21 Nov 2018

Guest house operators and other accommodation providers have complained that their sector is inundated with challenges despite it having the propensity of a lucrative business.

Speaking during a Local Enterprise Authority workshop on tourism sector market access on November 20, operators enumerated a series of concerns, chief amongst them lack of economic activities in their area of operation.

They argued that their facilities would remain unutilised and running the risk of operating at a loss.

Operators said unlike at town and cities, the villages of Mahalapye, Serowe, Palapye and Letlhakane lacked regular activities that could attract potential customers who would require accommodation.

Operators also argued that customers preferred to lodge at renowned hotels to their disadvantage.

Guest house and lodge operators observed that group bookings by government departments disadvantaged their businesses since they did not have enough facilities to accommodate a large contingent of government employees. They appealed to government departments to unbundle their bookings so that their facilities could benefit since government was the biggest customer to the hospitality industry.

Mr Victor Baiketsi of Magic Holdings urged government to sponsor economic activities in Mahalapye so that their lodging facilities could experience a business boom. He also opined that government used statistics to inform some business decisions.

Sharing the same sentiments to Mr Baiketsi was Mr Pius Nkau, director of Tapinda Lodge in Palapye. He argued that despite the perceived booming economy of Palapye, guest houses and small lodges suffered at the expense of established big names.

In his summary of their arguments,  Mr Nkau called for local per diem which he said would facilitate government employees to use their lodging facilities which were cheaper. He said their challenges were so severe that they mooted the establishment of an association with a mandate of agitating for equitable resource sharing.

Whilst others pointed accusing fingers at government departments on the implementation of some local economic empowerment policies, Ms Tlhomamiso Mogaetsho of the Curve Guest House in Letlhakane did not absolve LEA from the mess.

She argued that the enterprise authority was not doing enough to assist businesses. She accused LEA officers of always collecting data, but hardly addressing the challenges.

Some of the concerns have been that despite the Department of Tourism collecting training levy of P10 from each booking, operators argued that their employees hardly ever received training.

At the workshop, Central District deputy district commissioner, Mr Charles Modise conceded that the tourism sector faced challenges, but appealed to the operators to rise above such impediments.

He said workshops such as the one organised by LEA was in partial fulfillment of the enterprise authority’s mandate of facilitating on capacity building. He, however, warned that the workshop was not a means to an end.

According to the deputy district commissioner there was a lot of harvest in the sector, but with fewer workers.

LEA Serowe branch manager, Ms Kgomotso Masunga said the workshop was born out of a realisation that players in the tourism sector struggled with market access. Consequently, the workshop sought to establish amelioration to the nagging problem.

She emphasised packaging and improvement of the product and service offered so as to attract and retain customers. She advised that the quality of service and product rendered was a key marketing tool on its own.

The branch manager also challenged the businesspersons to ensure that their facilities were graded and constantly improved.

However, the LEA chief expressed concerns over lack of record keeping at many businesses. She said in spite of their efforts to inculcate such skills, proper record keeping remained a mirage for many businesses.ENDS