Eco-Tourism Africa 2.07

Eco-tourism Africa is an initiative developed between COMET Corporation and Eco-tourism Australia to expand Eco-Certification into the SADEC member countries of Africa, utilizing the long-established and successful criteria developed by Australia to meet the United Nations Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) Criteria and Practices.

Certification is a way of ensuring that an activity or product meets certain standards, and awards a marketable logo as reward to those that meet or exceed the baseline criteria or standards.

COMET Corporation has been in the Eco-tourism business since establishment in 1999, and with the joint venture with Eco-tourism Australia, Eco-tourism Africa is well positioned and qualified to introduce this valuable service into Africa.

Africa is particularly vulnerable when it comes to ensuring the sustainability of tourism, as areas are large and the continent contains a vast diversity of fauna, flora, cultural, geographical and marine systems that are largely managed by governmental authorities. As a result, compliance with criteria is not well monitored, and it falls to private initiatives to attempt to place some credibility on tourism organizations to recognize their attempts at real environmental sustainability and protection. The best way to do this is through a credible Certification Process, that not only gives recognition where it is due, but counters the “green-washing” efforts of fringe organizations that do not always do what they say.

Eco-tourism is tourism based on nature as opposed to conventional tourism, and compliments other types of tourism.