my own direct and indirect experience with a number of tourism development projects. I mention in passing the broader issue of donor funding and aid, but this is where the big stakes lie, with the health, welfare, GDP and future trajectories of entire nations, regions and cities on the agenda. Tourism is a relative latecomer and a minor player on the donor-aid-philanthropy scene.

One of the recent books to receive mainstream attention on the broad topic of aid to Africa is Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo, a Zambian-born economist and policy wonk with degrees from Harvard and Oxford. She's highly critical of aid programmes, and a supporter of microfinance approaches to investing, but this is glossing a broader and more thorough case that she makes.

The NY Times called her the "Anti-Bono", while the Guardian agrees that she's "asking the right questions" even if they're uncomfortable with all of her answers. A good list of early, authoritative, critical reviews of her book from a number of different perspectives is provided on the Bottom Billion blog, including a rigorous point-counter point from ONE, as well as others from Aid Watch and a "non-ideological" critique from David Roodman at the Centre for Global Development (be sure to read the comments to his post).

Moyo's perspective is one of many, but her credentials, experience and ability to straddle both African and Western cultures make her an authoritative contemporary voice that doesn't fall neatly into Western conventional definitions of liberal and conservative politics or ideology.

The Guardian - 'Better to visit Soweto than be ignorant'

2009-05-27T08:21:00.000+02:00

Britain's newspaper, The Guardian, provides a regular "Letter from Africa" from their Africa correspondent, David Smith. The most recent one concerned a township tour Smith took to Soweto, and provides his conflicted but ultimately encouraging opinion. Once gets a sense of where he's going with the piece from the title ("Awkward insights on the Soweto tourist trail") and subtitle ("Better this uncomfortable intrusion into people's lives than blind ignorance of the many faces of modern Soweto").

I found it a well-written and honest account, and useful for people who might be wrestling with going on a township tour themselves. In the end, not particularly insightful or sophisticated as a critique or as travel writing, but not aspiring to be either. I'm pleased to see it raising the awareness of the topic and related issues among mainstream UK readers as well as the Guardian's global online audience.

My take on township tours is more critical, but primarily due to the frequent lack of context and the indirect negative effects for communities and tour guides that stem from this category of tours as it exists today. These are industry-side problems, and in spite of my critiques I have to agree with Smith that it is better for tourists to go and see than not to. The industry needs to work harder on providing contextualised community-based cultural tours into Soweto and other communities, which have been formally assessed and accredited as Responsible tours. Then, a better informed traveller can make the choice of which kind of tour to go on.

Charity and the Responsible Traveller

2009-05-24T10:58:00.000+02:00

Ethically-minded travellers who seek out authentic, local cultural experiences are often moved by those experiences to want to contribute in some way to a local community, project or NGO they visit over and above the commercial tourism transaction of the visit itself. Paying a tour operator, accommodation provider, restaurant, guide and so on in a Fair Trade-style arrangement is good but, for many, insufficient; they want to donate, usually money, but also time, materials (books, paper, computers, etc.) or other resources.

This is a bigger challenge to deal with than it might seem at first glance. It's important for travellers as well as those on the "operator" side of the relationship to take a considered approach to handling charitable donations. The various complexities have been coalescing in recent years under the umbrella term of "Traveller's Philanthropy", and NGO's, conferences and private companies have sprung into existence along the way.

It's important first to be clear about what is meant by the term "Travel Philanthropy" and its close cousin, "Philanthropic Travel". The former is what this essay considers, namely how to best channel the charitable intentions of travellers who visit a destination and have an experience that motivates them to want to give. The latter is a niche market for tour operators, who offer travel experiences with the express purpose of the travellers making charitable contributions. (It's pedantic-sounding, even to me, but the distinction is crucial, and I look forward to the day when we have some terms that aren't so difficult to tell apart.)

So what are some of the challenges of Travel Philanthropy? Charity can bring with it so many troubling unintended consequences that are at risk of distorting or even reversing the initial generous intention of the giver. Just a few examples I’ve seen in my tourism development work of charity’s unintended consequences:

Creating, sustaining or increasing dependency on handouts, which is disempowering and undermines the dignity of the recipient
Relieving pressure local civil society is placing on governments to deliver services and comply with their constitutional or other legal obligations
Undermining the confidence of existing or potential future local leaders by supporting a dependence on outsiders to bring relief
Creating a mechanism for distributing patronage and creating local political instability where the ‘haves’ (recipients) develop power over others. Perversely, being needy and worthy of pity can become seen as a path to amassing power, influence and cash.

In addition, almost no charitable organisations are invested in the outcomes of their projects to the degree that the locals are, so the long-term commitment of a programme is always in question: what happens when the donor funds run out or the floods wash the clinic away or the warlords kidnap aid workers instead of villagers? The outsiders go back to their much more comfortable lives and locals remain, now disempowered for lack of their outside assistance. This is even more the case when the conduit to charity is not a well-established NGO but rather a commercial tourism business, and if/when their profitable tourism revenue dries up they aren't going to keep paying the costs of maintaining their people and infrastructure on the ground just to do nice things for the locals for free. Charity is not a long-term development strategy, and can undermine other strategies that work better.

(There is a whole separate discussion about the decades that various NGOs and government agencies have spent grappling with the unintended consequences of charity - or "donor contributions", more commonly - and the lessons learned, horror stories, best practices, etc. Formerly this was an issue largely confined to a narrow, wealthy slice of individual and institutional donors but as tourism has boomed in recent decades it has become more mainstream and therefore an issue for tourism and tourists to deal with as a fairly new phenomenon.)

Also, I am highly sceptical about commercial, for-profit tourism ventures who engage in philanthropy, even at arm's length through a trust or non-profit arm. It is very difficult to tell what is authentic, credible charity and what is just brand white-washing (or green-washing). It is even more difficult to tell whether and when the credible charity is having the desired positive benefits for the recipients even if the intention is all good. And who holds the company liable for the unintended negative effects of their charity? I don't deny the urge, intention and effort to do good for others is there, I just believe the profit motive so muddies the water that it is nearly impossible for an ethically-minded customer to tease these things apart. Unless there is a credible independent credentialing or auditing system (which is a different discussion), these inherent conflicts of interest and the complexity of teasing apart intention from outcome will make the problem persistent.

This is over and above the troubling issue of a company exploiting the idealism and generosity of their customers in order to build their brand and make a profit (of which more in a future posting about volunteer travel).

I also have reservations regarding the traveller/tourist’s motivations to give, whether sub-conscious or otherwise. I include my own motivations, which can be opaque, even (or perhaps specially) to me. Are were-enforcing our own sense of superiority? Or a paternalistic mindset (‘White Man’s Burden’ for the 21st century)? How many tourists who are moved to charity when they visit Africa or Latin America or elsewhere are charitable in their own local communities? (For example, what proportion of affluent American philanthropic travellers gave money to help their own countrymen who suffered and continue to suffer in New Orleans from the failure of the levees during Hurricane Katrina?) What does it say about our motivations if we aren’t charitable at home, if it says anything? And why do so many donors come halfway around the world to give money – most of these projects, NGO’s and companies have websites with other channels for donating. It’s impossible to arm-chair psychoanalyse anyone fairly, but just going through the thought exercise makes me uncomfortable about the motivations of the givers. And, is it OK to just allow outsiders to write a cheque and feel their conscience relieved so they can sleep at night after having seen poor people living horrible lives? Is philanthropic travel creating an industry of guilt-alleviation for rich (mainly) Westerners, and profiting from it along the way?

In spite of these many and varied criticisms, I do believe that it is better to give than not to give, and better still to engage pro-actively with the desires of travellers to give and to make an effort to channel those charitable gifts in some manner. Unstructured or unconsidered giving is even more problematic than what I’ve sketched above. However, I am not yet convinced that we have a handle on how to do this well such that, all things considered, the long-term outcomes are proven to be better than not giving at all.

Organisations like Global Giving, Kiva, JustGive, Philanthropy UK, Travelers' Philanthropy and Travaid are some of the interesting but (to my mind) unproven models that I’m keen to see independently evaluated in a tourism context. I would encourage travellers and tourism organisations (as well as NGO's) to look at these as potential sources of assitance in helping to navigate the complexities of Travel Philanthropy. The Center for Responsible Travel has also published a set of guidelines for responsible giving, also available for download as a PDF. There is also a more generic (i.e., non-travel-specific) guide to giving from Philanthropy UK both online and as a downloadable PDF.

[Note: I first wrote down many of these thoughts as part of a week-long virtual conference on Responsible Tourism from 18-22 May 2009 ("RT Week 2009") and these along with others, as well as many other writers on the issue, can be found as part of a forum discussion on the RT Networking Facebook Group.]

CBT at the coal face - a guest perspective

2009-05-19T09:50:00.000+02:00

I was at Indaba recently and could tell that something special was going on around the Open Africa stand. The quality of interaction people were having with the local representatives from some of the community-based tourism (CBT) routes was distinctly different from the schmooze, hype and spin going on at so many other stands. I asked Open Africa's marketing manager, Jolene Groenewald, to share a bit of the inside story:

When attending Indaba, you see a lot of ‘BIG’ things happening, but sometimes there are things that go unseen that to some may seem irrelevant, but to others may be life-changing.

Having some of our local route representatives attend travel shows like the Getaway Show and Indaba has shown us how important these opportunities are. At first, the experience can be a little overwhelming to a route member who has never been too far from home, and certainly does not feel that they have something to offer. But as time goes by and interactions with visitors to the stand and other attendees increase unavoidably, they see traditional clothing, craft and other cultures being marketed and realize, ‘hey, maybe what we have is special’ and a certain change becomes visible – from being a quiet observer, this shy route ambassador starts to promote their area with pride and confidence - and in doing so, learns more about marketing and tourism than one would probably learn in a text book or a course.

Patrick Morata from Blouberg (Seraki Blouberg Route), Limpopo attended the Getaway Show with us last year and the experience increased his confidence in marketing their route. The first few days he was quiet and relied a lot on myself and another representative to handle visitors at the stand. But by the end of the show he was ‘recruiting’ people to our stand and happily explaining what visitors could see and do during their stay at Blouberg.

At Indaba, Lisbeth Makambeni was happy to share about her culture at Indaba, she comes from a village near the Punda Maria Gate of the Kruger National Park in Limpopo, Malumulele, and is currently the chairperson of the Hlanganani Route. Being Shangaan, she explained to visitors that they specialize in ‘traditional things’, cultural dancing, beading, arts and crafts. On the second day of Indaba she showcased an example of their handwork by proudly wearing a traditionally beaded skirt and overcoat.

To us this is a great success and takes us a little closer to realizing our goal as an organization, even if it may be relatively hidden to others.

Responsible Tourism Week 2009 May 18-22

2009-05-15T07:40:00.000+02:00

Thanks to swine flu related travel restrictions, the Responsible Tourism conference in Belize (RTD-III) has been postponed, but the online eco-tourism journal Planeta has rallied to sponsor or catalyse an online conference in the interim.

The format makes it easy to participate, as there are many platforms and media to use, read and contribute to. It's really more of a call for concentrated virtual engagement than a structured, programmatic conference. Will it work? That depends on what one means by "work". It will definitely be better than the void left by a non-RTD-III conference. (Quote for the online conference: "We don't have anything planned, so nothing can go wrong", attributed to Spike Milligan).

Questions proposed for discussion:

GFC - What are the best ways to support responsible tourism initiatives during the economic recession?
Education - Is there a code of conduct for academics and university tourism programs?
CBT - How should community-based tourism operations be evaluated? Are there suggestions for making improvements?
Finance - What is Responsible Travel Philanthropy?
Hospitality – what constitutes Responsible Hospitality Management?
Aviation – Is it possible to fly responsibly?
Climate Change - More broadly what is required to be Carbon Responsible?
Place - What makes a Destination Responsible?

I'll be keen to see who else picks up the call beyond Planeta (where Ron Mader seems to do a superhuman amount of content production), and at what level of participation above and beyond the ordinary threaded forum discussions that trickle along in places like the aRTyForum, Fringe Ning, Irresponsible Tourism forum, Facebook, and the Transitions Abroad Ning. Twitter will also be used with tweets trackable/searchable via the hashtag #rtweek2009.

These various forums seem to involve a lot of the same people, but I'm hoping to see signs that the product owner/managers (of the sort who are making the RT networking events so successful) are connecting in a meaningful way with the academic/consulting/policy people.

Indaba 2009 Portrait: White Shark Projects

2009-05-13T12:52:00.000+02:00

I've been loathe to give publicity to the booming white shark cage diving industry in South Africa. While I also haven't gone out of my way to criticise it either, I just feel conflicted about the practice and so have avoided the subject entirely. However, Fair Trade in Tourism SA (FTTSA) has recently certified their second shark cage diving tour operator and I just had to look a bit deeper.

Helen Turnbull (of Serendipity Africa and FTTSA) was commissioned to do extensive research into the industry and its practitioners as FTTSA wrestled with this issue for the first cage diving applicant, and I cornered her at Indaba 2009 to ask a few questions. She's promised to forward some of the findings from her research, but she did share that she also had reservations about the industry overall when she began the project. After the research, she advises me that she has no reservations about either the first operator, Marine Dynamics Tours, or the second, White Shark Projects, receiving Fair Trade in Tourism certification.

Both operators have strong conservation track records, responsible business practices, etc. And they follow the guidelines derived from the most current scientific research, which indicates no changes in the behaviour or populations of the sharks from these daily cage diving tours. In fact, there may be significant good being done for their conservation and protection by raising the profile and awareness among tourists of sharks as complex organisms, far different from the stereotyped killing machines they're characterised as in popular culture.

I then popped in to the White Shark Projects stand at Indaba to check things out for myself. It was a bit disappointing that they very sold their offering on the thrill factor of the experience, fitting in to the adrenaline tourism end of the industry. For me, that was in conflict with the conservation and stewardship message and at odds with the effort to de-mystify sharks and rehabilitate their reputation. It wasn't bad, just not what I had hoped for. I suppose they know their market and what it takes to reach them - and maybe that just isn't me.

At this point, I remain conflicted. I trust FTTSA regarding these two operators in particular. However, the rest of the industry remains a question mark in my mind, and something just doesn't sit right with me about the chumming and other practices required to ensure a successful viewing. I'm just waiting for the research shoe to drop that this is, after all, having a deleterious effect on sharks and that we've spent years distorting their natural behaviours...but maybe it will never materialise.

If you're keen to do the cage diving thing - as so many thousands of people are every year - then by all means be sure you go with one of the FTTSA-certified operators. It's your best assurance that the minimum harm is being done and that high ethical standards are maintained across the board.

From their website:

Witness the power of the greatest predator on earth with 'White Shark Projects'.

Here, in the heart of the world's Great White Shark mecca we offer a unique diving opportunity for you to witness the wonder of the Great White Shark. These gliding torpedoes of power serve as the focus of White Shark Projects, a renowned global research organisation founded in 1989 and totally dedicated to their conservation.

White Shark Projects takes you on an adrenalin surging adventure experience that will leave you in awe of these magnificent ocean predators.

Indaba 2009 Portrait: Open Africa

2009-05-09T17:35:00.000+02:00

The good people from Open Africa were at Indaba with a strategically placed stand that impressed me, showcasing primarily their Limpopo and Zambia routes. I was also struck by the quality of the design and materials they're using for brochures, maps, etc. Great to see the professionalism and aesthetic sensibilities not being sacrificed. According to Jolene Groenewald, Open Africa's marketing manager, these materials are being added to their website over then coming days.

She also told me some lovely anecdotes about the members of their community-based tourism routes coming to Indaba to get a sense of how the broader industry works, do some networking, attend some workshops and - hopefully - get some new business. I really like these guys: they get stuck in, get the work started, and stay with it for the long term.

From their website:

Open Africa is a pan-African collaborative movement. The vision is to link the splendours of Africa in a network of job creating conservation-oriented tourism routes from the Cape to Cairo.

So this is about tourism, but not tourism in the ordinary sense. Operated by local people within the framework of a system provided by Open Africa, these routes will take you to places that you will otherwise not see…
Authentic places
Mostly away from the crowds
Where you can reconnect with nature
Meet the people in Africa and
Share their experiences and stories
The network already has 55 routes in six Southern Africa countries, in which there are 1906 participants employing more than 20 000 people.

Tourism data announced - not sure why

2009-05-09T14:57:00.000+02:00

So it's hard not to feel disappointed when the media briefing leads with a slide saying "Launch...2005" and it's mid-year 2009.

I'm sorely tempted to be hard on DEAT, SAT and Statistics SA for being so lame as to have a press conference to announce 5 year-old data, but that's not really in order. And the spin was to encourage us (the media being briefed) to help explain to the tourism industry why this announcement and the data is such a good thing, but I can't really do that either in good conscience.

The whole thing is a non-event that should not have been done at Indaba.

What was the data being announced? "Tourism Satellite Account" data (TSA). Only economists and policy geeks can help keep from yawning when they hear this. Zzzzz.

Most readers should probably stop reading now and go do something interesting. The desperately bored can continue on...

The TSA is part of the overall set of data collection that the national government does (through Statistics SA) in order to determine, among other things, what GDP is for a given year. The challenge with tourism is that it isn't actually an industry - that is, it doesn't have a formal Standard Industrial Classification (SIC Code). It is comprised of a hodge-podge of slices from accommodation, transportation, services, etc. So, in order to fill in the gaps and complete the picture of the contribution tourism makes to the economy, employment, etc, the government sets up a "satellite" account outside of the normal, standard "national accounts" that are used to measure economic activity (e.g., mining, construction, agriculture, etc.). Still with me?

So, now the government can say, authoritatively, that tourism directly employs more people in South Africa than mining does. And it's the 7th largest sector of the economy.

Woo-hoo.

Most people who care already knew these facts, and sound estimates of these kinds of things have been pretty close to the new, authoritative, data in any case (e.g., WTTC). So, while it's good to have strong data, it isn't actually telling us anything new or insightful. The only real achievement, as far as I can tell, is just improving confidence in the data and a slight degree of accuracy (at the expense of timeliness).

And it actually isn't as useful as it might be - not only because the data if 4 years old. You see, while employment in tourism may exceed that in mining nationally, it doesn't in Limpopo Province. And tourism is much higher than 7th in the Western Cape GGP. So in terms of its value for policy making and planning, it is really very limited.

As a result, because it's so irrelevant to anything but the longest-term macroeconomic planning, the fact that it's 4 years old isn't a big deal. Tourism is about 3% of GDP in 2005 and probably 3% in 2009, plus or minus a few hundreths. Countries only ever update this kind of thing every 3 or 4 years anyway, we were told.

Why was this launched at Tourism Indaba? People who don't understand the data were briefed by people who aren't in the industry on topics that don't really affect them. A recipe for boredom. I'll be shocked if anyone in the media makes even a peep about the TSA. Heck, even Statistics SA calls the launched report a "draft" still. It just isn't news.

Zzzzz.

Public Comment Needed on Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria indicators

2009-05-07T13:06:00.000+02:00

ALERT: The Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC) partnership is working on a set of indicators for measuring the effectiveness of the proposed criteria. Public comment opened a month ago, but closes on 9 May 2009.

Complete their survey here.

Who is GSTC? From their website:

The Global Partnership for Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC Partnership) is a coalition of 32 organizations working together to foster increased understanding of sustainable tourism practices and the adoption of universal sustainable tourism principles.

The Partnership, which was initiated by Rainforest Alliance, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Foundation, and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), launched the Sustainable Tourism Criteria at the World Conservation Congress in October 2008. These criteria will be the minimum standard that any tourism business should aspire to reach in order to protect and sustain the world’s natural and cultural resources while ensuring tourism meets its potential as a tool for poverty alleviation

An important project and partnership to know, engage with and (when opportunity presents itself) contribute to.

There are other mechanisms for participation and contribution as can be found on their website.

Live coverage of Tourism Indaba 2009

2009-05-07T07:54:00.000+02:00

I'll be covering South Africa's big travel trade show, the Tourism Indaba 2009, live blogging from the venue from Saturday 9 May through Monday 11 May. Look for posts here on the latest tourism research, new responsible tourism products and experiences, and other items.

I'm sure the place will be drowning in 2010 soccer hype, and I'll look for the Green Goal 2010 information to come through.

Twitter users can follow me @kurt_a (twitter.com/kurt_a) and the hash tag #indaba09 will be widely used by twittering attendees if you want to keep up on a wider range of news.

Coloured culture gap in the Cape tourism experience

2009-04-30T09:07:00.003+02:00

My recent post announcing that !Khwa ttu San Culture and Education Centre was certified as a responsible tourism practitioner by Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa prompted a bit of contemplation (on my part) about why so few visitors and so little of the tourism industry take advantage of this amazing, authentic, local cultural experience right on the doorstep of Cape Town.

This is great stuff, right up the road, high quality and nearly impossible to find anywhere else in Africa. They've been around for enough years to be known to the industry, to locals, to visitors, but I find still they're relatively invisible in my engagement with tourism and tourists in the region. (and it's not for lack of involvement - I see their CEO, Michael, at nearly every relevant tourism event, workshop, meeting, etc.)

So why is the San experience not booming?

I find it intriguing that the "township tour" is more compelling to most tourists. Is it the peri-urban "vibe"? Do people secretly enjoy fetishizing the poor or the 'exotic other'? Is it better promoted and understood? Is it cheaper and easier to access?

It may be all or most of the above, but there's no doubt that commercially speaking the "township tour" as a commodified tourism experience is well-developed and marketed, with many years of trading in the tourism marketplace and a diversity of tour operators and guides who compete to take people into local communities - often their own communities - to share their cultures and experiences and to pay the bills along the way. It's a mature product category, not just a mature product.

So why not San culture too – couldn’t township tours be a model for the development of a new category of tourism products? One offering access to the coloured cultural experience?

Probably not. Because I also think a significant factor is that the experiences offered in townships are (overwhelmingly) black cultural experiences, and the “African experience” is fundamentally understood, packaged and promoted to tourists as a black experience. It isn't just South Africa - the nations from Ethiopia to Mauritania and north to the Mediterranean have lighter-skinned populations, and there are deep roots of Indians in Central Africa, of Arabs across East and Central Africa, and mixed-race lighter skinned Africans nearly everywhere the white colonial presence was established over 400+ years. However, ask a question about "Africans" to a tourist and the image leaping to mind will almost surely be that of a black man, woman or child.

Perhaps, then, it's no surprise that one doesn't see many "township tours" going into coloured communities (they're not generally referred to as townships) like Mitchell's Plain or Bonteheuwel - the tours tend to go into Langa, Gugulethu, Khayelitsha, Masiphumelele and so on. But in South Africa, I also feel there is something more to it as a township experience. Townships are liminal places, tied to the anti-apartheid struggle and linked to the mythology of Soweto (the most iconic township) as a site of resistance and renaissance. A visit to a South African township is credibly authentic, exposes the visitor to some of the sins of the past which are the roots of its transforming (and inspiring?) present, and the industry trades on these attributes to sell its product.

(there's an interesting digression into the "slum tours" of Kibera, Nairobi and informal settlements around Lagos, Maputo and other cities of Africa and how they're packaged as "pro-poor" tours as opposed to political or cultural tours, but that's a post for some other time.)

I also think that the South African liberation movement and the townships that were sites of some of the best-known (most iconic/mythic) events in the anti-apartheid struggle are commonly portrayed as the acts and places of African people, such as Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele, Sotho and so on, in triumph over the racist white state (here I'm shifting to the South African use of 'African' as referring generally to dark-skinned people whose languages are part of the Bantu language family -- the term "Black" having a different meaning). Neither the liberation struggle nor the post-apartheid era has been very inclusive of coloured South Africans at a national level in the shaping of the histories or even participating in the discussions about the present and future.

And who the term "coloured" actually refers to doesn't make things any simpler. Brown-skinned of some hue, not white not black, the term can encompass people of mixed race, descendants of slaves from Malaysia, Madagascar and elsewhere, more recently Chinese immigrants were officially designated such, and it also includes the indigenous local people who lived and still live in the Cape - the Khoekhoe and the San, the first people.

One of the implications of this from a tourism commodification and packaging perspective is that it's very difficult to engage with authentic "coloured culture" because it's so very diverse: Cape Malay cuisine, Muslim sacred sites, farm communities, bergies, Afrikaans folk songs, Cape Jazz and goema, Minstrels, fishing traditions, District Six, the Slave Lodge, rock art, and much more.

I could go on about the tiny minority that the coloured population is among South Africa’s 48 million souls and the political/socio-economic implications that result, or about the disparity between the African and coloured experiences historically and how that plays out today in misunderstanding, or about racial tensions far more complex than black/white, or about the intra-group tensions between Muslims and Christians or other sub-groups of people considered "coloured."

But it's unfortunate, at least to me, that an amazing, powerful and authentic Khoesan cultural experience like that on offer at !Khwa ttu will, in all likelihood, remain marginal. Not black, not African, complex to package, poorly understood even locally, and competing with other aspects of coloured culture for a share of the tourism pie, it's hard to imagine a San or Khoesan tourism experience ever cracking into the mainstream along the lines of township tours.

Some may argue that’s a good thing. Perhaps. But given that Cape Town is, from my perspective at least, a coloured city, this is a real shame. It's also an opportunity to assemble from the various dimensions of coloured cultures a mosaic of experiences that will help connect visitors to the deepest roots and most distinctive aspects of the Mother City.

Khwa ttu receives Fair Trade in Tourism certification

2009-04-30T07:45:00.006+02:00

Fair Trade in Tourism SA announced that !Khwa ttu San Culture and Education Centre received their certification, which is the most credible independent assessment of being a responsible tourism practitioner. This is good news for !Khwa ttu, who provide a high-quality and interactive experience for visitors to learn about traditional and contemporary San cultures and languages.

They're located just an hour's drive north of Cape Town but so many visitors don't take advantage of the chance to engage with these authentic, indigenous African cultures that are native to the Cape as well as much of southern Africa. Many locals don't even know it exists just up the R27. It's a great place to go and spend half a day or a full day and overnight - quality of facilities, guides, food, accommodation, and so on are to a high standard.

They've chosen a tough road as an institution with a mission, and while I understand they continue to wrestle with the socio-economic and cultural issues behind the scenes, it's good to see them recognised for their good work on the tourism front - hopefully this will give them added momentum and awareness to help with their broader mission.

Responsible Tourism Activities in April 09

2009-04-08T10:36:00.004+02:00

A number of upcoming items on the Responsible Tourism front happening in April 2009 (some in Cape Town only, other more global in nature):

Workshop to develop a "2010 FIFA World Cup Responsible Tourism Declaration" for Host City Cape Town as part of Green Goal 2010 (the official FIFA project to increase the levels of sustainability of the Soccer World Cup). It will be held on Monday 20 April. By invitation only, workshop sponsored by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, moderated by Sheryl Ozinsky. Lobby KAS or Sheryl if you haven't already been invited but really want to be there.
An update on Green Goal is being presented to members of Cape Town Tourism on 21 April - contact Mduduzi at CTT for more info (you have to be a member of CTT, however)
A workshop by Helen Turnbull about responsible tourism trends, outlining and unpacking the simple tools to help "manage our businesses and lives with less impact on the environment and its resources"Also for CTT members, 23 April. Again, contact Mduduzi.
On 24 April there's a fringe RT networking event that's happening online only, associated with the SATTE conference in New Delhi, India. Organised in partnership with ITB Berlin, SATTE (www.satte.org), ICRT India (www.icrtindia.org) and supported by The Blue Yonder (www.theblueyonder.com) and Travel to Care (www.traveltocare.com). Learn more at the RT Networking group on Facebook, and you can sign up for the online event from there. Should be interesting.
There's a Twitter hash tag #rtnet for RT networking among various groups that was recently established. It's a good channel to tune in to to keep up on things RT. (I use TweetDeck)
The 2009 Responsible Travel Awards are open for nominations until 15 June.

Busy, busy! Get out there and participate, stay informed and contribute what you can - including sending me info on other RT activities happening that I've overlooked.

A few tidbits from ITB Berlin 2009

2009-04-05T09:22:00.000+02:00

In March, I was at ITB Berlin 2009, invited to cover the PhoCusWright conference as a blogger and participate at the Blogger's Summit. The content was predominantly travel technology, so not of great direct relevance to most people interested in responsible tourism and sustainable development.

However, for those who might be interested (or who are just curious), here are a few tidbits.

My postings from the conference:

Real world e-marketing implementation: insights from global agencies (on capetown.travel/blog)
Social media and travel guides: trends and challenges (on capetown.travel/blog)
Top social media trends affecting travel, tourism and hospitality (on capetown.travel/blog)
2009 travel technology trends: insider's view (on capetown.travel/blog)
Something to be excited about amid the travel industry gloom (on capetown.travel/blog)
Live coverage of ITB Berlin: the next best thing to being there (on capetown.travel/blog)

Other (selected) coverage from participating bloggers:

Happy Hotelier (Guido vanden Elshout)
Hotel Marketing Strategies (Josiah Mackenzie)
Travel Rants (Darren Cronian)
Full list of bloggers - you can find various ITB-related postings on each.

And a bit of shameless self-promotion:

(Caption from PhoCusWright: "Kurt Ackerman, Afrikatourism.blogspot.com and Blogger, discusses the issues of technology, infrastructure, marketing and politics facing developing travel markets." Yah, all that in 2 minutes, 4 seconds...)

Link to YouTube video: www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=IV2dGrOH1wE

For me, the most interesting observation was how Twitter, Facebook, blogging, web and e-mail are all blurring into one another's space, competing while complementing, and making engagement with customers a real challenge. It's going to be hard for companies to adapt at the required pace to keep up with these technologies and the requisite skills/business processes, and I fear most won't be able to (particularly in developing economies like South Africa).

Authentic English Pub Culture (in England, no less)

2009-04-02T11:39:00.004+02:00

Yes, yes I know I'm supposed to be writing about authentic and responsible cultural experiences to be had in southern Africa, but here's a lovely piece that will guide you to authentic English pub culture. Given that pubs are rapidly disappearing, this is a non-trivial guide, and written by an authority.

Thanks, Michael - will be using this next time I'm back in Blighty.

Global solidarity in authentic cultural experiences!

Community-Based Tourism 'A Failure?'

2009-03-31T08:01:00.006+02:00

Responsible Tourism guru, Harold Goodwin, posted the dismal news that Community-Based Tourism (CBT) projects are overwhelmingly unsustainable in economic terms. He and his colleague, Rosa Santilli, gathered data from hundreds of experts in the field, identifying 116 CBT projects. 28 of those responded and only 4 were economically sustainable.

Grim news.

Based on the findings, Goodwin makes seven recommendations to guide CBT projects. He also notes that there isn't a common working definition of what a CBT project is, and that the term is widely (mis?)used. Read his full post here.

I had my own thoughts about the problematic role of charity in all of this. When I queried Dave Martin at Bulungula about it, he replied with what essentially amounts to the same concern:

My guess is that the bulk of the failed projects were set up using donor funding, while the successful projects were partly or fully privately funded. There's nothing like using your own money to make you efficient and profitable!

Sobering information for NGO's and governments looking to leverage tourism for economic development and social transformation. In short: most CBT projects are setting communities up to be dependents of the state or of charity. Exactly the opposite of the desired goal.

SA Responsible Tourism Standards need your comment ASAP

2009-03-25T09:07:00.004+02:00

ACTION NEEDED - Deadline: 1 April 2009

This, from South Africa's national Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT):

National Minimum Standards for Responsible Tourism and Accreditation System
The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) are preparing National Minimum Standards for Responsible Tourism (NMSRT). The NMSRT are an effort to establish a common understanding of responsible tourism, and will be a baseline standard that any tourism business should aspire to reach. The NMSRT and associated accreditation system for tourism certification programmes, also aim to harmonise the different sets of criteria currently used for certifying the sustainability of tourism businesses in South Africa. The NMSRT are based on the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria and National Responsible Tourism Guidelines, amongst others.

DEAT now invites tourism stakeholders to comment on the draft standards. Stakeholders can do so in the following ways:

attending consultative workshops: 17 March 2009, Blue Waters Hotel, Durban OR 19 March 2009, Centurion Hotel, Centurion
registering your interest by providing your contact details to Derick Mbungele at DEAT (DMbungele@deat.gov.za AND rtstandards@gmail.com). You will receive a password for the project website upon registration.
downloading the Draft Standards from http://icrtedge.basecamphq.com and posting/e-mailing your comments to the project team (you will need to register as stakeholder first)

The comment period closes on 1 April 2009.

For more information, please contact either myself or Aneme Malan on 012-310 3746 or amalan@deat.gov.za

Kind regards,

Heidi Keyser
Project manager
International Centre for Responsible Tourism - South Africa
Cell: 0832632269

Please forward this on to friends and colleagues.

I'm also happy to share drafts after the fact if you e-mail me, but it's best if you participate fully in the comment process by engaging with the project manager.

SA Blog Awards 2009 are Meaningless

2009-03-24T08:34:00.005+02:00

The 2009 SA Blog Awards as it currently is configured has become a meaningless exercise that will do little more than identify which blogs are quick and organised enough to nominate themselves and marshall/motivate their friends and networks to vote for them. Little if any inherent meaning is conveyed by winning an award (or failing to win one, for that matter). There are no pertinent independent or objective criteria involved in nominating blogs, in determining a short list, or in awarding the final winners in the various categories. In no way is the relevance or value of a blog linked to its winning or not winning an award.

That's not to say that there couldn't - or shouldn't - be a meaningful award for SA blogs, nor that the SA Blog Awards couldn't become that. The blogosphere in South Africa is socially relevant and strategically significant across economic sectors, and we have some great blogs worthy of commendation. However, the way these awards currently are run will neither recognise nor enhance this, effectively being a popularity contest devoid of real value to the winners.

This is a further indication of just how immature the understanding of blogging's importance remains in South Africa - and how 24.com (the online media company bestowing these awards) is able to exploit that as a PR exercise in the absence of a pushback from bloggers or from industry sectors looking to honour their own blogging excellence.

Over the years one of the most common uses of the Internet has been to try to generate quick buzz around "what's hot". Snap polls, quizzes (as Facebook does ad nauseum), user ratings and other interactive candy is provided in an attempt to engage website visitors, increase "stickiness", ramp up page views, increase ad revenues and - the holy grail - create enough critical mass to have a viable online community. The vast majority of the time (>95% I'd wager, but don't have the data at my fingertips), this ultimate goal is not reached, and these eyeball-grabbing polls and surveys capture trivial snapshots of the preferences of self-selecting respondents to the provocative question du jour. As the statisticians would say, not statistically meaningful. Even marketers rarely take them seriously.

Now, the web has matured as a business medium to the point that real insight can be reached through proper online polling, tracking and analysis. But 24.com's approach to these awards hasn't matured at the same pace.

A credible awards methodology is needed that relies on objective data, the discretion of qualified and impartial judges, an entry process that casts its net widely enough to capture the clear majority of the competitive entrants, and independent oversight/auditing of the whole shebang.

Let's take a quick look at some real, relevant numbers, to see what's wrong with the current awards methodology. What numbers? I would propose the following as a solid set of currently and readily available measures of the relevance of a blog:

Alexa ranking: A leading global benchmark of website relevance is the Alexa ranking of a site, and even of individual pages on that site. Sites and pages are ranked whether or not they choose to be.
Technorati authority and ranking: A leading global benchmark of blog relevance is the Technorati ranking of a blog, which calculates both how authoritative a blog is along with its comparative ranking as a blog. In order to be ranked, blogs must register to be tracked (a free and technically trivial step)
Afrigator ranking: A leading South African benchmark of blog relevance is the Afrigator ranking of a blog, which calculates the comparative ranking of South African blogs including number of visitors, page views, and links.

Let's look then at the ten short-listed finalist blogs in the Travel category, and their comparative rankings:

	Alexa	Technorati			Afrigator
Blog URL	Rank	Authority	ranking	Faves	SA	Visitors	Page Views	SA Links
amawalker.blogspot.com	12,665,504	4	1,951,828	-	3,181	5,697	5,762	4,910
trailriderreports.blogspot.com	2,457,976	-	4,978,471	-	2,453	6,170	160	5,617
travelblog.portfoliocollection.com	154,117	-	-	-	607	4,062	169	1,098
pakiscorner.com	957,911	3	1,363,941	-	69	186	169	188
capetowndailyphoto.com	93,545	112	39,309	-	3	9	59	136
capetown.travel/blog	90,957	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
getaway.co.za/...Tony Park	266,278	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
wildwatch.com	851,051	10	552,856	-	-	-	-	-
66squarefeet.blogspot.com	2,650,772	22	267,001	-	-	-	-	-
getaway.co.za/...Alison Westwood	266,278	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

What this tells us is that the blog with the most global clout on the list is capetown.travel/blog, with the highest Alexa ranking. But, as a blog, capetowndailyphoto.com has a higher Technorati ranking, which is serious blog credentials. These are both blogs with status and deserve to be short-listed.

In the SA blogosphere as tracked by Afrigator, there are 4,548 blogs (as of the date of posting this). So 3 of the 10 blogs fall in the top quintile (20%), 1 in the 3rd quintile, and 1 in the 4th, with the other 5 not tracked. Not exactly compelling evidence of "top blog" status.

What's sad is that only 5 of the 10 blogs even BOTHER to be listed on Afrigator, which shows a lack of concern with their relevance to the South African context. 5 of the 10 blogs (not the same 5) also don't BOTHER to be indexed by Technorati, which shows a serious lack of seriousness, or of the understanding of the power and relevance of Technorati.com.

Now, HOW can a top SA Blog not be benchmarked against other SA blogs? Afrigator ranking should be a requirement. And how can any blog not be benchmarked against all other blogs? Technorati ranking should be a requirement.

Now, numbers aren't the full measure of a blog's value or relevance, but it's absolutely clear that the current shortlist selection process is seriously flawed. Two of the ten blogs in the Travel category aren't even blogs about travel! One (pakiscorner.com) is about sport, and one (66squarefeet.blogspot.com) is about urban container gardening - in New York City!

Based on my quick analysis, the following 3 blogs are actually credible short-list candidates:

capetown.travel/blog (high Alexa ranking)
travelblog.portfoliocollection.com (high Afrigator ranking)
capetowndailyphoto.com (high Afrigator and Technorati ranking)

This doesn't even touch on the nomination process...or who the judges are...or what non-quantitative criteria are used by the judges to reach their decision...or what possible value there could be in a popularity contest-style voting process.

A response to this critique could be that I should just "lighten up" and that this is all meant in the spirit of fun and reflects the "web 2.0 lifestyle". If that's the argument, then my case is made -- the awards are meaningless fluff.

Another response could be that some blogs are new and haven't had the time to generate the status or credibility that will be reflected in the numbers. My answer is to put in a "newcomer" category for them, that relies more on the judges than on the data to make the decisions.

To close this rambling and occasionally ranting post, I think 24.com have done a good job by helping raise the profile of blogging through these awards since 2005. Now I think they need to get serious about what they're doing - or partner with organisations that are.

[Full disclosure: I did not nominate Afrika T for these awards, nor to my knowledge did anyone else.]

Live coverage of ITB Berlin 2009

2009-03-09T07:40:00.004+02:00

I'll be participating as an invited blogger at the ITB Berlin 2009 PhoCusWright Blogger's Summit this year, and the good people at Cape Town Tourism have arranged for me to cover the conference for the travel industry via their blog at www.capetown.travel/blog. I'll be there from 10 - 14 March, which is this week Tuesday - Saturday.

My first entry is already live and gives an overview of what I'll be writing and posting via their site. I'll also be participating in the "fringe" Responsible Travel networking event on Wednesday afternoon and evening, and will post from that here at Afrika T for all the non-travel industry readers who are interested in the responsible travel content. There's sure to be some great stuff by the looks of what's already been put on the agenda.

You may also notice a twitter feed at the top of the blog now, which is part of the ITB coverage. I usually don't bother to tweet to a public audience (my day-to-day life being of no dramatic interest), but will do so from the conference floor over the next week. Let me know what you think, and I could make this a regular feature at Afrika T. Either way, you're welcome to follow me via twitter.

As always, you can reach me via comments here, via the Afrika T Facebook page, or via e-mail (check my profile).

Fair Trade in Cape Town

2009-03-08T13:14:00.002+02:00

A lovely article in the Mail & Guardian deserves a nod and broader exposure. Well-written, accurate (why pick nits?), interesting and indicative of the trend toward responsible travel from the product side (i.e., guest houses, tour operators, hotels) that is meeting the demand from the traveller.

The piece by travel writer, Nicole Johnston, highlights accomodation ranging from backpacking to 5-star luxe and from urban centre to winelands to coastal.

Well worth a squizz.

"Cape of Fair Trade", 3 March 2009, Mail & Guardian

Johannesburg, 'least frightening place on Earth'

2009-03-05T08:28:00.003+02:00

The UK Times columnist Jeremy Clarkson penned a piece over the weekend that named Johannesburg as the "least frightening place on Earth." Johannesburg?!? Most violent city on the planet, most dangerous outside of an active war zone? That Johannesburg?

Well, yes.

Essentially the piece shows up the hypocrisy of this kind of labelling, as well as how difficult it is for a destination to overcome such "brand" perceptions. His personal experience of Johannesburg over the past 3 years had been very pleasant, and when trying to find trouble (such as attempting to buy an AK-47 for R100, which he was told is quite easy to do and the going rate for such an assault weapon) nobody he spoke to could even set him on the crooked path of criminality and mayhem.

Not that this is a bad thing.

The point I'd like to raise is that we all need to understand these kind of destination perceptions with a healthy dollop of realism. Leisure travel involves a certain amount of fantasy and escapism - it is holiday, after all - but we shouldn't take what we hear at face value, even from the experts (witness the global economic collapse that all but one or two experts from among the thousands didn't see coming at all just a few months before it hit). It sounds trite to say it, but we're so often dependent upon others to shape our expectations about a place -- it's a product we purchase before we can even sample it.

It's worth being reminded of, and refreshing to have someone stir the pot by contradicting conventional wisdom away from the bad and toward the good. As he writes,

...if you are thinking about going to the World Cup next year, don’t hesitate. The exchange rate’s good, the food is superb, the weather’s lovely and, thanks to some serious economic self-sacrifice, Kruger is still full of animals. The word, then, I’d choose to describe Jo’burg is “tranquil”.

I also wonder whether African destinations are particularly susceptible to this kind of default negative association - 'when in doubt, believe the worst'. I don't have the data, but suspect that people around the world are more ready to believe something is dodgy on the Dark Continent than, say, in Ontario or Hokkaido. Clarkson didn't go there, but in response to the torrent of comments he received to his column, I hope he will show up the (hidden?) prejudices of his readership.

Cass Abrahams Takes a Break

2009-02-28T14:46:00.003+02:00

Cape Malay cuisine icon, chef and author, Cass Abrahams, left De Leuwenjagt restaurant on the Seidelberg wine estate in late January "for personal reasons" according to the press release.

This is doubly unfortunate as she was both a splendid cook and well-loved teacher. It's unclear whether or when she'll return to duty in either capacity, or pick some other path. For now, there's no Winelands-based Cape Malay cooking lessons, but you can still learn in the heart of the Bo Kaap with Zainie Misbach. You can also still get good Cape Malay cuisine at De Leuwenjagt.

We wish Cass Abrahams all the best and hope to see back at it once more soon. I'm sure this isn't the last we'll see of her!

Cyclecab Tricycle Taxis hit Cape Town Streets

2009-02-23T16:44:00.004+02:00

The website isn't up yet, but I've seen the tricycle taxis on the street and they look goooooood. This is great responsible tourism development and an excellent way to get around the centre of town.

This, from the lovely Green blog, urban sprout:

Cyclecabs is an environmentally friendly business that offers employment opportunities for cyclists and entrepreneurs who wish to enter the non-motorised sustainable transport field with tourism and short distance inner city travel as the main aim and objective. To participate, please contact Men on the Side of the Road and enroll with the Cyclecabs project.

Men on the Side of the Road is a top-rated world-changing NGO and this tricycle taxi (or tricycle rickshaw) project is also part of the Green Goal 2010 Action Plan to help reduce the carbon footprint of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Cape Town.

As an aside, Men on the Side of the Road are already into tourism with the Cape Town Tjommies project that puts trained, friendly faces on the streets to assist local and international visitors with information and support.

For now, you need to phone the project lead, Bertrand Phillips on 082 509 1064 or e-mail him on bertiep64@vodamail.co.za, or flag a cyclecab passing you by on the street, or catch one at the entrance to the visitor information centre for Cape Town Tourism at the corner of Burg and Castle Streets in the heart of the city. As more information becomes available, I'll post it here.