MINISTER DAVIES GAZETTES THE DRAFT AMENDED B-BBEE TOURISM SECTOR CODES IN TERMS OF SECTION 9(5) OF THE BROAD BASED BLACK ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AMENDMENT ACT, 46 OF 2013

MINISTER DAVIES GAZETTES THE DRAFT AMENDED B-BBEE  TOURISM SECTOR CODES IN TERMS OF SECTION 9(5) OF THE BROAD BASED BLACK ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AMENDMENT ACT, 46 OF 2013

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies has approved the Draft Tourism B-BBEE Codes in terms of Section 9 (5) of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) Amendment Act 46 of 2013. The gazette means that members of the public have sixty days (60) from the date of publication to make inputs and comments before the Draft Tourism B-BBEE Codes is gazetted as a legally binding Sector Code. In addition it is an indication that the sector has comply by aligning with the key principles of the Amended B-BBEE Act and Codes that are compulsory.

The Draft Tourism B-BBEE Codes deviates from the Exempted Micro Enterprises, Qualifying Small Enterprises and Large Enterprise thresholds as set out in the Amended Generic Codes of Good Practice, to address the unique feature of sector. The following thresholds will apply to the tourism sector: Exempted Micro Enterprise which is an enterprise that makes a total revenue of less than R 5 Million per annum (R 10 million in the Generic Codes), Qualifying Small Enterprise is an enterprise which makes a total revenue of between R 5 Million and R 45 Million per annum (between R 10 – R50 million in the Generic Codes), whilst a Large Enterprise in the tourism sector is an enterprise which makes a total revenue of over R 45 Million per annum (above R 50 million in the Generic Codes). According to the Minister, these unique thresholds will ensure that as many enterprises in the sector contribute towards transformation, which will not be the case if the sector was using the Amended Generic Codes.

Another key highlight for the tourism sector is that under the Ownership element the compliance target is 30% + 1 Vote, rather than the 25%+1 Vote under Generic Codes. The 30% sectorial target will ensure an increase in transferring economic assets to and mainstreaming of black people in the sector.

To create more opportunities for emerging black owned enterprises across the supply and value chains of established businesses, the sector has set the target for supplier development at 3% NPAT which is higher than the 2% of the Generic Codes. An implementation of supplier development in the sector will lead to job creation and overall growth in the sector.

The other key highlight of the amended tourism sector code is an allocation of more points as compared to the generic Codes for procurement spend from empowering suppliers that are at least 51% black owned. The weighting points allocated is 12 in order to incentivize support for sustainable growth of black owned enterprises.

The sector remained of the view that under the Socio-economic development element it maintained the three (3) bonus points for the status of Tourism Marketing South Africa (TOMSA) levy collection that will assist in marketing and growth of the sector in particular for the black owned enterprises and marginalized areas.