Top industry players join poverty alleviation project

SIX leading Southern African tourism industry members have just been announced as partners in a new programme called Pro-Poor Tourism Pilots in Southern Africa. Clive Poultney (of Mboza Tourism Projects) and Caroline Ashley (of the UK-based Overseas Development Institute) initiated the programme, which is funded by the Business Linkages Challenge Fund of the UK Government's Department for International Development. Each industry player will be supported by the Pro-Poor Tourism Pilots programme to develop and implement 'pro-poor' strategies at one of its major operations. The six industry partners and their chosen sites are: Sun International: Sun City; Southern Sun: Sandton Sun and Towers Intercontinental Hotel, along with other hotels in the Sandton area of Johannesburg; Wilderness Safaris: Rocktail Bay Lodge in Maputaland; Spier and its expanding range of accommodation, attractions and facilities on the Western Cape's wine route; Ker and Downey, Tanzania, working across Tanzania, and Tribe Africa, a tour operator which services a range of tourist establishments located in the Phongolo Biosphere and Phongolo-Ntsubane Transfrontier Conservation Area into Swaziland. Over the coming two and half years, the programme will work with these six partners on site to help them to establish long-term PPT strategies that will significantly impact on local poverty and make business sense to the operator. Cheryl Carolus, ceo of SA Tourism launched the programme in September 2002, emphasising the importance of tourism and the value of this new programme within the strategic objectives for tourism in South Africa which aims to provide genuine growth that makes a difference to the people. (Miguel de Sousa)