Page 48 - TKZN Annual Report 2023/2024

PROGRAMME 3: TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
Purpose
• Responsible for facilitating tourism product development, the enhancement of experience offerings and contributing to transformation in the tourism sector.
Strategic Objectives
• Demand driven tourism development to enhance the destination’s product development.
• Contribute towards the transformation of the tourism sector.
Key Performance Areas
• Destination development
• Tourism transformation
Performance Highlights
Tourism KwaZulu-Natal actions its tourism development mandate through its Tourism Development Department. The 2023/24 financial year proved an exceptionally busy period, with tourism development support given to a number of SMMEs and community-based projects.
TKZN’s Tourism Development Department is also mandated to ensure the sustainability of small, medium, and micro-sized businesses while adhering to the principles of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment. Through capacity building and ensuring that SMME products meet tourism industry regulations and standards, TKZN prepares them to compete in a global market.
During the period under review, the entity has spent R1 418 146,38 in implementing 13 enterprise development interventions which benefited a total of 219 small tourism enterprises. The interventions implemented ranged from business needs analysis studies of businesses within the TKZN enterprise support programme, investment readiness interventions, SMME workshops and seminars to raise awareness and capacity, and business networking and market access opportunities.
The entity, through its tourism products and experiences support, several interventions were done including the Shakaland amended Order of Magnitude assessment, project financial forecasting and the revised Business Plan, Ntabamhlophe Tourism Study focusing on Tourism Development Plan and the viability assessment for tourism development opportunities of the region with a Tourism development Implementation Plan.
The tourism development studies were done to ensure that SMME projects could fulfil their development and planning stage requirements. These interventions represent the critical phase to product development where seed funding is required by SMMEs to prepare their projects for investment opportunity phase.
Finally, to assist the existing tourism products and experiences, a call for project proposals was made with the aim of enhancing such projects with practical support that could lead to business growth, scalability, and competitiveness. This intervention is still on-going and in the procurement of goods and services stage, targeting 20 projects that needed support.
Tourism Development Projects
KwaXolo Caves
Situated inland of Margate on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, the KwaXolo Caves is a newly developed attraction offering huge tourism potential. To further develop the facility in order to augment existing tourist activities, the Provincial Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs appointed TKZN in 2023 to design and construct a new Multipurpose Centre, comprising conference facilities, picnic sites and ablution facilities, against a total budget of R6 645 565.
During 2023/2024, a service provider was appointed in November 2023 and the project Inception Report was compiled. However, during this stage, as part of compliance requirements, an environmental assessment of the site was done and environmental authorization was
46 TOURISM KWAZULU-NATAL ANNUAL REPORT 2023/2024