| Name | Tourism Enterprise Partnership (TEP) | |
| Strategic Partner | Department of Tourism | |
| Period | July 2000 to March 2013 |
Introduction
The Tourism Enterprise Partnership supports firms in the tourism sector to conclude commercially viable transactions that will help create and maintain jobs.
Purpose
To encourage and facilitate the growth and expansion of tourism enterprises in response to increasing and broadening demand for tourism activity, thus resulting in job creation and income generation opportunities.
Context
The Tourism Enterprise Programme was initiated by the Business Trust in July 2000 as part of the Business Trust's initial strategy to promote tourism development in South Africa as a means of creating jobs and thereby reducing unemployment and poverty. The programme supports firms in the tourism sector to conclude commercially viable transactions.
The success of the programme is built on its sector specific focus and its transaction based, demand driven approach.
In 2005, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism invested in the extension of the programme to June 2007 and subsequently has committed additional funds to expand the programme.
Activities
Typically a TEP Business Development Advisor is approached by a potential client looking for support. The client is registered on the TEP database, a preliminary needs assessment is undertaken and the firm's information entered in the database. The opportunities for business expansion are identified and support provided or procured. This might involve improving access to:
- Markets (often by forging linkages between emerging businesses and established firms that provide a market for their goods and services);
- Finance through established financial sources (the programme does not provide direct debt or equity for small firms);
- Skills (through a training programme); and
- Technical support (for the development of business plans and other technical support which enables these firms to combine the resources needed to undertake commercially successful transactions).
The results of the support are tracked and recorded in terms of increased turnover and person days of work created.
