A national debate is needed on how to properly transform the tourism industry, which remains one of the most untransformed economic sectors in South Africa despite Government and industry associations’ interventions over the years.
This is according to Tourism Enterprise Partnership (TEP) CEO, Salifou Siddo, who was speaking at a debate on SMMEs hosted by Satsa at WTM Africa in Cape Town on Thursday.
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He said tourism was punted as one of the panaceas to South Africa’s economic woes, but the country had not yet found the right strategy to unlock the industry’s full potential. While Government had invested in SMME development, tourism was still dominated by the established value chain, leaving small entrepreneurs without market access. “When are we going to have a national debate on how we are going to take our industry forward? There are a lot of expectations amongst SMMEs. We need to engage our associations, elevate the SMME transformation issue beyond funding and also look at equity ownership,” he said.
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Ilios Travel MD, Mohamed Baba, said: “There is not enough transformation, simply because there are not enough real opportunities. Tourism end-users don’t care if operators are BEE compliant or not. Established tour operators understand that, from a moral standpoint, they need to empower SMMEs and give back to communities, but that is not real transformation, but rather social responsibility.” He suggested that small businesses should merge to form more formidable enterprises and then gain sustained government support.
Baba said access to expertise, rather than funding, was key to further SMMEs’ understanding of the industry and access to markets. “I’m a firm believer in empowerment through employment and skills training. Equity deals should also include ownership opportunities for employees, which will enable them to start their own businesses.”
Other participants in the debate echoed his views. Wow Cape Town Tours MD, Rushdi Harper, felt that tourism colleges were not producing properly skilled and employable staff. “We can’t find the right people,” he said.
JMT Tours & Safaris Operator, Joe Motsogi, cautioned that SMMEs should not expect to just share in big business. “It should rather be a question of skills training and SMMEs must be prepared to undergo unpaid internships,” he said.
