Only stars for government

ALL of South Africa’s government departments are to begin procuring only from graded establishments. This was revealed at a recent series of workshops conducted by the Tourism Grading Council of SA and the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. Deat has requested that all government departments must, in future, submit a detailed annual report to the department on how and where they have spent their accommodation budgets, which will also include the official star graded status of every property used. TGCSA executive director, Dr Salifou Siddo, said: “Government departments wield tremendous buying power. Whilst we’ve been pleased with the significant support received during these first 12 months or so, a lot of work remains to be done to secure 100% departmental buy-in. However, we do understand that this will take time. To help the process along - and to ensure that any implementation challenges are understood and addressed – we will meet with a forum of procurement officers twice a year. We’ll also start distributing our monthly newsletter to all government departments.” This move gives further incentive to non-graded establishments to undergo the grading process. Siddo stressed the value of quality assurance in ensuring tourists are provided with a quality experience. (Darren Sandras) darrens@nowmedia.co.za