With Tourism and Green Investment the theme of this year’s World Tourism Day, sustainable travel is firmly in the spotlight. And the V&A Waterfront, one of Africa’s leading attractions, says the move to a cleaner and more equitable business model need not come at a cost for shareholders.

A panel discussion at the #cocreate Design Festival held in Cape Town earlier this week, focused on how circularity could be implemented in the tourism and fashion industries.

Circularity refers to the process of extending the lifecycle of products by sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, and recycling products to reduce waste.

Rashid Toeffy, Deputy Director General of the Department of Economic Development and Tourism in the Western Cape said: “Tourism is a value chain. It’s an economy, it isn’t a single point. So, for example, tourism stretches from construction, investment, and transport. It’s not just how people sometimes see it as the hotels and the pretty stuff. Circularity and sustainability is understanding that it’s a value chain.”

He said there were three important aspects when looking at the life cycle of a tourism product: climate issues, economic issues to ensure that people could benefit from the value chain, and social issues.

Henry Mathys, Senior Manager for Social Impact and Food Ecosystem Head at the V&A Waterfront provided some examples of how they were tackling some of these issues.

The Waterfront, which receives 24 million visitors a year, has provided spaces for smaller businesses to showcase their products at its Makers Landing and Watershed markets, and its annual Joy from Africa to the World programme partners with artists and makers to create local and sustainable festive season decorations.

It has also put incentives in place for tenants who separate their waste and use clear plastic bags when doing so.

“A certain proportion of tenants buy into it, but we’ve also got to the point where we are using the stick approach where we are utilising the lease agreement.”

The property’s ‘green lease’ agreement compels tenants to act more sustainably and requires them to reduce water and energy consumption. For example, it requires specific grades of LED lights in buildings.

Earlier this year, the V&A Waterfront announced that it had identified 12 single-use plastic products to be eliminated by 2025, which include plastic shopping bags, cutlery, earbuds with plastic stems, and plastic stirrers. This commitment has now also been included in its lease agreements for new and renewing tenants.

Another focus for the Waterfront is looking at the sustainable supply of seafood and whether they are supporting major industries, or small-scale, local fishers.

“When we surveyed 1 500 consumers over the last month, 93% said they wanted to procure more sustainably, to procure more ethically, and to support a more just society. And that is not lost on the private sector,” he said.

The thinking that value for society and the environment would come at the cost of shareholders, was also wrong, Matthys said.

“We work on the principle of shared value; that it doesn’t come at the cost of shareholders; it comes together with value for society,” he said.

Both Toeffy and Matthys emphasised that the move to a more circular economy in the sector was being driven by consumer demand.

“Real behaviour change doesn’t come from rules and regulations, but rather letting the consumer decide,” Toeffy said.

“The commercial imperative is becoming more and more driven by the consumer, and the consumer doesn’t want to procure in a manner that is going to contribute towards the degradation of the environment any longer,” Matthys added.