THE Mercure properties are the first from an international hotel chain in South Africa to be certified by Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa (FTTSA).

All four Mercure hotels – Bedfordview, Midrand, Nelspruit, and Randburg – have been recognised for their corporate social-responsibility initiatives, including skills development, working to prevent child sex tourism and comprehensive HIV/Aids awareness-raising programmes. The Mercure network in South Africa pursues a policy of procuring products and services from BEE-compliant and Fair Trade suppliers. With respect to environmental management, Mercure hotels monitor and take steps to reduce energy and water consumption. In addition Mercure has partnered with Eskom with the recent launch of a joint campaign to raise awareness of energy challenges in South Africa. "We are proud of the FTTSA certification of all four Mercure hotels in South Africa as a demonstration of our commitment to sustainable development. We will continue to value this certification and what it stands for through sustainable and ongoing fair business practices," says director of sales and marketing, Laurence Mnqali.

FTTSA executive director, Jennifer Seif, adds: "The feedback and advice provided to business owners and managers through FTTSA’s assessment and certification services affords groups like Mercure valuable information that can be used to monitor and benchmark sustainability, quality and empowerment at group level.  FTTSA is confident that the Mercure example will encourage additional hotel and lodge groups to strive for FTTSA certification in future."