Durban, 03 June 2020 – With the tourism sector hardest hit by the national lockdown to slow down the spread of the coronavirus, life for tourism business owners has come to a halt.
As part of government interventions to support strained tourism businesses, TKZN will launch a series of online workshops for small tourism enterprises on recovery strategies and effective measures required to operate during the pandemic.
Ms Phindile Makwakwa, Acting CEO of TKZN, said tourism businesses are heavily dependent on providing services to both international and domestic travellers in order to sustain their businesses.
“The international travel ban imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus caused tourism businesses to shut down their operations.
“The National Department of Tourism has already set aside R200 million to assist tourism businesses in distress and as KZN we also wanted to assist KZN SMMEs to remodel their businesses in order to operate in a COVID-19 environment.
“To capacitate and equip small tourism enterprises with information, knowledge and the tools necessary to function in a Covid-19 environment, TKZN will host online workshops to share vital information to get small tourism business back on track.”
Makwakwa said TKZN has harnessed the support of subject matter specialists to provide free expert advice on a range of important aspects of small tourism business management.
The online workshops will target KZN SMMEs in the tourism sector, focusing mainly on business recovery strategies both in operations and financial recovery.
The series of the online workshops will be hosted every Wednesday between 3 June and 1 July
The following are the topics that will be discussed:
- 3 June – Managing Debt and Funding Solutions for Tourism Recovery in the ‘New Normal’.
- 10 June – Tourism Operation Protocols towards Business Recovery and the ‘New Normal’.
- 17 June – Business Recovery Strategies: Best Practices
- 24 June – The role of Digital Technologies towards Business Recovery
- 1 July – Tourism Recovery through Digital Marketing and Market Access
The following are the subject experts who will share advice for SMMEs on Wednesday 3 June from 10am to 12noon.
Dr Emmanuel Ngcobo – Workshop host and chairperson of the Chartered Institute of Government Finance, Audit & Risk Officers; president of the Noble Leaders International; Board Member of the Durban University of technology.
Roshni Mehta – panellist and heads the Business Intelligence and Product Quality Section of Durban Tourism. She has nine years of experience in research in the tourism industry. Her passion lies in using tourism as a catalysis to uplift disadvantaged communities and SMME’s.
Grant Smith (FNB) – panellist and Head of the SMME customer segment for FNB across KZN. Prior to joining the FNB in 2011, he worked in London, Sydney & New York for various organisations across varying financial disciplines.
Septi Bukula – panellist and founder of Seeza Tourism SME Network, he has been involved in SMME promotion since 1993. Following the successful hosting of his company’s first international conference, the 37th International Small Business Congress in 2012, he recognised the potential for inbound business events to create lucrative opportunities for tourism SMMEs. In 2017, he established Seeza Tourism SME Network, which has channelled R5m business to tourism SMMEs by linking them to business events.
Jameel Khan – panellist and head of projects at South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) Enterprise Development. A chartered accountant, he specialises in providing value to SMMEs in both the formal and informal economy,
The invitations for the online workshops will be sent out to all SMME tourism businesses registered with Tourism KZN and will be published on the Authority’s Facebook Page @KZNTourism.
Interested tourism business are encouraged to use the link https://tourismkwazulunatal-xgn.my.webex.com/tourismkwazulunatal-xgn.my/j.php?MTID=mc8932de207d4738826a13d611c376ac7 to register by Tuesday, 2 June 2020, by 19h00. For any enquiries regarding the tourism webinars, email [email protected]
