Question NW950 to the Minister of Tourism

(i) Past three Financial Years

Opportunities

2017/18

Department of Tourism in collaboration with SA Tourism, facilitated the market access platform for 90 SMMEs, representing nine provinces at Africa’s Travel Indaba (ATI) 2017.

Pre-selection process and training

Prior to participation at ATI, a total of 311 SMMEs registered for the pre-selection training sessions arranged in each of the nine provinces. A total of 284 of the 311 registered SMMEs from across all provinces participated in a 5-day training session on various aspects of product development, packaging, pricing, marketing, tradeshow participation, contract negotiation, etc. Due to space and budget limitations only 90 SMME could attend the ATI. The training was conducted as part of the process to select the 90 SMMEs that represent the provinces roughly equal to participate at the ATI 2017

National and provincial stakeholders were invited to serve on the selection committee to assist in the selection of SMMEs for training and marketing platforms. Each training session was attended by them as part of the adjudication process. The top 90 SMMEs were selected following pitch presentations by each participant.

Peer to Peer Pre-Exhibition Mentorship Workshop

The selected 90 SMMEs participated in a six-week Peer-to-Peer Mentorship Programme to help prepare them further for participation at the ATI exhibition.

Exhibition

A specially designed pavilion with dedicated exhibition and meeting space was created to cater for the 90 SMMEs to showcase their offerings.

Speed Marketing Networking event

A speed networking event was hosted a day before the start of ATI. The benefit of hosting the event just before the exhibition was to ensure that relations established could be further reinforced throughout the duration of the exhibition. All 90 SMMEs were directly introduced to the 45 key trade members whereby they presented their offerings.

2018/19

In an effort to ensure a greater impact of the Hidden Gems support provided during 2017/18, the Minister requested that the 90 enterprises continue to be supported for an additional two years and that the group be expanded with additional small and emerging enterprises drawn from the department’s Enterprise Development initiatives (e.g. incubators and business support). An additional 45 enterprises were selected from the department’s database of enterprises already enrolled in the enterprise development initiatives to bring the number of enterprises to benefit from market access support at the ATI 2018 to 135.

Pre-exhibition training session

Since all selected enterprises already benefitted from a structured training programme in the previous year or were already enrolled in the department’s enterprise development initiatives, training prior to ATI2018 involved a one-day pre-exhibition session which focused on the effective ways of working in a trade show platform.

The training provided key insights on the following:

• The importance of establishing business linkages with global buyers

• The importance of forging partnerships with local DMCs

• Opportunities on joint marketing initiatives with the industry value chain

Exhibition

SA Tourism again provided a dedicated exhibition pavilion for the 135 SMMEs, representing all nine provinces at ATI 2018. Based on lessons learnt from the previous year, enterprises were positioned and grouped by province.

Networking event

A collaboration between SA Tourism and Tourism KwaZulu-Natal saw the facilitation of special SMMEs networking event where a number of enterprises shared their success stories. The event further provided an opportunity for SMMEs to forge relations.

In addition to the above supported enterprises benefitted from extensive media coverage by SA Tourism and ATI media partners

2019/20

The same 135 SMMEs that were supported in 2018/19 were invited to participate at ATI in 2019 – This included the initial 90 that were benefitting for a third year as requested by the Minister, and the group of 45 that was added in 2018/19 that were benefitting for the second time in 2019. However, due to a change in the date of the ATI as a result of the 2019 national election, not all 135 were able to attend anymore. As a result, the 2019 ATI saw participation of 121 of the 135 selected enterprises.

SA Tourism in collaboration with the Department of Tourism, provided a market access platform for 121 SMMEs, representing nine provinces at Africa’s Travel Indaba (ATI)2019. The platform included the following interventions:

Pre-exhibition Social Media Training

Similar to the situation in 2018, all supported enterprises already benefitted from structured training programmes and additional training was limited to a focussed one-day session prior to ATI 2019. In this regard, SA Tourism in partnership with Facebook, conducted a one-day digital marketing and social media session for the SMMEs. The main objective of the session was to equip the SMMEs with current tools to enhance their business profiles through digital platforms and further enhance their presence in social media platforms.

Exhibition

Similar to 2018, SA Tourism provided a dedicated and specially designed exhibition pavilion for the 121 enterprises from all nine provinces to showcase their offerings.

SMMEs Trade Directory

A trade directory was designed showcasing all the SMMEs that participated at Africa’s Travel Indaba. The directory was distributed to media, local and international buyers.

Welcome Networking event

Durban Tourism in collaboration with SA Tourism and Tourism KwaZulu-Natal organised an official welcome event for hosted buyers and media. The platform provided an opportunity for SMMEs to establish relations with buyers and other participating stakeholders.

Like in previous years the supported enterprises were awarded extensive media coverage by SA Tourism and ATI media partners

1. Since 1 April 2020

Preparations for Hidden Gems support at the ATI 2020 (scheduled to take place between 12 and 14 May 2020) were well underway at this time. However, the event was cancelled due to the risks posed by the COVID 19 pandemic and the impacts of the resultant lockdown conditions on the tourism sector.

Following a third year of support, the initial group of 90 effectively exited the Hidden Gems support after ATI 2019, but the department and SAT was still committed to supporting the remaining 45 for a third time in 2020.

To ensure a sizable group of around 100 enterprises on the Hidden Gems pavilion at the 2020 ATI, a decision was made to select at least another 55 small and emerging enterprises on a once-off basis (i.e. one year of support) from both the Enterprise Development database and the initial group of Hidden Gems trainees (284 in 2017/18).

This approach would have allowed SAT and the department to honour its commitment to those enterprises that it undertook to support for three years and allow for a review of the Hidden Gems initiative based on lessons learnt and an opportunity to start with a new cycle of support with improved processes, training support, market exposure, etc.

i) which SMMEs have benefited

(ii) how, in each case

From 2017-2019, 135 SMMEs benefited from participation in the ATI programme. Representation was almost equal from each province.

Participation at ATI as outlined under section (a) per financial year, above

With respect to the nature of benefits received, it is difficult to accurately quantify the flow through and ongoing benefits from the relationships developed with buyers through participation in one or two trade shows (e.g. the conversion of business takes a period of between 1-3 years form the start of the relationship).

The main benefit was that, these enterprises were afforded an opportunity to meet with both international and domestic buyers in a business to business trade environment, which they would probably not have been able to do, if there was no support.

Not only did the Hidden Gems provide a conducive platform for such engagements between small and emerging enterprises and prospective buyers, but it also covered most of the costs associated with this including return airfare, 4 - 5 nights of accommodation, networking sessions, media exposure, etc.

(i) Past three Financial Years

Description of Businesses

Size of Business

2017/18

The participating SMMEs included the following:

• Accommodation: – B&Bs, Guest Houses, Game Lodges, Boutique Hotels

• Tour Operators

• Professional Conference Organisers

• Attractions

As part of the initial selection criteria, the qualifying business were SMMEs that were in operation for at least 6 months with an annual turnover of not exceeding R5 million.

2018/19

The participating SMMEs included the following:

• Accommodation – B&Bs, Guest Houses, Game Lodges, Boutique Hotels

• Tour Operators

• Professional Conference Organisers

• Attractions

Similar criteria as 2017 as these are the same SMMEs with the additional new 45 enterprises.

2019/20

The participating SMMEs included the following:

• Accommodation – B&Bs, Guest Houses, Game Lodges, Boutique Hotels

• Tour Operators

• Professional Conference Organisers

• Attractions

These are the same SMMEs from 2017 and 2018 thus the criteria and size were the same.

Since 1 April 2020

Preparations were underway for the ATI 2020 however the event was cancelled due to COVID-19.

Approximately 100 SMMEs were due to participate at the exhibition.

45 of these would have been the same as in 2018 and 2019, while the additional 55-odd would have been newly selected.