PRETORIA, South Africa, September 4, 2018/ -- The Department of Tourism is pleased to announce the addition of support for water efficiency measures in the Hospitality Industry to the third window application period of the Green Tourism Incentive Programme (GTIP), which opens from 1 September to 30 November 2018.

In partnership with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and with the National Cleaner Production Centre of South Africa (NCPC-SA) as the technical support, the Department launched the Green Tourism Incentive Programme in 2017 to encourage small and micro tourism enterprises to move towards cleaner and more energy-efficient operations.

While the uptake in the programme during the first two application windows was positive, the Department recognised the need to expand the programme focus to also include water efficiency to mitigate the impact of persistent drought conditions in some parts of the country on the tourism sector.

The programme funding limits to qualifying small and micro tourism enterprises remain mostly unchanged but were adjusted to include water efficiency as follows:

• 90% of the cost for a new resource-efficiency (energy and water) audit or the full cost for reviewing an existing resource-efficiency audit; and
• grant funding to qualifying small and micro enterprises on a sliding scale from 30% to 90% (capped at R1 million) towards the installation of recommended water and energy efficiency measures.

“The inclusion of water efficiency solutions in the Green Tourism Incentive Programme contributes to the department’s objective of encouraging the South African tourism sector to adopt operational practices for the sustainable management and usage of water and electricity resources and adhering to responsible tourism principles,” said the Director General of the Department of Tourism, Victor Tharage. The IDC manages the GTIP on behalf of the  Department with energy and water efficiency audits being conducted by the NCPC-SA to determine the best possible solutions to be implemented. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Department of Tourism, Republic of South Africa