Small, Micro and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMMEs) in the uMhlathuze Local Municipality: tourism policy, planning and execution

Abstract

The fundamental aim of the study is to establish the involvement and participation of tourism stakeholders in (Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises) with regard to tourism policy planning and execution. In other words, the study wants to discover the role played by policy and practice in the planning of small, medium and micro enterprises in the uMhlathuze Local Municipality. Many of the tourism policies and strategies in South Africa have been formulated with the intention of supporting communities by affording them job opportunities and employment in order to alleviate poverty. The findings indicate that the tourism stakeholders from the uMhlathuze Local Municipality were not fully conversant with the policy, planning and execution. Among other things, the study is also carried out to explore the level at which tourism policy mandates are implemented and the extent to which these elicit positive community responses. In addition, the study seeks to establish the degree to which local communities perceive any benefits from the increased tourism activities within the uMhlathuze Local Municipality. The findings indicate that tourism stakeholders from uMhlathuze Local Municipality were not fully conversant with the policies and strategies that were meant to enhance their participation in tourism activities. Furthemore, not all communities supported the promotion of sustainable tourism development in their area. There has been an ongoing debate among other tourism scholars. The research study involves identifying key strategies that would contribute in developing tourism policies that will address and contribute towards community beneficiation in the uMhlathuze Local Municipality. Finally, local authorities have advocated for a better interpretation and execution of the existing policies. The research study, therefore, has raised the following objectives: (a) To find out whether the local stakeholders understand the importance of the formulation of policy and planning in relation to small, micro and medium enterprises in the study area (b) To reveal whether there are adequate tourism policies addressing matters relating to small, micro and medium enterprise practices in the study area (c) To ascertain the extent to which the local communities participate in SMMEs tourism related activities. (d) To establish whether local communities perceive policies and planning as resulting in job creation and poverty alleviation. (e) To assess the degree to which the SMMEs are contributing to community beneficiation. The study has also identified related hypotheses towards finding answers to the research question. The method of collecting, data analysing and interpreting data involved computer manipulating of data utilizing the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS).