Award entry for the Skål International Ecotourism Awards

4. • Prepares travellers for encounters with local cultures,
native animals and plants
• Minimises impact with information, corrective action
and sensitive interchange
• Uses adequate leadership and small-impact groups
• Involvement of project participants to prevent negative
impacts
• Active contribution to the conservation of regions
• Supporting and enhancing local employment
• Referral of tourists to site-sensitive accommodation

6. • Supported communities through traditional product &
infrastructure development and material procurement
• Used their cultural heritage as basis of tourism product
through one-on-one interaction & captive market
• Developed a tour around the cultural heritage areas
and cultural habits & traditions of diverse country
• Been developing proposals for development of cultural
heritage such as whaling history - repaying previous
conservation atrocities to marine conservation
• Been active in broad-based BEE and development of
tourism routes that showcase cultural heritage

8. • Supporting enterprise development & skills
transfer initiatives, through joint ventures with
small, black-owned enterprises
• Making measurable progress that improves
quality of life for local people
• Promoting and encouraging conservation of
the environment
• Optimising resources and energy

10. • Education of communities about tourism & benefits
• Supporting youth education in cultures & traditions
using a showcase for their talents away from harm
• Educating individuals in skills of product development,
marketing, quality control & service standards for
sustainability
• Actively educating the tourism industry about the
responsibility to disadvantaged & their involvement
• International interest through proposals to other & SA
governments for funding of further local economic
development through international accreditation

11. • Supporting the education of local authorities
regarding needs of local communities –
large donations of land, buildings and other
support have been secured
• Educating local businesses – donations of
several hundred Rands of equipment &
materials made. Consistent with ‘optimising
resources and energy’ as waste products
are filtered to smaller business like:
– Oyster shells for art work
– Leather off-cuts to make handbags or
patchwork clothing
– Ash for brick making

13. • A much-needed safe haven for abused & neglected
children in poor communities, including:
– The procurement of land & basic buildings
– The free service of building/ architect professionals
– Donation of 22,000 bricks
– Donation of concrete for all foundations of fence & buildings

19. • Creative ideas to involve tourism in all aspects of local
life from fish-farming to brick-making
• ‘Meet the People Cares’ sub-project sells hand-make
bricks to tourists, then donated to construct safe haven
• Jauckie Viljoen’s ‘Meet the People’ project
identification innovative and ahead of its time
• Unique ethical and transparent local commerce
• Routes are innovative – real, down-to-earth, unstaged,
genuine interaction that is one-of-a-kind
• Protects locals from total dependence on tourists and
allows tourist to ‘give directly’ with no admin costs