The imploding of the Titan submersible, an activity to explore the Titanic shipwreck, owned by Ocean Gates (am American tourism company), raises questions about the safety of ocean adventure activities. Titanic director, James Cameron, told AL Jazeera, the Titan submersible should not have been operating. He also said he wished he had been more vocal about the safety standards he believes Ocean Gates floundered. He also says numerous people wrote letters to ask the company to get certification.
The incident which left 5 people dead, has placed a spotlight on marine tourism and adrenaline activities, especially tours to the ocean deeps.
South Africa has access to three oceans, the Southern Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean. South African Tourism (SAT), sets standards and regulations for the industry.
A paper by Karin Mahony back in 2006,
found, while globally certification plays an increasing role in regulating and monitoring tourism business, this was not the trend in South Africa.
Respondents of the study stated that the lack of customer awareness and demand was one of the reasons why being certified might not have been successful in South Africa.
Previous international and local studies also indicated that customers are not aware of certification programs thus certified products are not a determinant in choosing products, or experiences. This is according to the work of Tzschentke, Kirk, & Lynch, 2008 and Rahman et al.’s (2012). Their work also raised concern about what they called “false green advertising” which confuses real efforts by providing inconsistent certification criteria.
“Critics of certification however argue that there is limited market demand for certified products, and that certification only has a marginal impact on sustainable tourism development” she writes.
Organizations such Fair Trade South Africa, a non- profit organization, supports tourism organizations to get certified. It was among the first in the world to register with global industry certification body- the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.
Program Manager of Fair Trade South Africa, Lisa Screven, says there are over 200 sustainable tourism certifications in operation globally.
“We have extensive support resources in place to guide businesses, step-by-step, through our 179 criteria standard.”