The 2024 Tourism Business Council of South Africa(TBCSA) Leadership Conference once again set the stage for critical conversations around South Africa’s tourism sector. Held at Sun City, this year’s event focused heavily on inclusive growth and the importance of engaging young people within the industry. Speaking to the ongoing impact of the conference, Jerry Mabena, Chairperson of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), highlighted a range of positive outcomes.
Reflecting on the broader impact of the dialogues, Mabena was optimistic about the tangible results achieved through the conference.
“We do believe that some of the conversations, dialogues, and programs that we put up here actually do yield a lot of results. We can point to a couple of those sorts of things,” he explained.
One of the key discussions during the conference revolved around the integration of historically disadvantaged individuals, particularly the youth, into the tourism sector. Mabena highlighted various initiatives aimed at broadening participation: “There’s the Tourism Equity Fund, which we are actively discussing with people involved, to try and improve that.”
This push for new products in the sector also included young entrepreneurs tapping into niche markets. “What we are beginning to see happening, and this is really exciting, is young people bringing products that attract young people. For instance, you’re getting cycling tours in Soweto and adventure activities like quad biking in Cape Town, led by young individuals,” he said, describing the organic growth of these initiatives. “They appeal to a youth market and, as a result, young people are coming in, either as service providers or replicating those ideas in their environments.”
Transformation has long been an important topic in South Africa’s tourism landscape, and this year was no exception. Discussing the effectiveness of the BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) initiative, Mabena expressed the need for a broader view: “What you’re finding with BEE is that we’ve often focused on just one aspect, which is equity. But there’s also supply development and enterprise development—two areas that encourage people to supply to the sector and develop as operators.”
He elaborated on the work his business has done to nurture young talent, explaining, “We identify young people within our organization and develop them to a point where they can set up their own businesses, which we end up supporting ourselves. That, for me, is the transformative power of BEE when applied correctly.”
As Chairperson of TBCSA, Jerry Mabena is clearly focused on leaving behind a strong legacy, one marked by real transformation and empowerment of the youth.
“The transformation piece is a big one for me. Making sure we get more young people into the sector is critical,” he said. But equally important is securing better funding for tourism initiatives. “That’s the other major legacy I want to focus on getting more support for the sector in the form of project funding,”he concluded .
