Case Study 1: Wilderness Safaris, Maputaland, South Africa: Rocktail Bay and Ndumu Lodge
This is a case study of a commercial company entering into a contractual relationship with a community and the state conservation agency to develop up-market tourist lodges. In addition, Wilderness Safaris (WS) is taking initiatives relating to local employment, local service provision and the development of complementary community-based initiatives.
WS is a large, well-established Southern African tour operator that caters to the luxury end of the market. It has a number of lodges and camps across Southern Africa and at a number of these it is involved in some form of partnership or revenue sharing agreement with local communities. This case study looks at two lodges run by WS in Maputaland in the South African province of KwaZulu Natal - Rocktail Bay which opened in 1992 and Ndumu, opened in 1995.
Ownership and management of the lodges is vested in two companies - a "lodge owning company" in which the conservation agency, a commercial bank and the community have stakes; and a "lodge operating company" in which the conservation agency, the community and WS are partners (although not equal). Despite this tri-partite equity structure the community has received little in the way of financial dividends for the community so far, because neither lodge has yet turned a profit. Increased occupancy at the lodges is required to make them profitable, but this requires development of the destination as a whole and diversification of the product. It is noted that support of the conservation authority is needed for further infrastructural and product development, but that the conservation agency seems reluctant to sanction this due to concerns about the likely impact on the conservation status of the area.
Progress has been mixed on the other elements of WS's PPT initiative. The local employment strategy has resulted in a high proportion of jobs going to local people rather than ex-pats. Considerable training and skills transfer has taken place and staff turnover is low. Local provision of services has occurred to a certain extent with WS utilising local security and taxi services, and joint planning and implementation of new complementary products has started with cultural visits to a traditional healer (Sangoma). However, growth of local businesses associated with the lodges has been slow, and the case study notes "untapped potential" for local supply of services and products. A consultant has been brought in to help WS work with the community to develop products, but it is felt that a third party is needed to organise, co-ordinate, develop and train for this since these activities are outside the mandate, and capacity, of one private sector operator.
The case study illustrates three key challenges to such a private sector-community initiative:
- Success is somewhat out of the control of the central actors, being dependent on others players and on the health of tourism in the wider region;
- The initiative needs to be incorporated within a larger PPT programme involving other stakeholders to maximise potential;
- Many
communities have overly high expectations of involvement in tourism
- both in terms of the levels and rates of returns and also the roles
and responsibilities of their private sector partners.
Communication
