The tourism industry is becoming more colourful. After years of white domination, innovative new businesses are being set up by communities who once saw tourism as a curse and a burden upon themselves.
Nevertheless, there is still much to be done, before tourism can be beneficial to everyone in South Africa.
Tourism is currently the third largest foreign exchange earner and job creator in the country, and contributes more than R25-billion to the country’s economy, or 8.2% of the gross domestic product per year. It is a key industry for South Africa, and the government is hoping it will help sustain economic growth.
But it is an area in which black economic empowerment (BEE) is lagging way behind. Although other areas of the economy have strong legislation to enforce transformation, a real BEE tourism ‘charter” is still lacking.
The shade of ownership in the industry paints a pale picture. A study done by Empowerdex in 2003 estimated that only 6% of JSE-listed tourism entities had BEE ownership. Management and control of these companies was vested in, on average, 81% white male, 15% black male, and only 2% black women.
Most of these black-owned companies are huge corporations, however, whereas ordinary people, who so desperately need the benefits of tourism, have been surviving on the small crumbs that sometimes come their way.
Government intervention
The government has recognised that something needs to be done. While Valli Moosa still steered the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT), there had already been proposals to boost BEE.
One year after he took office, Moosa challenged the Tourism Business Council of South Africa to drive BEE and transformation in tourism. The council adopted a charter to focus on ways of furthering black business ownership and development.
Under the new Minister, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, a BEE tourism scorecard has become one of the top priorities at DEAT. The idea for the scorecard was born from the slow progress of transformation in the sector.
‘It is about making sure that the benefits of tourism flow to every community,” says Van Schalkwyk. ‘It is a two-way bridge between our first and second economies helping to reduce poverty, create jobs and at the same time build an even stronger, more competitive tourism sector in South Africa.”
The department wants to finalise its BEE scorecard for South Africa’s tourism industry by the end of 2004. The scorecard will include a clear set of targets for transformation in tourism, which government can use to monitor progress in transformation.
A steering committee was appointed in July to draft the scorecard. This is chaired by Tim Modise, also chairperson of Proudly South African, and includes representatives nominated by both government and the industry.
While the steering committee handles the scorecard development process, sub-sector working groups were created to liaise with their specific industry associations and to develop industry-specific scorecards.
‘This process will result in a tourism sector that is truly sustainable, competitive, and supported by all South African communities,” says Van Schalkwyk.
At Indaba earlier this year, the minister compared the country’s tourism industry pre-1994 to a house in which only a few could live, with the rest left to peer through the windows.
‘For too many decades, tourism was another symbol of what was wrong with South Africa,” he said. ‘It was a cold house, with little warmth and no heart, and its hospitality was flawed.”
Getting everyone on board
A big stumbling block for BEE in tourism is that traditional business feels threatened by the new push to make the industry more inclusive, and they believe that they are being pushed out into the cold.
Van Schalkwyk adds that tourism stakeholders should not to feel threatened by transformation, adding that there would be more business opportunities if stakeholders partnered with black people.
One company has taken this message to heart: Wilderness Safaris, which operates some of Southern Africa’s most luxurious lodges. A large part of their business is the setting up of partnerships with the communities around their lodges.
Wilderness Safaris believe that there can be no conservation without community empowerment. Conrad Hennig, specialist guide for the company, says the company’s philosophy is symbolised by a three-legged cooking pot, so typical of African society. One leg represents Wilderness’s style of hospitality; one is the environment; and the third, the involvement of the community.
‘When rural villagers are brought directly into the tourism mainstream through our unique partnership models, we are able to nurture potential poachers and convert them into the best gamekeepers.”
He believes this philosophy ensures that rural communities in Africa will have the necessary incentives to protect their wildlife and neighbouring reserves.
Ecotourism
The field of ecotourism presents a singular opportunity for disadvantaged communities to get a foothold in the tourism industry. Ecotourism is one of the fastest growing sectors within tourism and helps to fashion creative solutions for these marginalised communities.
For many years, communities have lived on the fringes of reserves, but never benefited from the droves of tourists who visited them. Many communities tell woeful tales of how they were kicked off their land to make way for animals. This created a lot of resentment, and did not give communities any reason to care about conservation.
But, as more and more marginalised people begin to benefit from ecotourism, it is becoming a popular channel for black empowerment.
Many communities which have already won land claims in South Africa are now eagerly entering the ecotourism arena and are setting up community-owned lodges, campsites, tours and local cultural experiences.
Land restitution
One of the first South African communities to win a land claim, the Makulekes, is in business with Wilderness Safaris. Together they will operate two luxury lodges in the north of Kruger National Park.
The Makuleke were forcibly removed from their 24 000ha of tribal land in 1969 to make way for the expansion of the Kruger, but they won a restitution claim in 1998 and have decided to use the land for ecotourism purposes.
In terms of an agreement with South African National Parks (SANParks), the ownership of the land was transferred to the Makuleke.
Initially, the Makuleke decided against implementing ecotourism and opted for hunting. The concept was met with some resistance from conservation and Kruger officials, but they reluctantly agreed to allow hunting in the Makuleke region of the Kruger.
Over time, however, the Makuleke Communal Property Association (CPA) reassessed the situation and decided to explore the possibilities of more sustainable land use. They realised that hunting was reducing game numbers. Even worse, hunting encouraged poaching.
So the CPA chose instead to start a business venture with private partners to help them set up an ecotourism venture. They wanted to establish low-impact tourism structures of about 100 beds in the region.
Enter private partners such as Wilderness Safaris. Together with the community, it was decided to build four lodges, creatinhg some 100 new jobs for the Makuleke people, for whom hunting had produced no benefits. The Makuleke will receive a percentage of profits, and within 30 years, complete ownership of the lodges.
Thomas Ndobe is a Makuleke who is being trained to take over management of luxurious The Outpost, while his friend Edward Makuleke works as a cyber-tracker. Before the creation of these lodges, they had few other job opportunities.
Wilderness Safaris has built two lodges within the Pafuri triangle and will manage them for the first few years. But, ultimately, once community members have completed their training, they will take over all management functions.
‘The community’s involvement is a huge issue and is set to become one of the great success stories of Africa,” says Hennig. ‘Parks and business all blend their talents to create a viable eco-tourism project that is just that, no window dressing.”
On Heritage Day in September, Wilderness Safaris announced that it would make over a 25% equity stake of its Makuleke operations to the Makuleke CPA. Wilderness will also make financing arrangements on behalf of the CPA through local development funding institutions.
The community gets a percentage of every booking, over and above the jobs created and training they receive. In addition, they will receive about 40% of the profits over the first six years.
Wilderness Safaris is scheduled to open Pafuri camp in April 2005. Located on the Levhuvhu river, Pafuri will be a true Botswana-style tented camp with raised walkways leading to 17 large and luxuriously appointed tents-on-stilts. The company has completed an environmental impact assessment study for this first camp and the project is awaiting clearance on concession terms from the South African National Parks Joint Management Board.
Plans are also underway to establish a transport business to be run by the community, as well as a small clothing factory to produce uniforms, a fresh-produce business and an outfit to maintain the camps.
In the Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park in Kwa-Zulu Natal, other communities which have regained their ancestral land are also entering into partnerships with established businesses, some of which are BEE-owned.
The park has a long and sorrowful history of locals being abused by past governments. Locals living within the park were removed between the 1950s and 1970s.
Andrew Zaloumis, CEO of Greater St Lucia, says a major objective of the wetlands authority is to ensure that the world heritage site is developed in a way that allows local residents to regain access and to derive benefits from it.
‘The authority does not seek to develop and operate tourism outlets in the park, but rather to optimise and regulate private and community sector-driven development.”
One of the communities to benefit are the Bhangazi. Apart from financial compensation, they were granted access to five hectares of land within the the park for burial and ancestral ceremonies. The Bhangazi have entered into a partnership with IL Leisure to develop a 50-bed boutique hotel on the shore of Bhangazi lake, as well as one with Lubombo Hotels at Cape Vidal beach.
The newly opened six-star Thonga Beach Lodge near Mabibi in the park is 68% owned by the Mabibi community. They have also set up a trust fund, which helps local children get a good education. The fund will also be used to build schools and clinics.
The community’s private partner, Brett Gehren, has promised that 90% of the jobs at the lodge will be given to the community and that they will also train individuals to acquire good skills.
Big business vs grassroot initiatives
Tsogo Investments, a leading black empowerment group, in partnership with the traditional tourism giant Southern Sun, manages the multi-million rand investment of Sandton Convention Centre.
About two years ago, Tsogo Investments and South African brewery SAB Miller signed a R1,9 billion contract, one of the biggest tourism empowerment deals yet. The deal created a giant hospitality company which will be 51% controlled by the black-owned Tsogo.
But it is at grassroots levels — among the kind of people who run curio stalls alongside roads — where the greatest need is. It is therefore imperative to focus on these little guys from marginalised communities when talking about true black empowerment in tourism.
A community which has managed to turn the tourism wheel in their favour is the Mehloding community near the Ukhahlamba Drakensberg mountains bordering on Kwazulu-Natal and Lesotho. Here, the people operate a community-based tourism business wholly owned by the Mehloding Community Trust. The trust represents more than 25 villages in northern Alfred Nzo district.
They offer guests a complete ecotourism experience set in scenic mountain landscapes, with a strong cultural slant. And they are doing this entirely on their own. This community may not be a large corporate business, but they are making their Masakala Guesthouse and ecotours work for them.
Amadiba Horse Trails in Pondoland was also one of South Africa’s first tourism initiative to be entirely owned and run by an indigenous community. This community offers rustic but comfortable accommodation and uses the income to build clinics and schools. The trails have become a big hit with foreigners over the past few years. About 500 people benefit from the trails, says Lindile Mxhuma of Amadiba Trails.
At Coffee Bay, local artist Moses Cetywayo, who makes birds from driftwood, has decided to set up a campsite for backpackers ‘I want to use some of my land and turn it into a camp site for people to pitch their tents on,” he says.
In the Madikwe Game Reserve, two of the new lodges are also community owned. Lekgophung Lodge is owned by the Lekgophung people, although both government and private partners are helping them.
Researchers involved in the project speculate that direct benefits from Lekgophung Lodge will boost average household income in the village by about R3 150 per annum and overall disposable income by more than 26%.
The North West Parks and Tourism Board, with support from the British government’s Department for International Development, is studying the impact of the park on surrounding communities to ensure they to do indeed benefit from tourism initiatives.
These days, most luxury lodges try to involve neighbouring communities. They also help with books and bursaries. Most have instituted employment policies favouring locals wherever possible, and also use local catering and transport services.
The Singita group, which operates award-winning luxury lodges in the Kruger area, has based their business model on a three-tiered interdependent triangular structure. The triangle represents constant interaction between the environment, the people, and the lodge itself. At Singita, the staff ratio is three-and-a-half to one tourist. Each of these staff members has an average of eight dependents. Every single tourist is therefore essentially employing 28 people, mostly from local communities.
Although support for local communities is important, ultimately it is the handing over of ownership to these communities which will have the most impact. This should be the goal of BEE in tourism, and not merely be hand-outs from local lodges.
Not everything always runs smoothly when partnering with a community, of course, and this presents its own problems. Many tour operators may be put off by the host of challenges: community in-fighting, the financial risk, political interference in business decisions, as well their own lack of experience.
Certain community members near Rocktail Bay on the Maputaland coast, where the Rocktail Bay Lodge is located, were not aware of the advantages the lodge was supposed to bring them. A trust manages funds received from the lodge on behalf of the community, although not everyone is happy about how these funds are deployed.
Some are unhappy that a number of students received bursaries but never completed their studies. They consider this money to be wasted and would rather see it being spent more wisely.
Township tours
Another area in which black empowerment in tourism is winning is with township tours. Small tourism businesses are mushrooming because of the growing popularity of these tours. In the past, Soweto shebeens were frequented only by locals, but now pubs like Wandi’s have acquired substantial international reputations.
Even taxi drivers are cashing in, turning their old vehicles into tourist shuttles to places such as the Hector Peterson Museum and Mandela’s house in Orlando, after which tourists can either relax over a cold beer at a shebeen or enjoy a stay in a Sowetan guesthouse.
None other than South Africa’s tourism minister has partaken in this experience, which he describes as a big step in tourism empowerment.
Van Schalkwyk believes that each and every South African has a role to play in promoting tourism in South Africa.
‘In this respect, every South African is a host — every shopkeeper, every taxi driver, every petrol pump attendant is an ambassador.”