WTM Africa 2020

This year Monday 6th April will be Africa Responsible Tourism Day. There will be a full day of Responsible Tourism panels in the Inspire Theatre. Our focus across the four WTM trade shows this year is on climate change and its consequences. But there are a host of other issues for local communities which tourism can address. Responsible Tourism is about making better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit.

The WTM Responsible Tourism programme now extends over all four shows, Africa, Arabia, Latin America and WTM London and programme is organised by Harold Goodwin, WTM's Responsible Tourism Advisor. He regularly blogs for WTM

WTM Means Responsible Business
We seek to educate, inform and challenge - we aspire to identify issues and promote solutions presented by practitioners

Monday 6th April
Africa Responsible Tourism Day 10:30-16:15

10:30 - 11:15 Rewilding - what is tourism's contribution to ensuring the maintenance of our world's biodiversity?
Biodiversity loss is one of the existential challenges that we face. Rewilding is now widely promoted as an important way of addressing the maintenance of biodiversity. Tourism has been contributing to rewilding on a significant scale by providing an economic return, and employment, on land previously used for monocropping agriculture.

Moderator: Harold Goodwin. WTM Responsible Tourism Advisor
Iain Buchanan from Mount Camdeboo Private Game Reserve Eastern Cape
Manuel Mutimucuio,  Project Manager for Maputo Special Reserve and Ponta do Ouro Partial Marine Reserve, Peace Parks Foundation
Colin Bell
Dereck Milburn  Ecotourism Solutions 

11:30 - 13:00 How can the industry best cooperate with national parks to contribute to conservation and ensure community benefits?
In democracies where public expenditure has to be justified to electors, national parks are under increasing pressure around the world to contribute to local livelihoods through employment and local enterprise development. How can tourism businesses best co-operate with national parks to create and demonstrate those economic benefits?  The conservation of wildlife and habitat also requires that electors value its continued existence. What contribution can the tourism sector make to ensuring that communities value what is within the fence? A challenge when so many have not seen what is protected nor had the experience to value it. 
Moderator: Harold Goodwin. WTM Responsible Tourism Advisor
Roland Vorwerk Boundless Southern Africa
tbc Soth African National Parks
Richard Vigne, Managing Director, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya 
Moses Ngobeni Director: Tourism Planning and Development Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism
Dr Annemie de Klerk, Chief Director: Tourism, Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism. Limpopo
Glynn O'Leary CEO Transfrontier Destinations 

13:00 - 13:45 Decarbonising Travel and Tourism: is the industry doing enough?
The impacts of climate change are being felt in many destinations and the most recent research by UNWTO & ITF forecasts that tourism, will account 5.3% of man-made carbon emissions by 2030. Aviation is the Achilles heel of the tourism sector but greenhouse gases are emitted by accommodation, ground transportation and some attractions. This panel will reflect on the scale of the problem that this creates for our industry and suggest solutions to reduce our emissions.

Moderator: Harold Goodwin. WTM Responsible Tourism Advisor

14:00 - 14:45 What can the industry do to promote animal welfare in the wild and in captivity?
Animal welfare is a growing concern for travellers. There have been very successful campaigns against swimming with dolphins and riding on elephants. SATSA has recently published animal welfare guidelines. This is an opportunity to hear about what you can do to ensure that you minimise any risk to your reputation in the age of social media and to discuss with the panel and those in session, what the industry can do to address animal welfare.
Moderator: Gillian Saunders
Louise de Waal, Campaign Manager, Blood Lions
Four Paws
Dereck Milburn  Ecotourism Solutions

15:00 - 15:30  Responsible Tourism in Cape Town
In 2002, at an official side event to the UN WSSD conference in Johannesburg, the Cape Town Declaration was agreed and the Responsible Tourism Movement was launched. Since then Responsible Tourism has spread around the world and each year the WTM London family of RT Awards recognise excellent examples of good practice from businesses and destinations.   The panellists will reflect on Cape Town's progress since 2002 narrowing the gap between theory and practice.  The panellists will discuss the timeline and progress made to date from the RT Policy adopted in 2009, the various international accolades and keen industry participation to a drought-stricken city, the load shedding reality and making tourism work for all.

Moderator: Harold Goodwin. WTM Responsible Tourism Advisor
Gareth Morgan is the Director of Resilience in the City of Cape Town. 
Dr Theuns Vivian: Head Destination Development, City of Cape Town

15:45 - 16:15 Responsible Tourism requires transparency
In a world awash with greenwash, how can we communicate what we are achieving to our consumers and trade partners? What can we learn from other sectors about how to convincingly demonstrate that we are working to reduce our negative impacts and to have positive social,  economic and environmental impacts. What is the role of certification?  In short, how can we secure commercial advantage from doing good?

Moderator: Harold Goodwin. WTM Responsible Tourism Advisor
Emilie Hagedoorn, Green Heart Tourism
Craig Drysdale Sales & Marketing Director, Inspirations ITT

16:45 -17:30 Africa Responsible Tourism Awards Presentations
Details of the 2020 Awards are here 
This year they will be presented by Richard Vigne, Managing Director, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya Richard was presented a prestigious Judges' Award at WTM London in November 2019

For details of this year's Awards go here

Tuesday 7th April
Meet the Responsible Tourism Winners

On Tuesday 7th on the Big Idea Stage, there will be an opportunity to meet the winners of the 2020 Africa Responsible Tourism Awards.  [60 mins]

Wednesday 8th April  [90 mins] Creating Shared Value and Thriving Communities
On the Big Idea Stage, we plan to look at the many ways in which the sector can create shared value by working with local communities and SMMEs to increase the quality and quantity of goods and services purchased locally and at what businesses can do to help develop more local activities, attractions, goods and services to generate thriving communities.   This approach to inclusive growth and the creation of shared value enables tourism businesses to co-create a richer range of experiences for tourists seeking an authentic engagement with the destination; and by creating a richer range of experiences enriching local communities