WHILE South African adventure tourist guides, most specifically those relating to river adventures such as black-water tubing and white-water rafting, are subject to certain regulations there apparently remains a major loophole in the regulation and control of adventure tour operators.
Following a tubing disaster over the weekend, in which at least seven people drowned in a flash flood during a trip down the Storms River in the Eastern Cape conducted by Storms River Adventures, the adventure tour sector has reacted to what many have referred to as "a major wake-up call to the need for legislation and control in this tourism sector".
Currently, river adventure guides are regulated by a self-regulatory body, the South African Rivers Association (SARA) which, in accordance with South Africa's new Tourism Act of 1993, determines that guides must be trained by SARA and have been accredited by South African Tourism (Satour) before they are able to become certified.
"While a member tour operator may voluntarily sign SARA's 10-point code of safety and ethical standards, he is not legally bound to it," says SARA's publicity officer and founder member, Graeme Addison.
However, in the case of accidents such as the one at Storms River over the weekend, SARA is enabled to launch an investigation and hold a hearing to determine whether member tour operators were negligent - and publish the findings in the press.
"We cannot however, force operators to join SARA and we cannot force them to adhere to safety regulations."
SARA currently has 300 trained guides on its books and 62 operator members.
Addison says that Code 10 of SARA's safety regulations stipulates that a trained guide - or safety officer - may overrule a decision by an operator to go ahead with a scheduled water activity if he/she feels that it may place clients in danger. This could, of course, place a guide - employed by the operator - in an awkward position if he does not comply with his employer's wishes.
Storms River Adventures is a member of SARA and the organisation will be investigating this weekend's disaster, Addison confirmed to Travel Now. "The incident has caused a lot of soul searching, creating an awareness that certain aspects in the industry still need to be looked at.
"I must emphasise that since the organisation undertook the training of guides in 1991, there have been zero fatalities involving SARA trained guides, until now."
In most cases, he said, the industry is very professional and very careful in ensuring client safety.
A new act referring to the regulation of tour operators is currently under consideration, although Addison does not believe it is specific enough
Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA) president, Andy Dott, md for Drifters Adventours, told Travel Now that SATSA was also currently looking at creating "a home" for adventure tours in Southern Africa where operators can uniformly address issues of concern.
"We certainly can't force them to adhere to certain principles and measures, but we can create a forum where they can decide what is needed," he said.
He admits that adventure tourism - an emerging trend in South Africa - can attract "fly-by-night, ruthless operators", but agrees that there are very few "hillbilly cowboy types" in South Africa.
"The thing is that an operator quickly becomes known for being unsafe and will go out of business. It therefore stands to reason that most will be professional and strive to be as safe as possible."
Dott says the challenge in legislating or controlling adventure travel is that the types of adventures are so varied and they have such limited appeal.
He recommends that tour operators and FITs should, before booking adventure packages, insist on checking whether guides have been trained by SARA and certified by Satour, as well as insist that compulsory safety measures - such as the wearing of helmets and life jackets - are available.
(Adele Mackenzie)
