Cape Town Tourism has called for a responsible tourism plan that will guide environmental and urban planning in the city for the next 20 years.
  Speaking at the United Nation's World Tourism Day this week, CTT CEO Mariëtte du Toit-Helmbold, said such a plan would determine how much urban development was sustainable without negatively impacting on the city's fragile biodiversity, a feature that attracted residents and tourists in the first place and underscored its economic growth. 
  She pledged CTT would work harder at raising awareness about biodiversity through tourism. "We cannot sustain irresponsible development; be this the over-development of our hotel infrastructure or an oversell of our capacity to host more visitors. We need to ensure we invest in proper planning and strategy and continue to conserve those protected areas that have already been set aside."
  CTT, the Cape Town city council, Fedhasa, SATSA and SAACI last year signed a Responsible Tourism Charter, committing them to sustainable tourism that will contribute to poverty alleviation and economic empowerment, while protecting local lifestyles/heritage and minimising the impact on the environment by reducing resource consumption. 
  Cape Town City Council Director of Tourism, Nombulelo Mkefa, said the city was running workshops with various tourism businesses around responsible tourism, but measuring compliance and raising awareness remained a challenge.  She said Cape Town would report back on its progress at becoming a responsible tourism destination at the 4th International Conference on Responsible Tourism in Destinations being held in Oman in October.
  Meanwhile Du-Toit Helmbold called on all in the tourism sector to reconsider their relationship with their environment, "both in terms of the people within our communities and the ecological landscape". "We are asking tourism players to plan and act in ways that contribute to the health of these elements and the overall strength of our biodiversity.”
  Highlighting the plight of the endangered African penguin, CTT adopted a penguin on World Tourism Day and will adopt another one on behalf of the person who successfully names it through www.capetown.travel/blog.