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Harriet Lamb, Executive Director of the Fairtrade Foundation, has called on the tourist industry in the UK to clearly showcase their principles of fairness and sustainability, including their promotion of Fairtrade, in 2012. 

Harriet was speaking as Guest of Honour at the opening of World Responsible Tourism Day on the 9th November, in the annual four-day World Travel Market fair at the ExCeL convention centre in London. Harriet was invited to speak about the connections that can and should be made between the fair trade movement and the tourism sector.

“We’re very pleased that London 2012 has a food charter, the Food Vision, which sets out that all the bananas, tea, coffee, sugar and chocolate tea, coffee and bananas across the 40 locations will be Fairtrade. So athletes and audiences alike from right across the world will be cheered to know they can enjoy Fairtrade products at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games,” says Harriet. “I also think it’s a fantastic opportunity for the tourist industry as a whole to show as many of our international visitors as possible that people in the London and UK do have an international outlook and care about issues of sustainability.”

The Fairtrade Foundation is hoping to make Fairtrade as visible as possible during the period of the Olympic and Paralympics Games in the hope of persuading visitors to do more on Fairtrade. The UK is the largest market for Fairtrade products, with retail and catering sales of £1.17 bn in 2010.  While the FAIRTRADE Mark is the most widely recognised ethical label globally, recognition is highest in the UK. According to latest TNS figures current awareness of the FAIRTRADE Mark is 77%.  

“What a legacy it would be if our visitors left the country inspired by the passion for Fairtrade and values of sustainability which they experience when here”, says Harriet.  As well as in the Olympic village, Fairtrade products are available at many of the tourist sites visitors are likely to frequent and available in cafes, restaurants, hotels, vending machines, shops, supermarkets and pubs around the country. From London Zoo to the YMCA hostels, from St Martins-in-the-Field cateferia to English National Opera, visitors can see and enjoy Fairtrade products.

Fairtrade supporters in London, which gained Fairtrade status in 2008 and is the world’s largest Fairtrade City, will be working hard to promote Fairtrade during the Games, particularly in the five host boroughs. 
“We hope the LOCOG Food Vision will set a new standard around event management in future,” Harriet continues.  “and influence other upcoming major events like the 2014 Commonwealth games in Glasgow and world cup tournaments where we would like to see Fairtrade incorporated.” 

Harriet also talked about how Fairtrade farmers can also diversify and benefit from tourism in their countries. Some run schemes to offer opportunities for tourists to come and visit. There is a scheme in Peru among coffee cooperative farmers where visitors can stay on farms, meet the farmers, and really learn about their life.  The farmers live and farm near world heritage sites, popular with foreign tourists.

The first ever Fair Trade holiday packages to South Africa were also launched at the South African Tourism stand. Fair Trade in Tourism in South Africa, South Africa’s leading responsible tourism NGO, has pioneered Fair Trade Tourism in South Africa (FTTSA) over the past decade, having launched a product certification programme in 2003. According to Jennifer Seif, Executive Director of FTTSA, the inclusion of trade standards within the FTTSA programme is designed to ensure that workers and affected communities benefit from tourism through long-term trading relationships, full prepayment and binding cancellation agreements.

 

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Watch this video of Harriet Lamb speaking to World Travel Market after the event.