Anyone who is interested in Responsible Tourism is invited to engage online with Responsible Cape Town who are holding an all-day conference today (6 May 2011) by participating via Twitter.

Engage with Responsible Tourism issues unique to city destinations

Cities are key tourism destinations and tourism draw cards for nations. Cities are also home to more than half of South Africa’s population, and so are crucial sites for sustainable development. While Responsible Tourism (RT) is central to South Africa’s tourism policy and a key trend in tourism globally, little focus has been placed on the needs and challenges faced by cities to become sustainable destinations and to implement RT.

Local governments sit at the intersection of tourism and development, and face particular challenges. But tourism requires effective partnerships among government, local communities and the private sector in order to thrive.

This conference approaches the issues at two different levels.

• The morning sessions will help city officials, community organizations, the private sector, academics, NGOs, activists and other stakeholders understand some of the key issues underlying RT in cities, and will equip them with knowledge and resources to help make a positive contribution toward implementing RT in their city destination.
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• The afternoon sessions will focus on more practical, operational matters pertaining to the tourism private sector, including SMMEs, larger established businesses and corporate multi-nationals, when adopting, implementing, managing and marketing RT, supported by case studies presented by experienced industry members.

Presentations will be broadcast in real time via the web allowing for simultaneous virtual participation by delegates around the world. Questions will be submitted and parallel discussion will take place via Twitter in real time.

A pre-conference schedule of online discussions will raise awareness, help delegates become familiar with the issues (and one another), and focus the discussion that will take place during the actual workshop.

 

TWITTER HASHTAG:  #rtcities

Conversation

The conference will be using Twitter as the primary channel for interaction with and among delegates. The conference hashtag is #rtcities. More information on the use of Twitter and hashtags is provided by the conference digital media partner, Planeta.com, here.

Official tweets from the conference organisers will come via @respCPT. It is recommended that you follow this account. If you have specific questions for the speakers or panellists, please begin your tweet with a ‘Q:’ and tag @respCPT, and we will do our best to get these questions asked by the moderators.

A Twitter list for the conference has been created to enable easier following of all registered participants in the conference who have Twitter accounts.

We will also be monitoring the discussion happening on the wall of the Facebook page associated with the conference. If you do not use Twitter or prefer to use Facebook, you are encouraged to post your questions, comments, links and other material there.