Chairperson of the Tourism B-BBEE Charter Council, Dr. Vuyo Mahlati, together with Council membership, briefed Parliament on Wednesday on the state of transformation in the tourism sector.
“While we appreciate evidence of transforming enterprises, the pace and extent of transformation is concerning. There are still many that are not compliant to B-BBEE,” said Mahlati.
The Council was appointed to monitor and advise the Minister of Tourism, Derek Hanekom, on the extent of transformation within the tourism sector. As part of its monitoring of B-BBEE in the sector, the Council conducted a study in 2017 to establish the status of transformation in tourism.
Promoting black ownership of enterprises remains a key element within the amended Tourism B-BBEE Sector Code, however, according to the Council, few enterprises achieved the 30% target set for the ownership element. Less than 50% of enterprises in the three sub-sectors, namely accommodation, hospitality and travel, achieved the minimum ownership targets.
The travel sub-sector is performing better than others in promoting black women in their ownership structures.
Despite the fact that the tourism sector employs a large number of women, around 11% of enterprises had shown black women representation at board, executive and senior management level. The sector performed poorly in promoting black management in general, according to the Council.
The B-BBEE Code prioritises enterprise and supplier development as a key driver of transformation in South Africa’s economy. This is done by encouraging preferential usage of black-owned suppliers, and the inclusion of SMMEs within supply chains, partnerships and mentorships.
Contrary to this, the majority of large enterprises did not comply with the set targets, said the Council in a statement, adding that there was insignificant expenditure on enterprises with majority black shareholders.
“This is despite the fact that government and its entities spend billions every year on travel and accommodation, including conferencing. Government should begin to harness public spending to rapidly accelerate transformation by making sure that all officials travelling use transformed service providers with clear evidence for B-BBEE compliance,” said Mahlati. “If we want to see meaningful transformation, we must put measures in place to ensure that the service providers appointed also use other black service providers to deliver the services.”
Large enterprises in the sector are showing improved signs of investment in skills development for black employees. “This gives us hope that we would see more black people in management echelons of the sector in the near future,” said Mahlati.
Furthermore, he said it was encouraging to see that many tourism enterprises had performed even better on Socio-Economic Development, as almost 50% of accommodation and travel sub-sectors achieved targets for this element. In addition, more than 60% of large tourism enterprises are Tourism Marketing South Africa Levy collectors. The Council said that this is significant as it will continue to boost efforts to attract more tourists to the country, which will create opportunities for inclusive economic growth.
Working together with the Department, the Council developed the Tourism B-BBEE Portal, an online system that provides a matchmaking platform between large enterprises and black-owned suppliers. To find suitable black-owned suppliers with the required profile and expertise, buyers can visit the website of the Department of Tourism, under the B-BBEE section.
To access to Department of Tourism’s website, click here.
