Community-Based Tourism 'A Failure?'

Responsible Tourism guru, Harold Goodwin, posted the dismal news that Community-Based Tourism (CBT) projects are overwhelmingly unsustainable in economic terms. He and his colleague, Rosa Santilli, gathered data from hundreds of experts in the field, identifying 116 CBT projects. 28 of those responded and only 4 were economically sustainable.

Grim news.

Based on the findings, Goodwin makes seven recommendations to guide CBT projects. He also notes that there isn't a common working definition of what a CBT project is, and that the term is widely (mis?)used. Read his full post here.

I had my own thoughts about the problematic role of charity in all of this. When I queried Dave Martin at Bulungula about it, he replied with what essentially amounts to the same concern:

My guess is that the bulk of the failed projects were set up using donor funding, while the successful projects were partly or fully privately funded. There's nothing like using your own money to make you efficient and profitable!

Sobering information for NGO's and governments looking to leverage tourism for economic development and social transformation. In short: most CBT projects are setting communities up to be dependents of the state or of charity. Exactly the opposite of the desired goal.

Community-Based Tourism 'A Failure?'

SA Responsible Tourism Standards need your comment ASAP

ACTION NEEDED - Deadline: 1 April 2009

This, from South Africa's national Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT):

National Minimum Standards for Responsible Tourism and Accreditation System
The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) are preparing National Minimum Standards for Responsible Tourism (NMSRT). The NMSRT are an effort to establish a common understanding of responsible tourism, and will be a baseline standard that any tourism business should aspire to reach. The NMSRT and associated accreditation system for tourism certification programmes, also aim to harmonise the different sets of criteria currently used for certifying the sustainability of tourism businesses in South Africa. The NMSRT are based on the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria and National Responsible Tourism Guidelines, amongst others.

DEAT now invites tourism stakeholders to comment on the draft standards. Stakeholders can do so in the following ways:

• attending consultative workshops: 17 March 2009, Blue Waters Hotel, Durban OR 19 March 2009, Centurion Hotel, Centurion
• registering your interest by providing your contact details to Derick Mbungele at DEAT (DMbungele@deat.gov.za AND rtstandards@gmail.com). You will receive a password for the project website upon registration.
• downloading the Draft Standards from http://icrtedge.basecamphq.com and posting/e-mailing your comments to the project team (you will need to register as stakeholder first)

The comment period closes on 1 April 2009.

For more information, please contact either myself or Aneme Malan on 012-310 3746 or amalan@deat.gov.za

Kind regards,

Heidi Keyser
Project manager
International Centre for Responsible Tourism - South Africa
Cell: 0832632269

Please forward this on to friends and colleagues.

I'm also happy to share drafts after the fact if you e-mail me, but it's best if you participate fully in the comment process by engaging with the project manager.

SA Responsible Tourism Standards need your comment ASAP

SA Blog Awards 2009 are Meaningless

The 2009 SA Blog Awards as it currently is configured has become a meaningless exercise that will do little more than identify which blogs are quick and organised enough to nominate themselves and marshall/motivate their friends and networks to vote for them. Little if any inherent meaning is conveyed by winning an award (or failing to win one, for that matter). There are no pertinent independent or objective criteria involved in nominating blogs, in determining a short list, or in awarding the final winners in the various categories. In no way is the relevance or value of a blog linked to its winning or not winning an award.

That's not to say that there couldn't - or shouldn't - be a meaningful award for SA blogs, nor that the SA Blog Awards couldn't become that. The blogosphere in South Africa is socially relevant and strategically significant across economic sectors, and we have some great blogs worthy of commendation. However, the way these awards currently are run will neither recognise nor enhance this, effectively being a popularity contest devoid of real value to the winners.

This is a further indication of just how immature the understanding of blogging's importance remains in South Africa - and how 24.com (the online media company bestowing these awards) is able to exploit that as a PR exercise in the absence of a pushback from bloggers or from industry sectors looking to honour their own blogging excellence.

Over the years one of the most common uses of the Internet has been to try to generate quick buzz around "what's hot". Snap polls, quizzes (as Facebook does ad nauseum), user ratings and other interactive candy is provided in an attempt to engage website visitors, increase "stickiness", ramp up page views, increase ad revenues and - the holy grail - create enough critical mass to have a viable online community. The vast majority of the time (>95% I'd wager, but don't have the data at my fingertips), this ultimate goal is not reached, and these eyeball-grabbing polls and surveys capture trivial snapshots of the preferences of self-selecting respondents to the provocative question du jour. As the statisticians would say, not statistically meaningful. Even marketers rarely take them seriously.

Now, the web has matured as a business medium to the point that real insight can be reached through proper online polling, tracking and analysis. But 24.com's approach to these awards hasn't matured at the same pace.

A credible awards methodology is needed that relies on objective data, the discretion of qualified and impartial judges, an entry process that casts its net widely enough to capture the clear majority of the competitive entrants, and independent oversight/auditing of the whole shebang.

Let's take a quick look at some real, relevant numbers, to see what's wrong with the current awards methodology. What numbers? I would propose the following as a solid set of currently and readily available measures of the relevance of a blog:

• Alexa ranking: A leading global benchmark of website relevance is the Alexa ranking of a site, and even of individual pages on that site. Sites and pages are ranked whether or not they choose to be.
  
• Technorati authority and ranking: A leading global benchmark of blog relevance is the Technorati ranking of a blog, which calculates both how authoritative a blog is along with its comparative ranking as a blog. In order to be ranked, blogs must register to be tracked (a free and technically trivial step)
  
• Afrigator ranking: A leading South African benchmark of blog relevance is the Afrigator ranking of a blog, which calculates the comparative ranking of South African blogs including number of visitors, page views, and links.

Let's look then at the ten short-listed finalist blogs in the Travel category, and their comparative rankings:

	Alexa	Technorati			Afrigator
Blog URL	Rank	Authority	ranking	Faves	SA	Visitors	Page Views	SA Links
amawalker.blogspot.com	12,665,504	4	1,951,828	-	3,181	5,697	5,762	4,910
trailriderreports.blogspot.com	2,457,976	-	4,978,471	-	2,453	6,170	160	5,617
travelblog.portfoliocollection.com	154,117	-	-	-	607	4,062	169	1,098
pakiscorner.com	957,911	3	1,363,941	-	69	186	169	188
capetowndailyphoto.com	93,545	112	39,309	-	3	9	59	136
capetown.travel/blog	90,957	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
getaway.co.za/...Tony Park	266,278	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
wildwatch.com	851,051	10	552,856	-	-	-	-	-
66squarefeet.blogspot.com	2,650,772	22	267,001	-	-	-	-	-
getaway.co.za/...Alison Westwood	266,278	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

What this tells us is that the blog with the most global clout on the list is capetown.travel/blog, with the highest Alexa ranking. But, as a blog, capetowndailyphoto.com has a higher Technorati ranking, which is serious blog credentials. These are both blogs with status and deserve to be short-listed.

In the SA blogosphere as tracked by Afrigator, there are 4,548 blogs (as of the date of posting this). So 3 of the 10 blogs fall in the top quintile (20%), 1 in the 3rd quintile, and 1 in the 4th, with the other 5 not tracked. Not exactly compelling evidence of "top blog" status.

What's sad is that only 5 of the 10 blogs even BOTHER to be listed on Afrigator, which shows a lack of concern with their relevance to the South African context. 5 of the 10 blogs (not the same 5) also don't BOTHER to be indexed by Technorati, which shows a serious lack of seriousness, or of the understanding of the power and relevance of Technorati.com.

Now, HOW can a top SA Blog not be benchmarked against other SA blogs? Afrigator ranking should be a requirement. And how can any blog not be benchmarked against all other blogs? Technorati ranking should be a requirement.

Now, numbers aren't the full measure of a blog's value or relevance, but it's absolutely clear that the current shortlist selection process is seriously flawed. Two of the ten blogs in the Travel category aren't even blogs about travel! One (pakiscorner.com) is about sport, and one (66squarefeet.blogspot.com) is about urban container gardening - in New York City!

Based on my quick analysis, the following 3 blogs are actually credible short-list candidates:

• capetown.travel/blog (high Alexa ranking)
• travelblog.portfoliocollection.com (high Afrigator ranking)
• capetowndailyphoto.com (high Afrigator and Technorati ranking)

This doesn't even touch on the nomination process...or who the judges are...or what non-quantitative criteria are used by the judges to reach their decision...or what possible value there could be in a popularity contest-style voting process.

A response to this critique could be that I should just "lighten up" and that this is all meant in the spirit of fun and reflects the "web 2.0 lifestyle". If that's the argument, then my case is made -- the awards are meaningless fluff.

Another response could be that some blogs are new and haven't had the time to generate the status or credibility that will be reflected in the numbers. My answer is to put in a "newcomer" category for them, that relies more on the judges than on the data to make the decisions.

To close this rambling and occasionally ranting post, I think 24.com have done a good job by helping raise the profile of blogging through these awards since 2005. Now I think they need to get serious about what they're doing - or partner with organisations that are.


[Full disclosure: I did not nominate Afrika T for these awards, nor to my knowledge did anyone else.]

SA Blog Awards 2009 are Meaningless

Live coverage of ITB Berlin 2009

I'll be participating as an invited blogger at the ITB Berlin 2009 PhoCusWright Blogger's Summit this year, and the good people at Cape Town Tourism have arranged for me to cover the conference for the travel industry via their blog at www.capetown.travel/blog. I'll be there from 10 - 14 March, which is this week Tuesday - Saturday.

My first entry is already live and gives an overview of what I'll be writing and posting via their site. I'll also be participating in the "fringe" Responsible Travel networking event on Wednesday afternoon and evening, and will post from that here at Afrika T for all the non-travel industry readers who are interested in the responsible travel content. There's sure to be some great stuff by the looks of what's already been put on the agenda.

You may also notice a twitter feed at the top of the blog now, which is part of the ITB coverage. I usually don't bother to tweet to a public audience (my day-to-day life being of no dramatic interest), but will do so from the conference floor over the next week. Let me know what you think, and I could make this a regular feature at Afrika T. Either way, you're welcome to follow me via twitter.

As always, you can reach me via comments here, via the Afrika T Facebook page, or via e-mail (check my profile).

Live coverage of ITB Berlin 2009

Fair Trade in Cape Town

A lovely article in the Mail & Guardian deserves a nod and broader exposure. Well-written, accurate (why pick nits?), interesting and indicative of the trend toward responsible travel from the product side (i.e., guest houses, tour operators, hotels) that is meeting the demand from the traveller.

The piece by travel writer, Nicole Johnston, highlights accomodation ranging from backpacking to 5-star luxe and from urban centre to winelands to coastal.

Well worth a squizz.


"Cape of Fair Trade", 3 March 2009, Mail & Guardian

Fair Trade in Cape Town

Johannesburg, 'least frightening place on Earth'

The UK Times columnist Jeremy Clarkson penned a piece over the weekend that named Johannesburg as the "least frightening place on Earth." Johannesburg?!? Most violent city on the planet, most dangerous outside of an active war zone? That Johannesburg?

Well, yes.

Essentially the piece shows up the hypocrisy of this kind of labelling, as well as how difficult it is for a destination to overcome such "brand" perceptions. His personal experience of Johannesburg over the past 3 years had been very pleasant, and when trying to find trouble (such as attempting to buy an AK-47 for R100, which he was told is quite easy to do and the going rate for such an assault weapon) nobody he spoke to could even set him on the crooked path of criminality and mayhem.

Not that this is a bad thing.

The point I'd like to raise is that we all need to understand these kind of destination perceptions with a healthy dollop of realism. Leisure travel involves a certain amount of fantasy and escapism - it is holiday, after all - but we shouldn't take what we hear at face value, even from the experts (witness the global economic collapse that all but one or two experts from among the thousands didn't see coming at all just a few months before it hit). It sounds trite to say it, but we're so often dependent upon others to shape our expectations about a place -- it's a product we purchase before we can even sample it.

It's worth being reminded of, and refreshing to have someone stir the pot by contradicting conventional wisdom away from the bad and toward the good. As he writes,

...if you are thinking about going to the World Cup next year, don’t hesitate. The exchange rate’s good, the food is superb, the weather’s lovely and, thanks to some serious economic self-sacrifice, Kruger is still full of animals. The word, then, I’d choose to describe Jo’burg is “tranquil”.

I also wonder whether African destinations are particularly susceptible to this kind of default negative association - 'when in doubt, believe the worst'. I don't have the data, but suspect that people around the world are more ready to believe something is dodgy on the Dark Continent than, say, in Ontario or Hokkaido. Clarkson didn't go there, but in response to the torrent of comments he received to his column, I hope he will show up the (hidden?) prejudices of his readership.

Johannesburg, 'least frightening place on Earth'