THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has received comprehensive but limited comment from the industry on the draft Tourism Sector BEE Codes.
 
This was the feedback from Anitha Soni, vice chairperson of the Tourism Empowerment Council of SA (TECSA) who was speaking at the recent second annual Tourism BEE conference in Cape Town. She said the DTI was now going through the comments. The final code would be promulgated in the last quarter of 2008. TECSA itself, established in October 2005, would cease to exist at the end of 2008.
 
Tourism was the first industry sector in South Africa to have gazetted draft BEE Codes on June 20. The industry had been given until August 20 to comment on them. 
 
Soni said Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) was less about redistribution of wealth and more about growing the supplier base. She said large BBBEE deals concluded in the past two years were the result of a fundamental commitment from the tourism industry to BBBEE.