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PROFILE: The Community Tourism Association of S.A.
The Community Tourism Association is an independent, self-
help group of community tourism organizations, tourism
information offices, and District Municipalities which are
all involved in the implementation of tourism at local and
regional level in the Republic of South Africa.
All these bodies are referred to collectively by the World
Tourism Organization as Destination Marketing
Organizations, or DMOs for short.
Community tourism organizations are providers of tourism
information to domestic and overseas tourists, and
implementers of tourism strategies at local level.
The CTA is the umbrella body for its growing membership
(101 members nationwide in March 2003) and links these
important grassroots components with the tourism
development and marketing plans of regional and provincial
authorities.
It is a vital support group which offers advice to its
members in exchange for membership subscriptions. This
advice, for instance, includes:
- How to establish a CTO.
- How a CTO can attract membership subscriptions.
- How to educate people about tourism’s benefits.
- How the Internet can help DMOs.
The philosophy of DMOs who are members of the CTA is:
Nothing will happen unless we make it happen
ourselves.
Since the closure in 1997 of the former SATOUR offices
within South Africa, the CTOs have become the main
providers of information to overseas and domestic tourists.
The CTA therefore has the responsibility of establishing a
reliable tourist information service to all visitors and
has published (at its own expense) a directory and map
showing the centres which operate tourist information
offices (CTA members). This directory is designed to lead
tourists easily from one information office to the next.
Telephone inquirers requiring tourism information are now
referred by Telkom to the CTA office, which then links them
to the appropriate CTO. The CTA's web site enables the
public to log on to
members via the Internet..
Tourism awareness and the involvement of local communities
in the benefits of tourism are an incentive for investing
in tourism, and the CTA is able to illustrate this to
decision-makers through an educational campaign and
workshops.
Mutually-beneficial alliances which will benefit members
are constantly being investigated.
The CTA is the only body which can provide a national
membership list to other organizations and businesses
wanting to contact Destination Marketing Organizations.
- It has e-mail links with its members for quick
communication
- It organizes regular tourism workshops and an annual
congress at which
members can network, pick up new ideas, listen to
motivational speakers, and experience practical and helpful
demonstrations.
- CTA members attend the congress on rebated air
fares sponsored by domestic airlines.
- It has a panel of experts (tourism consultants)
who can assist members with strategies, business plans and
the benefit of their experiences.
- Members have the added advantage of networking
among themselves (through the membership list) so that they
can improve brochure distribution with one another.
- The CTA’s e-mail network can be used by members
to advertise job opportunities within the industry and to
advertise local tourism events on the Nationwide
Noticeboard.
Who runs the CTA?
One person in the CTA office (the Director) handles the
administrative work and reports to the Chairman and
Executive Committee who are elected annually at the AGM
during the congress. The Exco, which meets three times a
year, has two representatives from each of the nine
provinces, plus the chairman and two deputy chairmen.
Provincial chapters of the CTA are being established to
deal with and co-ordinate local, regional and provincial
tourism affairs.
The CTA’s modest operating budget is based upon
membership
subscriptions. Apart from the Director’s small
monthly
retainer, all of the CTA’s income is spent on the
welfare
of its members.
The CTO is run by dedicated people like the Executive
Committee members (who receive no remuneration), Melanie
Veness
and Lorraine Bryant. It is a not-for-profit organization
which receives no financial support from government sources
or donor organizations.
However:
- It is committed to uplifting communities through
tourism (especially the previously disadvantaged)
.
- It acts as the collective voice of CTOs in the
formation of policies.
- Its sole aim is to increase the efficiency of
CTOs in marketing, information provision, and
representation.
- It believes that the people who run CTOs (many of which
are
inadequately funded) need a voice and that CTO staff who
are “at the coal-face” should not be ignored
when decisions
are made.
- Publishes a Guide to South African Tourist Information
Offices(CTA members only) to lead visitors easily from one
office to the next.
- Links all bodies that function under the Local
Government Act.
- Provides printed advice to community tourism
organisations and staff about how to establish and run a
tourist information office, CTO or tourism marketing
office.
- Negotiates with Government agencies on behalf of
CTOs.
- Has a close alliance with the Tourism Education
Trust, which produces books and organises workshops to
educate children and adults about the importance of tourism
(an important aid to all CTOs needing the support of
communities).
- Issues regular electronic mail newsletters.
- Is encouraging the establishment of provincial chapters
of the CTA to deal with local, regional and provincial
affairs.
- Is a national, non-Government body with an approved
Constitution.
- Is working closely with Brochure Management South
Africa(contact
craig@sabrochures.com)to ensure that members'
brochures are distributed efficiently throughout the
country an overseas.
Tourism Education Trust ProfileEducating the next generation of South Africans about
Tourism
In 1999, the Community Tourism Association of South Africa
joined forces with the Tourism Education Trust to educate
the next generation of South Africans about tourism and its
benefits.
They hope to accomplish this task by distributing books to
children in Grades 1, 2 and 3 at primary schools and to
Grade 10, 11 and 12 learners in high schools.
The CTA provides administrative and marketing support for
the Tourism Education Trust, which was founded in 1995 to
teach all schoolchildren the basics of tourism and its
associated benefits.
Businesses in the private sector who provide funding for a
CTO are also helping to educate communities about tourism.
Half of what is raised in sponsorship can go to the TET
awareness project. CTOs, local councils and district
councils can identify schools and provide them with TET
books or photocopy kits.
The Tourism Education Trust’s Manager, Lorraine
Bryant, has
worked for more than 20 years in the tourism industry. She
was the office manager and Acting Director of the
Pietermaritzburg Publicity Association and is a former
national president of the S.A. Association of Registered
Tourist Guides.
Lorraine reports that the books published for Grades 1, 2
and 3 proved very popular in the primary schools but there
was nothing available for high schools until 1998 when
three experienced tourism writers contributed towards three
volumes on Travel and Tourism for Grades 10, 11 and 12.
The books are based on National Education Department
guidelines and have the approval of the Department of
Environmental Affairs and Tourism. They not only provide
basic resource material for learners but are eminently
suitable for training new staff at any tourism-related
business.
Published by Collegium Educational Publishers, the books in
the “Travel and Tourism” trilogy elaborate on
the primary
school books, enabling readers to fully comprehend the
dynamics of South Africa’s tourism industry within
world,
national, provincial and local perspectives.
The primary school books are delightfully illustrated and
are supplied with colour posters and a facilitator’s
guide
for educators. Alternatively, schools which have photocopy
machines have the option of ordering photo-copiable kits
and can produce their own “books” for Grades 1,
2 and 3.
As the CTA and TET have no major sponsors, they have to
rely on volunteers to implement the project. An estimated
200 000 youngsters have already benefited from the campaign.
Destination Marketing Organisations can sponsor a school or
class in their own areas by buying TET books for children
in Grades 1, 2 and 3. They can also involve local service
organisations by getting them to sponsor and purchase TET
books for schools they adopt in their fund-raising projects.
Tourism Boards and District Municipalities have played a
major role in establishing tourism awareness in the next
generation of South Africans by including the TET project
in their annual budgets, sponsoring schools and organising
adult education workshops.
CTOs can also help by utilising the “Travel and
Tourism”
books to update staff members about tourism developments
and can recommend the books to schools, technikons and
colleges for adult education. The TET also organises
educational workshops at several levels:
- For educators to give them confidence in teaching
tourism
- For service providers and the business sector to
show them the benefits of tourism
??- For regional decision-makers to identify tourism
and investment opportunities.
The workshops create a well-informed and empowered region
able to capitalise, develop, implement and manage tourism
initiatives. Obviously, the project is of great assistance
to DMOs who continually have to explain the benefits of
tourism to the uninformed.
More details about the tourism awareness project are
available from the Community Tourism Association. Phone
:033-3451348. E- mail:
director@pmbtourism.co.za
The CTA is therefore the ideal co-ordinating body for
Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs), just as DMOs
(including CTOs) are the co-ordinating agencies for all
sectors of the local tourism industry. No other tourism
body can provide such a comprehensive service to CTOs..
Membership subscriptions are as little as R500 per year!
For further information and a membership application form,
contact:The Director, Community Tourism Association of
S.A. P.O.Box 25,
PIETERMARITZBURG 3200.Tel: 033-3451348. E-mail:
director@pmbtourism.co.za
KwaZulu-Natal Chapter, Chairman: Ray Mathobela,Ilembe
District Municipality, Tel: 031-5693277. E-mail:
raynold@ilembe.org.za
Vice-Chairman: Craig Nancarrow, Hibiscus Coast Tourism,
Tel:039-317 4630. E-mail:
craignancarrow@hibiscuscoast.org.za
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