Fair Trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect that seek greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers – especially in developing countries. 

 

Fair Trade in Tourism: The objective of fair trade in tourism is to improve market access to tourism markets for disadvantaged suppliers and to support local economic development. 

 

Fair trade in tourism is the basis for sustainable tourism; it shows respect for human rights, culture and environment. 

 

Tourism in Palestine and Israel today is characterized by the dominance of Israeli tour operators. Only a few percents of total income generated by tourism in the country reach the Palestinian territories. There are various reasons for this. On the one hand, the Palestinians territories lack certain infrastructure and their accessibility is restricted by checkpoints, the wall and administrative requirements. On the other hand, a historical but long-lasting policy of the Israeli government made it very difficult for Palestinians to become tour guides and severely restricts nowadays the freedom of movement of those guides living in the West Bank and Gaza. For these reasons, the development of tourism for the benefit of the local people, both as an important sector of economic development and in its social function as a window to the outside world, has not yet been possible. 

 

However, considering the rich historical and cultural heritage of the region, the potential for tourism cannot be neglected and the number of tourists arriving every year at the border of Israel is increasing again as the situation was stabilizing again after the second Intifada (reaching 1.5 million visitors in 2004 and 1.9 million in 2005). The development of new approaches to tourism will help to gain broader access to the tourists who are interested in visiting the historical places of the Holy Land. A fair trade in tourism initiative has a particular potential to attract more visitors to Palestine, because the principal source countries of tourists to the region nowadays are countries in which fair trade products have become an established segment of consumption. 

 

 

 

 

 

Within the frame work of the project entitled “Economic Development through Fair Trade” which is implemented by the Fair Trade Development Center (FTDC), at the Institute for community Partnership (ICP), and sponsored by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), is organizing a contest for innovative ideas in applying Fair trade to Palestinian tourism sector. Three grants of $2500 each will be given to the best ideas presented.

The objective of the proposed innovative ideas should be to increase awareness about fair trade and its contribution to the Palestinian tourism sector.

 

 

Note: a workshop on 06/11/2008 will be conducted to explain better the idea and the online application form. For those interested in attending the workshop please e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

 

 

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