5.3 Tour operators
5.3.1 Company profile
This sub-section examines the company profiles in relation to the historical racial category and the gender of the owners of the company. Furthermore, the type of enterprise, number of years in existence and number of people employed by the company are discussed,
Table 5.34 Historical racial category of owners of tour companies (in %)
Race of owners Ezulwini
(n=10)
Tala (n=10)
Total (n=20)
Black 10 - 5
White 60 90 75
Indian 30 10 20
The South African tourism industry is highly concentrated and dominated by a small elite group of large, locally owned, tourism organisations (Rogerson and Visser, 2004; Milner, 2004;
Ramchander, 2004). Results of the study (Table 5.34) confirm that the tour operating companies interviewed were still dominated by White ownership (combined average of 75%), with Indian and Black owners only having a minority ownership in tour companies (combined average of 25%). According to Cassim and Jackson (2003), the monopoly of White ownership could be attributed to the apartheid financing schemes that focused on White investors who had sufficient collateral at their disposal. Furthermore, results obtained from both Parks show that Blacks still need to gain entry into the tour operating business and only constitute 10% of the ownership (one respondent) in Ezulwini Private Park with none in Tala Private Park. There is little research on the tour operating sector particularly in the developing world (Nemasetoni and Rogerson, 2005).
In South Africa the only material that exists on Black tour operators is rather descriptive business case studies which tend to focus on aspects of their history and expansion (Milner, 2004;
Nemasetoni and Rogerson, 2005; Ramchander, 2004).
Table 5.35 Type of license that the company possesses (in %)
Type of license Ezulwini
(n=10)
Tala (n=10)
Total (n=20) Association of South African Travel Agents (ASATA) 20 20 20
South African Tourism (SATOUR) 40 - 20
Southern African Tourism Services Association (SATSA) 40 80 60
Accreditation presents the opportunity to improve the tourism industry standards and to provide a degree of quality assurance in a highly competitive marketplace (Wearing, 1995). In South Africa, SATSA is a national body, an association of private sector businesses that provides tourism products and services (Nemasetoni and Rogerson, 2005) whereas SATOUR is a state- owned tourism organisation. In addition, in South Africa ASATA is an association whereby members are engaged in travel business as either a retail travel agent or as a tour operator or wholesaler. Table 5.35 illustrates that amongst the respondents who conducted tours to the Ezulwini Private Park, 40% have a SATOUR license, 40% have a SATSA license and 20% have an ASATA license. Amongst respondents who conducted tours to the Tala Private Park, 80%
have a SATSA licence and 20% have a SATOUR licence. All tour operators in this study were certified and were operating legally. This is important as tourism has evolved into a demand- driven industry sector with tour operators playing a key role (Van Wijk and Persoon, 2006) All of the respondents believe that tour companies should be accredited or certified and listed the following associated benefits: (i) an understanding of local conditions, (ii) providing professional client service, (iii) quality control, and (iv) reliability. However, researchers have noted that SATSA, ASATA and SATOUR membership costs and regulations are quite burdensome for enterprising Black tour operators who seek to operate outside of associations’ regulations (Nemasetoni and Rogerson, 2005). Additionally, SATOUR has minimal control over managerial decisions of those large travel and tourism companies who supply South Africa with the bulk of international tourists (Allen and Brennan, 2004). Allen and Bennan (2004) also stated that SATOUR does not have the authority to sustain, introduce or close down business.
Figure 5.4 Duration of establishment of the tour operating company (n=10 in each Park)
Ezulwini - x=15 Tala - x=13
Half of the respondents at the Ezulwini Private Park and 30% of the respondents at the Tala Private Park indicated that their companies were established between 16 and 20 years ago.
Additionally, 10% of the respondents at the Ezulwini Private Park and 20% of the respondents at the Tala Private Park indicated that their companies were established between 21-30 years ago (Figure 5.4). On average, tour operating companies at Ezulwini Private Park were established for 15 years (with values ranging from 1 to 30 years) whereas on average, tour operating companies at Tala Private Park were established for 13 years (with values ranging from 1 to 30 years). The results from this study are dissimilar to the study carried out by Yee (1992) who observed that only 17% of the tour operators (n = 24) in America have been operating for approximately 15 to 20 years. In this study most of the tour operators are well established (more than 16 years in the business).
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-30
Percentage
Ezulwini Tala
Figure 5.5 Number of people that are owners of the company (n=10 in each Park)
Ezulwini - x=2 Tala - x=1
Figure 5.5 illustrates that in Ezulwini Private Park, 60% of the respondents indicated that 4 people owned the tour company, 30% of the respondents indicated that two people owned the company and 10% of the respondents indicated that three people owned the company. In Tala Private Park, half of the respondents indicated that one person owned the tour company, 20% of the respondents indicated that two people and four people owned the company operating and 10% the respondents indicated that three people owned the company. The average number of people that own the tour operating company that conducts tours to Ezulwini Private Park was 2 (ranging from 2 to 4 ) whereas the average number of people that own the tour operating company that conducts tours to Tala Private Park was 1 (ranging from 1 to 4).
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
1 2 3 4
Percentage
Ezulwini Tala
Table 5.36 Number of women who are co-owners of the company (in %)
Number of women Ezulwini
(n=10)
Tala (n=10)
Total (n=20)
1 50 50 50
2 20 20 10
3 20 - 10
4 10 30 20
x=1 x=1.1 x=1 Respondents were questioned about how many women were co-owners of the tour operating company.According to Scheyvens (2002), women fail to benefit from higher-status and more profitable employment opportunities in tourism. Social norms seem to control the type of economic activities in which women can engage in (Scheyvens, 2002). Nemasetoni (2005) observed that the gender composition of 40 tour operators in Gauteng, South Africa, comprised of 61% men, 13% women and 26% joint ownership by men and women. However, in this study, the majority of the tour companies that tour both the private Parks had female owners. More specifically, all of the tour operators visiting the Ezulwini Private Park had female ownership while 80% of the tour operators visiting the Tala Private Park had female owners. The average number of women that own the tour operating company that conducts tours to Ezulwini Private Park was 1 (ranging from 1 to 4) whereas the average number of women that own the tour operating company that conducts tours to Tala Private Park was 1.1 (ranging from 1 to 4).
Figure 5.6 Number of workers employed by tour companies (n=10 in each Park)
Ezulwini - x=17 Tala - x=14
From Figure 5.6 it is evident that at Ezulwini Private Park half of the tour operating companies employed 21 to 30 workers, 20% of the tour operating companies employed 1 to 5 workers and the remaining 10% each of the tour operating companies employed 6 to 10 workers, 11 to 15 workers and 16 to 20 workers. At the Tala Private Park, 30% of the tour operating companies employed 21 to 30 workers, 30% of the tour operating companies employed 11 to 15 workers and the remaining 20% employed 1-5 workers and 6-10 workers each. The average number of workers employed by the tour operating company that conducts tours to Ezulwini Private Park was 17 (ranging from 1 to 30 ) whereas the average number of workers employed by the tour operating company that conducts tours to Tala Private Park was 14 (ranging from 1 to 30). None of the workers employed by the tour operating companies that tour Ezulwini Private Park and Tala Private Park belonged to the local community. Thus job creation linked to tour operators was lacking for the local communities living near the private Parks.