Cape Town: the best responsible tourist destination

The City of Cape Town has recently won the “Best Destination” award at the 2009 Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards. The ceremony, which took place on World Responsible Tourism Day and was held at the World Travel Market in London, aims to recognize all types of tourism, from mainstream to niche, that operates in a way that benefits both the destination and the local people.

The Awards were founded in 2004 by responsibletravel.com, and is run in partnership with The Daily Telegraph, Geographical Magazine (the magazine of the Royal Geographic Society) and World Travel Market. Virgin Holidays became headline sponsors in 2007, and has continued to support it since.

The Awards recognize individuals , companies and organisations in the travel industry that are making a significant commitment to the culture and economies of local communities and are providing a contribution to biodiversity conservation.

The City has recently won other major international tourism awards, including "Africa’s Leading Destination" for two years in a row.  One of the key reasons for this, as well the Responsible Tourism Award, is the significant amount of programmes and initiatives that are implemented across the city.

These include initiatives such as the City Events Policy, State of the Environment Reporting, Biodiversity Network Strategy, Smart Living Hand Book, Cape Town International Jazz Festival, Cape Town Design Indaba, Water and Waste Management By-laws, Draft Green Building Guidelines, 2010 Green Goal Programme, Solar Water Heater By-law and many others. The City has also recently hosted a successful Green Week.

Responsible Tourism is a key policy principle Cape Town’s Tourism Development Framework.  Central to the Policy and Action Plan is the measurement of destination performance against destination priorities – water and energy savings, reducing solid waste, and empowering local people and tourism businesses through procurement, skills development and enterprise development.

A specific Code of Conduct is available to support more responsible behaviour among visitors, and the City has established Community Tourism Forums in disadvantaged areas to raise tourism awareness. The City of Cape Town has invested some R15 million in the development of tourism infrastructure in previously disadvantaged areas, and in the past two years, supported 200 tourism businesses.

It is hoped that this Award will help the City to facilitate an even larger implementation of responsible tourism awareness and practices amongst businesses, residents and visitors.