Tourism employees who got behind South Africa is Travel Ready’s #IAmTourism campaign are helping to turn a lens on the future of travel and the sector’s road to recovery. After a roller-coaster pandemic year, Tourism Update has heard that the focus is on investing in travel, up-skilling each other, re-hiring staff, and growing the pie for new entrants.

More than 2 200 women engaged with the #IAmTourism campaign by providing profile photographs and hash-tagged banners. And, throughout August, Women’s Month, 31 participants’ stories were used to highlight the plight of industry workers sidelined by the pandemic.

Among those featured, Cindy Buser, founder and Managing Director of Mirchee Destination Management; Phaka Hlazo, founder of Zulu Nomad; and Millicent Shai, Thaba Legae Guest Lodge General Manager, said that the journey had been an uphill climb, but with plenty of positive lessons along the way.

Life interrupted

Fast forward to June 1, with parts of the country experiencing a third wave of COVID-19 infections, Buser was “waiting and watching” for signs of recovery, still focusing on marketing her business’ products. “It’s a waiting game, and patience is all that one needs to have,” she said.

“Gratitude, resilience, health, empathy, service to the community, budgeting, savings, upskilling,” are the words Buser used to describe the months since her #IAmTourism story was heard. She revealed: “Unfortunately, we could not retain any staff as, financially, it did not seem viable for us. I hope to employ staff again once our borders are open to travel from our target markets!”

With “very little income” and a home and children to care for, Buser said life had been a “rollercoaster” but she was focused on remaining “calm and consistent” for her family’s sake. “However,” she maintained, “I always see the cup half-full rather than half-empty. During this period, I have been able to collaborate, synergise, participate and get involved with various stakeholders, mentors, form partnerships and experience and share with the global tourism fraternity via digital platforms.”

Shai said she had learned a lot. “You should make use of the opportunity that you have now, as tomorrow is not guaranteed. Being open and involving your employees in coming up with a solution has really benefitted us,” she said.

Shai said many of her colleagues had resorted to sideline work to generate an income and stay afloat. “Financial advisors used to say we should have a savings kitty equivalent to six months’ salary/expenses. This did not work out, as we have been in the pandemic for longer than that… A lot of people have used their passion as a means of[generating revenue: knitting, baking, cooking, and writing. We had to do a lot of introspection and recognise our strong points,” she said.

Hlazo said it had been an “incredibly taxing six months” but listed many exciting developments. While Hlazo also manages to hold down a full-time job as a ‘scrum master’ for Vodacom, she wears several tourism hats. One is Chair of Access, Inclusivity and Diversity at SATSA. During the pandemic, Hlazo has also helped bring InAfrica to market, an online service connecting travellers with hosts and guides in various places in Africa, and recently served as a judge in a social entrepreneurship in tourism competition in tourism.

During the pandemic, Hlazo’s company, Zulu Nomad, has made a free Standard COVID-19 protocol online course available to help other tourism businesses on the continent. 80 business owners have taken the course so far, she said.

“In terms of my role at SATSA… we have had a productive few months launching the proof of concept for a programme matching tourism business owners who are looking to exit their businesses, with capable young people who qualify the Tourism Equity Fund opportunity. What is critical about this programme is that the current owner stays on to support the incoming owners ensuring that the incoming owners have the best chance for success.

“Further,” Hlazo revealed, “we have been working in collaboration with colleagues at the TBCSA on a mentorship programme, facilitating 80% of the mentors on that programme through the SATSA community.”

Relief funding ‘a sad state of affairs’

Hlazo did not meet the requirements for any form of funding, she said, but was grateful to have managed to rely on her skills and experience. But the battle for funding is not a new challenge for her.

“I was never able to raise any kind of funding for Zulu Nomad pre-pandemic, not from a bank nor any government fund or agency. I have always had to have other means of income to grow my tourism social enterprise to where it is today,” she said.

Buser said: “It is very sad to know that there has been no support from any of the programmes I applied to for funding, as my application was declined. The only support has been through the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s Temporary Employee Relief Scheme (TERS). It has been a sad state of affairs.”

“I worry about those who do qualify for TERS but do not have any assistance or support with a computer [or] phone-line, as many people have not yet received funds. For them, this is their only source of income,” she explained.

The outlook for 2021 Q3 & Q4

Hlazo said this year had been a learning experience and an opportunity to give back, but urged businesses to familiarise themselves with COVID safety protocols. “We had a very embarrassing situation recently, sending an influencer to try out an experience. Rightfully so, she gave us terrible feedback about the experience as protocols were not followed. An experience like this reflects badly on all of us as an industry! Travellers need to be able to trust that all of our established businesses are following the protocols.”

Buser was confident that business would improve once vaccinations and travel protocols were in place. Buser said she had used the pause in business to re-think, re-strategise and focus on a ‘better business plan’ for her companies.

“There were over 42m day trips and 45m overnight trips in South Africa in 2019, generating R101bn (€6.1bn) in expenditure. I encourage all business owners in tourism to look at opportunities to become relevant to the domestic market,” Hlazo said.

“We had a good November, December 2020 and March 2021. January was quiet and February was dead! April started to pick up again. To summarise, it has been a rollercoaster,” reported Shai. She said that no staff had been retrenched, and that full salaries were still being paid.

Shai said that her company was concentrating on events, and has expanded its conferencing line-up. “Personally, I am doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances, trying to downgrade on a lot of things for saving resources. The family is also doing well,” Shai said.

Despite the industry’s ongoing challenges, all three subjects were determined to keep working in travel.

“There is no question,” said Hlazo. “I understand too well the challenges facing real people - whether it be communities, tour guides, small business owners of all races. It is tough. I also understand the truly transformative power of the tourism industry for the African continent… I am grateful to be in travel.”

Support network

Shai felt communication among industry players had been good so far, and was happy with how the travel and tourism sector’s leadership had responded to the crisis.

Shai said that her business had received support from the TRF (travel relief fund) and the province, but also mentioned that SATSA had allowed her an opportunity to register for a management development programme through the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business. “It has helped a lot,” she said, “in opening my eyes, taking opportunities for sustainability. It is one of the reasons that I am upping my events.”

Shai offered: “The industry’s representation has really fought for us, noting that the government seemed to be ill prepared and did not understand the effect this had on the tourism industry. Communication via webinars has been great. It is just a matter of concern for those located in rural areas where networks are a problem.”

But, behind these brave fronts, Buser worried that her peers and fellow tourism stakeholders had struggled. “I can see light at the end of the tunnel for all of us! I guess we need to just keep motivating each other, sharing information, doing our best to build back and return stronger than before,” she urged.

Shai was also hopeful that new relationships and the industry’s spirit of collaboration would continue after the pandemic. “This period has seen a lot of us involved in collaborations. Event organisers joining hands with accommodation providers and tour operators. We hope this relationship will not cease… It has proven to be mutually beneficial to all of us.”

What workers need most, now

Each of the women had a different suggestion or request for the sector’s leadership and the national government, which they believed would make an impact on the lives and businesses of industry workers.

“The Tourism Minister has already advised that government is re-looking the Tourism Transformation Fund (TTF). Not knowing what that new fund looks like, I believe that the request to have the minimum financing requirements for both the TTF and the Tourism Equity Fund re-looked is something that would resonate with many young, black entrepreneurs. The vast majority of us are entrepreneurs looking for R500 000 (€30 200) or R1,5m (€90 600) in funding… not debt to the tune of tens of millions,” said Hlazo.

She continued: “The industry in general, makes up 8,9% of South Africa's GDP. We need to find ways to leverage our relationships with corporate South Africa to revive the tourism economy. While we knock on the doors of other countries to allow their citizens to travel here again, let us apply our minds to what it is that we're going to be doing differently when we do reopen - because the world as we knew it has changed.”

Buser suggested that government connect with a Human Resources agency to build a database of unemployed but qualified or experienced tourism workers who could fill - even temporarily - various openings on a temporary or part-time basis when business returns to normal levels.

“I am thinking in about six months to a year… [There should be] no age restrictions or specialised qualifications needed. This could be admin/HR/operations or any suitable position that would work for those companies. This will temporarily help those who don’t have any kind of income. It should be a joint partnership together with the tourism stakeholders,” she said.

Shai offered: “Promote domestic travel! Many establishments have survived by pivoting their marketing strategy to include domestic travel. Most companies which dealt in international travel had to adapt or die.”

Shai concluded: “As a Christian, I still believe that God will never put us in a situation that we cannot get out of. No matter how difficult it might be, there will be a breakthrough, and we will be tougher and resilient at the end of this.”