Capacity building for small businesses
The programme is an opportunity for tourism enterprises to get professional assistance to ensure they not only survive the tough times but are able to thrive and flourish.
With the South Coast having a number of small tourism enterprises, KwaZulu-Natal MEC for the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Siboniso Duma is urging them to apply for capacity building support.
Duma said Tourism KwaZulu-Natal is reintroducing its Enterprise Development Programme, saying that the programme aims to overcome the challenges that continue to hinder the transformation of the tourism sector.
Duma said with limited participation of black entrants in the tourism sector, they realise that significant effort is required to transform existing businesses in the tourism sector and to grow the sector to enable more mainstream black-owned tourism businesses, of all sizes, to be established. He said by transforming and growing the sector jobs will be created.
“The rate of transformation in the tourism sector remains painfully slow, yet it is critical for the success of the tourism sector. Without transformation the growth and development of the industry is not guaranteed. According to Tourism KwaZulu-Natal the challenges in transforming the sector include lack of management skills which limits the potential and longevity of tourism businesses; limited access to finance, and difficult economic circumstances creating high levels of competition and an inability to maximise the efficiencies in various sectors. Furthermore, new business owners are often unaware of the opportunities that exist in their environment while the cost and difficulty of accessing and engaging with international travel buyers is a major barrier to unlocking opportunities,” said Duma.
The MEC said the programme is set out to identify existing and emerging tourism enterprises and establish a database, assess tourism enterprises to identify the gaps and interventions required for their viability and growth, implement capacity building interventions to ensure that small tourism enterprises have the practical skills to effectively manage and operate their businesses, identify and facilitate access to opportunities to ensure that small tourism enterprises benefit from tourism market share, develop an easy-to-use digital platform that enables tourism operators to interact with their customers and set-up online retail platforms, and monitoring and evaluate enterprises on the programme to ensure that their growth and sustainability is achieved.
He said to qualify to participate in the programme small, medium and micro tourism enterprises must be operating in the accommodation industry (hotels, resorts, B&Bs, lodges), hospitality (restaurants and conference venues not attached to hotels, professional catering, attractions) and travel and related services (tour operators, travel agents, tour guides; car rental companies and coach operators).
He added that applications will open on September 7 and close October 7, saying that entrants can register on the Tourism KZN website: www.zulu.org.za
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