For the tourism sector to flourish and small businesses to expand, they need to network within their provinces and in the tourism sector, pioneer new technology, attend marketing and industry events, sub-contract to their surrounding communities and pass on the mentorship they have.
These were the key sentiments shared by Tourism Enterprise Partnership (TEP) beneficiaries and Fair Trade Tourism (FTT) certified business owners during a panel discussion titled ‘Bringing small businesses into the mainstream tourism economy’ at the Durban International Convention Centre on May 10.
Forming beneficial relationships is the most crucial element that the TEP enables small businesses to accomplish, said Shaheed Abrushan, Owner of Escape to the Cape. He singled out the importance of attending networking events as the first step to creating partnerships. “Don’t discount even the smallest event. You never know what you will learn or whom you will meet.”
By partnering with industry experts, small businesses can learn about what goes into running a tourism business, said Desiree Rajoo from Discover Durban Travel Tours. “Funding is important but if you are not mentored properly those funds will soon run out. Mentoring has taught me the basic fundamentals to run my business and linked me with bigger businesses.”
Salifou Siddo, the CEO of Tourism Enterprise Partnerships (TEP), said partnering with larger tourism entities allowed for valuable skills transfer. “Now that we have a new code in place as of May 1 - called Enterprise Development - it actually forces larger organisations to partner with small entities to bring them into the value chain.”
According to Peterson Mahlangu from Fundani Tours, SMMEs should partner with businesses that practise sustainable and responsible tourism. “We encourage these businesses to become a family; to share developmental opportunities and to find out about the ways they do things in their businesses such as energy saving and using renewable energy that they can learn from.” He said different businesses had different strengths and that by working together they could find ways to make these best practices meet.
Rajoo added that small businesses had to stay positive and take every opportunity that came their way. She said it was important for business owners to work together to gain a greater share of the tourism economy.
