Local Impacts of Community-based Tourism in Southern Africa - Responsible Tourism: Critical Issues for Conservation and Development - page 271

Table 13.4 Sustainable tourism commitment and activities

Factors mentioned in No % of Types of activities No % of

sustainability commitment enterprises implemented enterprises

Conservation/sustainable 72 33.03 Conservation/sustainable 76 34.86

resource use resource use

Community benefits/ 45 20.64 Community benefits/ 59 27.06

employment employment

Guest satisfaction 39 17.89 Education/training 41 18.81

Community development 25 11.47 Community development 31 14.22

Cultural conservation/ 25 11.47 Craft/product 27 12.39

celebration development

Service quality/ 13 5.96 Cultural conservation/ 25 11.47

commercial viability celebration

Future generations 10 4.59 Local ownership 13 5.96

Local participation 10 4.59 Local participation 13 5.96

Local ownership 8 3.67 Hospitality 11 5.05

Education 7 3.21 Empowering women 8 3.67

Gender 4 1.83 Access to finance 8 3.67

Health 2 0.92 Recycling 5 2.29

Indigenous knowledge 1 0.46 Economic feasibility 5 2.29

Clean up operations 3 1.38

Environmentally 1 0.46

friendly products

[The enterprise is] An intimate part of the community that believes
wholeheartedly in engaging with the local people and sharing the benefits
of tourism with the entire community.

Efforts are made to minimize impact on the environment; water use is
restricted to river water, while waste water uses natural filtration
processes before re-entering the river.They use solar panels for their power.
Local people are employed at the camp, thereby supporting several local
families with each employee.

Our vision is to balance community development with conservation
through the creation of a sustainable wilderness reserve.

A fifth of CBTEs had received some form of award for quality, conservation, or
providing local benefits (20.1 per cent), and a quarter had received some form of
certification (25.2 per cent).The certification schemes mostly related to quality of
the enterprise (40.3 per cent), such as a 'star' rating, followed by social (37.1 per
cent) or environmental criteria (14.5 per cent).