GERALD GARNER: Growing black tourism far more effective than exclusionary strategies

The government’s BEE policy has done much harm to SA’s economy. All it has achieved is to ensure that traditional giant white businesses retain control of the marketplace by co-opting black ownership. It has not grown those sectors, or the economy in general, at all. Nor has BEE spurred competition. It may have boosted demand for existing products and services, but not enough to grow the economy.

From the perspective of the government, BEE has pushed white skills into private entrepreneurship, where small and medium-sized businesses have indeed created jobs, many for black employees. But BEE policies also demand that these businesses be 51% black-owned if they want public work. So now I wonder, is it better to own 10% of a business and be a millionaire, or 51% of a business with no asset value? Is it better to be a white-owned business that employs 90% black staff (in line with the country’s demographic) across all management levels? Or to create black employment and growth, which also empowers people to start their own business eventually should they so choose?

Is it better to have a 51% black-owned business with 90% white staff? More importantly, is it better to have a 51% black-owned, or even 100% black-owned, business with almost exclusively white clientele? Or is it more important to grow market demand? Here I am specifically referring to tourism. What I have seen happen organically is an increase in local black tourists and tourists from all over the continent. For as long as this demand grows, clients would want to engage with real tourism products in SA that reflect the diversity of SA’s people. This would set the platform to grow more black-owned tourism businesses.

My advice is to focus on the demand side. Grow black tourism demand and you will see more and more black entrepreneurs venturing into tourism and building successful businesses. These would often be 100% black-owned without any need for discriminatory 51% ownership laws and cumbersome, inefficient regulation. Most of the tourism businesses and products I deal with in Johannesburg’s inner city are black-owned. I wonder if they have benefited from any of the government’s tourism products and concepts, or if they have simply grown their businesses through their own initiative.

What is clear is that we need to grow tourism. We need to grow the economy. We need to increase demand for a wider variety of tourism products and experiences. We need to absorb more of SA’s youth into the industry. We need to create jobs for all, and yes, that does mean 90% black employment. But we must never accept discriminatory race criteria in terms of who is allowed to operate what, or who is allowed to participate. We need to embrace innovation and welcome all.

In recent weeks I have taken note of the launch of the Small Tourism Enterprise Association. Its membership is open exclusively to small and micro businesses that are minimum 51% black-owned. Membership of a business association is defined by race criteria 27 years after apartheid! This is surely unconstitutional.

Yes, it is important to grow small and big black businesses. But it is precisely these exclusionary policies that will prevent those businesses from growing. Successful business relies on networks and the exchange of ideas. Limiting the pollination of ideas to just one interest group, demographic, race, creed, colour or orientation is counterproductive. Tourism unfortunately does not grow by government decree or the handing out of tenders, but by providing customers with a rich variety of experiences they choose to engage in.

Another initiative launched recently was the Cultivate Wine Collective, which promotes the wines of black, Cape-based winemakers. In this case a positive step has been taken to promote products to the wider hospitality industry. Those wines will be bought by white-owned and black-owned businesses and hopefully consumed by black and white customers, while the winemakers will be able to grow their businesses. This, for me, is real empowerment as the wine producers will build long-term clientele.

Relying on black-only associations that are there only to make it easier for the government to award tenders to a preselected group of beneficiaries, determined by race, will not grow any sustainable tourism business. How do we get our narrow-minded bureaucrats, government and captured corporate sector to reimagine our world?

• Garner is founder of JoburgPlaces, a tourism business specialising in Johannesburg inner-city walking tours. He runs Charlie & Gerald’s Town Treasure, a restaurant at 110 Fox Street, and is the author of various books on Johannesburg.