2.5 billion litres of South Africa’s water to be used by football fans

The 400,000 fans expected to travel to South Africa for the 2010 FIFA World Cup are estimated to consume “2.5 billion litres of water and 420,000 megawatts of power and create almost 23 thousand tons of waste in just 14 days”, according to Environmental Management in Tourism (EMiT).

Record levels of tourists are already visiting not just South Africa but many other countries on the continent, and like many other tourist hot spots African countries face a serious challenge in reducing the environmental impact of tourism.

The EMiT 2007 Conference aims to address some of the issues around the growing tourism in Africa. Under the theme “Touch Africa Lightly” the conference will run from 5 - 7 June 2007 in the Eastern Cape and hopes to provide a hands-on approach to reducing the impact tourism has on the environment.

The conference is mainly aimed at “tourism, hospitality and leisure planners, business owners, operators and organisations from across Africa”, but judging from their programme it looks like the conference could be beneficial to anyone involved in tourism in Africa or elsewhere.

I have to say though, I was amused that a golf event has been arranged for delegates considering that golf courses are notorious for wasting precious water. However, I can only assume that it will be a golf course that lives up to the 45-minute Greening-the-Golf-Course session scheduled for the last day of the conference.

The EMiT 2007 is still looking for both speakers and sponsors. So here’s a chance for all the players in the travel industry, who over night seem to have become ever so concerned about the carbon footprint their customers leave behind, to prove just how concerned they really are - to put it bluntly put your money where your mouth is. Visit the EMiT 2007 Conference web site to do just that.

While I’d love to go to see what solutions they come up with, the conference is not really aimed at an ordinary traveller like me. Besides I would be leaving one massive carbon footprint, if I was to travel from London to the Eastern Cape for a 3-day conference.

However, as ordinary travellers we can still do our bit to ensure that our visit, not just to Africa but wherever we may go, has as little impact on the environment as possible. One place to start would be for all you football fans going to the 2010 World Cup, to make that shower a quick one, you’ll be sweaty two minutes into the opening game anyway!

Technorati Tags: tourism, South Africa, Africa, EMiT, responsible traveller,

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