The Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (Satsa) recently kicked off its research on Animal Interaction, and is now ready to present the initial finding and commence public consultation.
The association is inviting members of the tourism industry to join the consultative workshops and Satsa/ South African Youth Travel Confederation (SAYTC) Chapter meetings, which will follow immediately after the workshops.
The voice against tourism experiences that include animal interactions has grown so loud that many tourism businesses are feeling the impact of these changes – irrespective of how ethical their approach to animal interactions may be. The impact has also filtered through to how South Africa is being perceived as a tourism destination.
Discussions at the August 2017 SATSA Conference indicated the vast range of opinions on the matter and resulted in a mandate from members to SATSA to form an Animal Interactions Board Committee and appoint a firm to:
• Define the types of entities that fall within the ambit of animal interactions including standardising definitions and terminology
• Develop an ethical framework to evaluate operations that involve animal interactions to underpin the debate and establish the principles upon which the ethicalness of animal interaction operations may objectively be evaluated
• Develop a set of guidelines for the self-regulation of animal interaction tourism experiences
The aim of the Animal Interaction initiative is to develop guidelines for animal interactions in tourism, including:
• A long-term vision of where the SA tourism industry would like to be with regard to animal interactions in tourism
• An ethical framework which will form the basis of all discussions, guidelines, frameworks developed for the industry
• A tool that could be utilised by the industry to assess tourism experiences that incorporate animal interactions.
• High-level suggestions of key areas for legislative intervention and regulation.
The invitation is open to anyone and everyone in the industry, regardless of SATSA membership.
The workshops, animal interactions and chapter meetings are as follows:
• Mpumalanga: 12 February 2019 - Chapter Meeting & Animal Interaction Workshop in Nelspruit from 10am to 5pm. Venue TBC
• Limpopo: 13 February 2019 - Chapter Meeting & Animal Interaction Workshop in Hoedspruit from 10am to 5pm. Venue TBC
• KwaZulu-Natal: 14 February 2019 - Chapter Meeting & Animal Interaction Workshop in Durban at the Oyster Box Hotel.
• Gauteng: 22 February 2019 - Chapter Meeting & Animal Interaction Workshop in Pretoria or Johannesburg from 10am to 5pm. Venue TBC
• Eastern Cape: 25 February 2019 - Chapter Meeting in Morgans Bay at Yellowwood Forest from 12pm to 5pm. 26 February - Animal Interaction Workshop in East London from 10am to 3pm in East London. Venue TBC
• Western Cape: Early March - date to be confirmed - Chapter Meeting and Animal Interaction Workshop 10am to 5pm in Cape Town. Venue TBC
• Free State: 7 March 2019 - Chapter Meeting and Animal Interaction Workshop in Bloemfontein from 10am to 5pm. Venue TBC
• North West: 8 March 2019 - Chapter Meeting and Animal Interaction Workshop in Hartebeespoort from 10am to 5pm. Venue TBC
• Garden Route: 19 March 2019 - Chapter Meeting and Animal Interaction Workshop in George from 10am to 5pm. Venue TBC
For more information on the Animal Interaction project, please click here. Alternatively, contact Sharon Gengan on 011 886 9996 or az.oc.astas@norahs.
