Question NW2849 to the Minister of Tourism

Reply:

(a) I have been informed by the Department that the table, below, reflects the number and kind of small-scale businesses helped by the Department in rural KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga since 1 January 2023:

1. Tour Operator Incubation Programme

The purpose of the programme was to offer incubations and business development support

interventions to emerging tour operators across the country. The programme involved 44

emerging tour operators and ran for two years until May 2023.

	(i) What total number of small-scale businesses has the department helped in rural areas	(ii) What kind of small-scale businesses has the department helped in rural areas
KwaZulu-Natal	8	Emerging Tour Operators
Limpopo	3	Emerging Tour Operators
Mpumalanga	2	Emerging Tour Operators

2. Community Based Tourism Incubation Programme

The Pilot Community Based Tourism Incubation programme identifies community run projects at viable rural destinations and provide business strategy and capacity building to managing teams for effective operations of enterprises.

	(i) What total number of small-scale businesses has the department helped in rural areas	(ii) What kind of small-scale businesses has the department helped in rural areas
KwaZulu-Natal	1	Khula Village
KwaZulu-Natal	3	Homestays

3. The Women in Tourism Business Advisory and incubation programme in Limpopo Province.

The initiative has identified seven (7) mainly women owned and run projects in tourism and related sectors:

NO	PROJECT NAME	LOCATION	PROJECT TYPE
1.	Baleni Salt Harvest	Shawela Village - Greater Giyani Municipality	Salt Harvesting / Tourist attraction
2.	Hi Hlurile Pot of Beads	Giyani Section E - Greater Giyani Municipality	Bead manufacturing
3.	Twananani Textiles	Mbokota village, Makhado Local Municipality	Textile
4.	Mukondeni Pottery Village	Makhado Local Municipality	Pottery
5.	Nahakwe Lodge	Mamaila village, Greater Letaba Local Municipality	Accommodation establishment
6.	Scrap Metals collector for Art Gallery production	Tshivhuyuni village; Makhado Local Municipality	Art gallery
7.	Homestays	Mashishimale village in Ba-Phalaborwa Local Municipality	Accommodation

4. Tourism Technology Grassroots Innovation Incubation Programme (TTGIIP),

The TTGIIP is implemented jointly with the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA). The programme empowers young entrepreneurs with tech ideas that enhance the travel and tourism industry operations in various ways. TIA helps 20 incubatees across the country with product development, technology design, prototype development, market testing and commercialisation. One incubatee from Mpumalanga has been assisted to take his online arts and crafts retail platform to market.

5. Food Service Incubation Programme

The programme provides business development support interventions to 100 entrepreneurs in the food services sub sector of hospitality. The purpose is to help with establishment of small businesses that operate effectively. Some of the entrepreneurs are graduates from the Department’s training and development initiatives such as Chef, Sommelier and food services training. The list of enterprises supported in Kwa Zulu Natal, Limpopo and Mpumalanga is provided in the table below.

	(i) What total number of small-scale businesses has the department helped in rural areas	(ii) What kind of small-scale businesses has the department helped in rural areas
KwaZulu-Natal	8	Food Entrepreneurs/ chefs
Limpopo	13	Food Entrepreneurs/ chefs
Mpumalanga	3	Food Entrepreneurs/ chefs

(b) The question is to be directed to the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency.