Fair Trade Tourism (FTT) has contracted the Tourism Enterprise Partnership (TEP) to provide business development support services to facilitate certification of South African tourism enterprises.
The partnership will see a series of learning networks conducted throughout the country early next year, where FTT and TEP will jointly present on the benefits and process of certification. It is envisaged that this will enable the FTT programme to achieve scale, while positioning SA on the global stage as a responsible tourism destination. 
According to TEP’s Chief Executive, Dr Salifou Siddo, this new partnership falls squarely within TEP’s new strategy of leveraging its substantial database of tourism SMMEs to add value and support the work of organisations that are involved in tourism development.
“FTT is the uncontested champion when it comes to responsible tourism and it is only natural that we should serve as a communication conduit as well as an implementation partner for this organisation to reach out and recruit more tourism SMMEs into its certification programme,” said Siddo. “Our SMMEs will benefit tremendously from the partnership as responsible tourism is gaining momentum worldwide.” 
FTT’s General Manager, Kathy Bergs, commented: “The FTT-TEP partnership is a logical and valuable coming together of a world-class standard and a proven formula for enterprise development that will lift sustainable tourism on to a whole new level and provide a model for other countries to emulate.”
FTT is a non-profit company that raises awareness about responsible tourism to travellers; assists tourism businesses to operate more sustainably and facilitates a Fair Trade Tourism certification programme across southern Africa. TEP is a non-profit company that provides support and development to SMMEs in order to support job creation and GDP growth. TEP currently supports more than 3 000 tourism SMMEs throughout South Africa.