South Africa’s travel sector has moved from being a white-owned and managed sector to one that has made significant strides to achieve meaningful transformation across all levels within businesses and across all business sizes.
This is the finding of a study conducted by Grant Thornton and commissioned by the Association of Southern African Travel Agents (ASATA), which sought to develop the first-ever in-depth analysis of the representation of black people in South Africa’s travel sector.
Among the highlights revealed in the B-BBEE report is that irrespective of size, more than 55% of all travel enterprises with a B-BBEE certificate have achieved a B-BBEE Status at Level 1 or 2; on average, all travel enterprises have 40% black and 25% black female ownership; large enterprises have achieved the Tourism B-BBEE scorecard target for black women across all levels of management; achieving total black participation, particularly at middle and senior management levels, requires more focus; the proportionately high percentage of black and black female personnel at junior management/ travel consultant level bodes well for the manager pipeline and the travel industry should drive skills development for black employees – especially focused at developing the next generation of management for the industry.
The B-BBEE study forms part of a wider investigation into the state and size of South Africa’s travel sector – the results of which will be released in 2018.