Tourism Basic Quality Verification Programme launches in KwaZulu-Natal
During the Africa’s Travel Indaba 2023 Edition, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Fish Mahlalela officially launched the Basic Quality Verification Programme for the KwaZulu-Natal rollout. The Deputy Minister was speaking at the Tourism Grading Council South Africa (TGCSA)’s connecting session which was on the side-lines of the Indaba’s three-day trade show.
The BQV (Basic Quality Verification) is the Tourism Grading Council’s new programme, and today launching its KwaZulu-Natal leg at the Africa’s Travel Indaba, after a successful pilot project in the Eastern Cape.
This programme helps small tourism establishments in under-resourced villages, towns, and small dorpies (VTSDs) reach their full potential by giving them access to training, expertise, and resources, as well as TGCSA’s valuable stamp of approval.
“I am excited to watch as this programme is rolled out in KwaZulu-Natal, because it’s truly impacting the tourism industry from the ground up. Let us continue to celebrate excellence while further positioning our country’s competitiveness in the global tourism market.” said Deputy Minister Mahlalela.
Hotels, B&Bs, guesthouses, and home stays tucked away in small towns deserve their time in the sun, and the BQV does just that. The programme offers ‘verification’ to ungraded tourism establishments in VTSDs free of charge.
According to Deputy Minister Mahlalela, watching the Basic Quality Verification Programme grow and evolve over a period of time ordinarily means the growth of the tourism economy. He further said that establishments in VTSDs make up the foundation of the South African tourism industry.
The small establishments offer authentic South African experiences, but travellers still want to know their basic comfort level standards of safety, cleanliness, and customer experience will be met. With this verification, these establishments can offer their customers peace of mind, while still offering them an authentic experience of our culture and hospitality.
Benefits of this programme BQV include providing access to the Enterprise Development Programmes administered by the Department of Tourism (such as welcome training, speed marketing training, ESD, NDT, and provincial training and development).
It also includes providing access to the Services Excellence Programmes administered by the Department of Tourism to provide service training to owners and employees (such as speed marketing, trade show participation and access to the ESD programme).
“Because the Tourism Grading Council is not just a body that is in service of paying members but is committed to being in service of all tourism establishments, we developed and implemented BQV as a means for us to help small tourism establishments form the foundations of our industry,” concluded Deputy Minister Fish Mahlalela.
These establishments know that they thrive when the businesses around them thrive. They create a small-scale model of our mandate as the aim is to create a nation-wide environment where all tourism establishments are equipped with the resources, knowledge, training, and expertise to thrive.
Tourism is a vital contributor to the South African economy, the Deputy Minister said that creating an environment where tourism establishments of all shapes and sizes can succeed, and thrive, is a key way in which South African Tourism contributes to our Tourism Sector Recovery Plan that we developed in 2021, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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