2021 WESSA Annual Review

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM What have we learnt as an organization over the last 12 months with regard to sustainable tourism in South Africa and the impacts of a global pandemic on that sector? For a start, we have seen that (drastically) lower tourism numbers means more breathing space for nature and natural spaces. We have all seen images and footage of species making use of areas in parks and even cities that they previously did not when tourism was open. We have seen clearer rivers, clearer air and significantly less noise pollution too. With less tourism activity, we have also seen a significant drop in the use of consumable resources such plastic packaging, chemical cleaning products and fuel. In fact, it is likely that “tourism” has just seen its most low impact period over the last decade. So, from an environmental sustainability point of view, the pandemic has resulted in significant natural gains for our planet. But what is it we are trying to do here? The value of tourism to the larger environmental movement is significantly more powerful than a world without tourism. The ability to see new places, new species and new cultures is the critical catalyst to getting people to care more about planet earth and her creatures. The concept of sustainable tourism is built around doing this in the most careful way possible to ensure we can keep doing it forever. In South Africa, we have also seen the incredible economic power of this sector which remained resilient during a number of economic downturns over the last two decades. Finding this healthy balance between the growth of this economic sector and the environmental sustainability of it, is what WESSA is trying to assist with. In this regard, we are supporting the tourism private sector through our programmes like Green Key as well as our local and national governments through programmes such as Blue Flag and Green Coast. Our work is focused on places, properties and people.

Finding a healthy balance between the growth of this economic sector and the environmental sustainability of it.

BLUE FLAG

Over the last 12 months, we saw a somewhat surprising stability to the number of sites on our Blue Flag awards programme. Surprising since for much of the last 12 months our municipal partners

were forced to close all of their swimming beaches and saw very little economic returns from these public tourism sites. On the other hand however, our Blue Flag team have provided much in the way of support for these beaches through the sharing of best practices learnt from our 4000 plus beaches around the world, all of which were heavily affected by the Covid lockdowns in each of our 50 plus partner countries. It is in times like this (global pandemic) where a global network of partners becomes extremely valuable. It is also clear to us that all of our local coastal municipalities are taking the time and effort to rebuild in ways that are more sustainable and resilient going forward, and Blue Flag provides the perfect platform for doing that. Based on our feedback from municipalities in the 2021/22 season, we are expecting a record number of Blue Flag sites in South African in 2022.

Annual Review 2020-2021

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