The potential role of ICT in the Support of Microenterprise Development in the Tourism Industry

Transcription

1 The potential role of ICT in the Support of Microenterprie Development in the Tourim Indutry Preented at the BIT Conference, Mancheter Metropolitan Univerity, September 2000 Denie Bigg Vulani Development Network Yvette Gouard, Contance Mtweni, Andy Bytheway Department of Information Sytem Univerity of the Wetern Cape Funded by the International Development Reearch Centre Project number

2 The potential role of ICT in the upport of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry Page i Abtract In the pat decade, information and communication technology (ICT) ha brought opportunitie to many entrepreneur worldwide. Similarly, the worldwide growth in tourim ha brought opportunitie to many entrepreneur in South Africa. Many paper have been written on the opportunitie for diintermediation in the travel & tourim indutry. Thi paper record ome of the finding of SOMDITTI; a project conducted in the diadvantaged communitie of Cape Town, South Africa which wa initiated to determine if and how ICT can benefit tourim development in thee communitie. It alo explain the rationale behind the reearch, the reearch methodology, the reearch finding and how the way forward wa determined. Keyword Microenterprie; Townhip; Tourim; Information and Communication Technologie; Cape Town; Michael Porter; Diintermediation;

3 The potential role of ICT in the upport of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry Page ii Content 1 Introduction 1 2 Reearch rationale Why Michael Porter model on Determinant of National Advantage Why focu on townhip Why tudy tourim? 3 3 Reearch Methodology Method Limitation 4 4 Reearch Finding Factor Condition Demand Related & Supporting Indutrie Firm trategy, tructure and rivalry Government Chance 12 5 The way forward New network SOMDITTI.CO.ZA Time-haring reource 14 6 Concluion 15 7 Team 16 8 Reference 17

4 The potential role of ICT in the upport of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry Page 1 1 Introduction SOMDITTI i an acronym for Support of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry. Thi action reearch project i of 9 month duration and ha been ponored by the Canadian International Development Reearch Centre (IDRC). It i being executed by a reearch team in the Information Sytem Department of the Univerity of the Wetern Cape (UWC). The primary objective of the reearch i to determine if and how information and communication technology (ICT) can enhance the development of microenterprie 1 in diadvantaged communitie. The project i being conducted in uburban and peri-urban or townhip Cape Town, focuing on the tourim indutry. Major deliverable are: a comparion of factor affecting tourim and microenterprie development in advantaged area vi-à-vi diadvantaged communitie poible ICT trategie, procee and / or application that can enhance the development of microenterprie, pecifically in diadvantaged communitie cae tudie and iue that need to be taken forward to ubequent phae of the project diemination of the finding Another important deliverable wa to develop reearch capacity at the Univerity of the Wetern Cape. 1 Microenterprie in South Africa i defined a having 1-5 employee and / or le than R aet and / or le than R 1m turnover

5 The potential role of ICT in the upport of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry Page 2 2 Reearch rationale 2.1 Why Michael Porter model on Determinant of National Advantage Today South Africa market itelf a a Rainbow Nation. However our well-documented recent hitory how that thi ha not alway been the cae. At a national level there were legilated policie to create eparate homeland or independent tate. When labour hortage dictated that the race needed to come together in the citie, other form of legilation, uch a the Group Area act, the Separate Amenitie Act, Influx Control and the Land Act enured that the race developed, not only ditinct from the privileged white citizen but eparate from each other. Although thee law have been crapped from the tatute book, economic preure till keep the race apart. Many development initiative are attempting to addre the divide but a naphot of Cape Town today how vat difference between the etablihed, older and formerly white uburb and thoe of the newer area made available to other race. Thee difference are till ignificant enough for the two type of communitie to be meaured eparately within the Michael Porter model. 2.2 Why focu on townhip Townhip, or Pre-Mandela Settlement, a one tourit undertood them, were etablihed, far from the city centre, a dormitory uburb to houe the pool of labour required for the indutrial development of the citie. The labour pool wa managed by a policy known a Influx Control, which controlled the ize and demographic of the labour pool, e.g. women and children were not allowed to accompany the men to town. Other townhip were created by forcibly moving etablihed reident to outlying area, often plitting etablihed communitie. Shortly before the general election of 1994, hundred of thouand of migrant arrived from rural area to ettle in the newer townhip of Cape Town, reportedly to way the provincial vote in favour of the preent government. Thee people tayed and were joined by approximately per month for the enuing year, mot looking for work. The infratructure (i.e. water; refue removal; electricity) wa not in place to cope with the large population. Mot arrival had no capital to buy land or to build utainable houing. Conequently, informal quatting and makehift houing became the dominant feature of the newer, larger townhip and the hotel and low cot houing of older townhip became overcrowded. A dormitory uburb, thee townhip have very little infratructure available for indutrial development. A an example, in Khayelitha, the newet (etablihed 1985) and bigget (approximately people) townhip, there i no central buine ditrict and only one formal hopping centre. Income generation i kewed in favour of informal and microenterprie. Mot job are to be found outide of the townhip and mot of the wage are pent outide. In Cape Town, mot townhip are found between two mountain range on the Cape Flat, directly in the path of the outheaterly ummer wind. Conequently, the oil i andy and very difficult to cultivate. The land i typically flat and unattractive with few tree or park. None of the townhip are ituated at the coat of the Peninula. In the ditance, at the foot of the mountain and on the eafront that give the city it beauty, a quick tour of the former white uburb will highlight the difference in living condition. Civic amenitie, formal hopping mall, production facilitie, bank and leiure facilitie abound.

6 The potential role of ICT in the upport of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry Page Why tudy tourim? The preure on the reident of diadvantaged townhip around Cape Town are enormou. Without a ocial ecurity afety net, the 40% of the population who are unemployed are expected to utain themelve by creating their own income through buine development. Againt thi backdrop, tourim offer one of the few market niche for labour intenive buine development in the townhip. Here the tated demand by tourit, for authentic cultural product and experience, can be atified. Unfortunately tourim i underdeveloped in the area, there are very few link to the formal tourim indutry, the reident of the townhip do not have a tourim culture and the perception created by outider i that it i life threatening for viitor to enter thee area. According to Wegro reearch, South Africa i Africa mot popular detination and experienced a growth rate of 15% per annum over the lat decade. In 1995, the Wetern Cape had 14.1% of the tourim GDP of South Africa againt a population hare of 9.1 Tourim contribute 6 7 % to the province GDP againt a national average i 4-5%. Tourim i a trong and growing ector of the Wetern Cape economy. In 1996, viitor from overea & non-neighbouring African countrie contributed R 3,8 billion rand to the Wetern Cape economy. The holidaymaker tayed for an average of 11.6 day people, who arrived on buine, tayed an average of 5 day. Buine traveler pent 50% more than holidaymaker. Tourim alo provide opportunitie for micro enterprie to enter the global market and, with the ue of ICT, to deal directly with global player.

7 The potential role of ICT in the upport of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry Page 4 3 Reearch Methodology A pilot tudy of 21 microenterprie wa conducted in the townhip of Cape Town, South Africa. The tudy wa conducted in 3 of the 6 local municipal area that make up the Cape Metropolitan area, namely Tygerberg, Cape Town Central and South Peninula Metropol. 3.1 Method Method ued in the reearch include: model for mapping the indutry and benchmarking factor affecting buine development urvey of tourit and producer interview - of variou role-player in the tourim indutry literature earch paper-baed and on the World Wide Web obervation including participation a a tourit on a townhip tour and viit to townhip reference group workhop networking and conference collaboration with Cranfield Univerity, England to determine outbound tourit demand The anatomy of the indutry wa drawn up at the beginning of the reearch and ha been teted by interview of variou role-player to determine it validity. Quetionnaire were ued to determine the perpective of each repone group of the enabling role played by each category of role player. The reearch model ha been redrawn from the original to reflect the finding of the reearch and the poible change to the indutry that ICT will bring in Cape Town. The reearch wa conducted againt the framework of Michael Porter theorie on The Competitive advantage of nation. 3.2 Limitation Student from the Univerity were employed to interview approximately 400 tourit at high traffic area. The team wa denied acce to the Waterfront and the airport and were quetioned on their activitie in the tourit pot of Simontown. Tourit from both of thee venue would have given a broader cro ection of tourit. Permiion wa obtained from the National Park Board to conduct interview on the foot of Table Mountain and in the Cape Point Nature Reerve. Conequently the urvey may have been kewed toward tourit uing large tour operator. Few buinee from the advantaged area were prepared to ait in the reearch. Only one buine approached by reponded, in the negative. Other ignored the requet. In total, 4 buinee in the advantaged area were interviewed and 20 in diadvantaged area. Only one repreentative of the tourim authoritie wa able to attend all the workhop. Only one authority, the Wetern Cape Tourim Board, wa able to upply a lit of micro enterprie. Microenterprie were recruited by telephone from thi lit for the quetionnaire and the workhop.

8 The potential role of ICT in the upport of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry Page 5 4 Reearch Finding The finding of the reearch will be preented in the Michael Porter Diamond. Finding will be preented in light of their potential for the ue of ICT a a tool for diintermediation. 4.1 Factor Condition Repone from producer quetionnaire are a follow: Type of premie / location Tour operator Retaurant Crafter Tourit attractio n Home Townhip premie Elewhere 2 Event management NGO All 4 repondent from the advantaged area offered accommodation, either a B & B or elf-catering. If aeed from a people perpective, there i little to ditinguih PDI 2 from the other group. 2 PDI had below a matric level of education, 4 had matric and 14 had pot-matric qualification - none had formal training in tourim 16 PDI had their own tranport againt 3 PAI 3 15 of PDI have acce to a computer; 13 conider themelve computer literate againt 3 of PAI' in both cae However when conidering thee communitie from a place perpective, the following difference were noted: Attraction in the area Acceibility Lited many, motly activitie and natural uch a beach, penguin, ailing; view; hiking; All believed their area are acceible to tourit Mot lited other man-made building & buinee, e.g. retaurant; educare centre; college; healer only 3 believed their area are not acceible Obervation and interview: From a tourit' perpective it i difficult to reach buinee in the townhip. There are few accurate map of the area, there i a lack of ignage and there i only one tourit information office (in Khayelitha). There are few attraction i diadvantaged area, the area i not acceible for pontaneou tourim and there are few amenitie that ervice tourit. Of the 7 PDI' operating from home, only one had tourit come to her home. The other 6 were all operating buinee in a way that made it poible, with ICT, to operate from virtual buine premie. 4.2 Demand Repone from producer quetionnaire are a follow: 2 PDI previouly diadvantage individual 3 PAI previouly advantaged individual

9 The potential role of ICT in the upport of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry Page 6 Origin Regular clientele Expenditure Growth Advantaged area (4 repondent) Repondent could anwer ye to more than one choice local / dometic 3 foreign 4 Do you have regular client? Ye 4 No 0 2 believed that tourit pend more than local people, 2 believed they pent the ame I your buine growing Ye 3 No 1 (due to external factor, e.g. general drop off in tourim) Townhip (20 repondent) Repondent could anwer ye to more than one choice local / dometic 7 foreign 19 Do you have regular client? Ye 12 No 7 15 people believed that tourit pend more than local people I your buine growing Ye 16 No 4 (2 due to internal factor, i.e. ickne and death) Buine i eaonal all over Cape Town with November to February being the buiet time of the year. Wegro, etimate that 500 people per day enter the townhip each day in high eaon. Demand quetionnaire 400 people were interviewed but by the time thi paper wa ubmitted, only 100 quetionnaire had been analyed. An in depth analyi of the entire urvey will form the bai of another paper. Some finding are noted below: 80% of repondent were firt-time viitor to Cape Town 58% booked through travel agent; 8% booked on-line 60% had acce to Internet Only 22 of thee 60 had viited Cape Town ite. Mot could not recall which ite 75% aid they had heard of the townhip The mot frequent word or concept aociated with the townhip were poverty (18); black people (7); dangerou (4); crime and violence (3). Other word were avoid; Apartheid; big; unemployment; hantie; quatter; dirty; crowded; racim. 2 poitive comment allude to exaggeration and trong family value 44% aid they would conider viiting the townhip Reaon for not viiting included: - no time (12); danger for elf & children (9); been to one (5); cared (4); no information (2); other concept were: - not appealing; not intereted; dicretion; ignorance i bli; enough miery in own country; don t want to ee miery Reaon for wanting to viit include: - ee how people live (16); intereted / curiou (6); learn / experience (3); ee change / improvement (3); want to help (2); African experience (2); nightclub; been to other (2); interet in human right; ee for elf Cranfield reearch 3 tudent on the Cranfield School of Management MBA programme conducted collaborative reearch. They ued the focu group method. Their tudy focued on the UK market but could apply to any Wetern country. Their finding with repect to demand from townhip buine are a follow:

10 The potential role of ICT in the upport of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry Page 7 People who have been to South Africa, and pecifically thoe that have been to the townhip, have a more poitive image of the townhip There were concern expreed about quality and reliability of the upply chain Hand craft item vary in quality and deign therefore ale on-line were not deired Digital product; book; clothe and food were product that were elling well on-line People polled were reluctant to book townhip event on-line a thi removed the pontaneity of the experience Concluion Townhip tourim i le than 5 year old and i highly dependent on foreign tourim. The ame tourit viit mot of the attraction, decreaing the number of potential retail outlet. There i little local or neighbourhood demand. Mot tourit or taff of the promoting authoritie doe not undertand the product. Neither local nor foreign demand can be conidered ophiticated in Porter term. Therefore little feedback i going back to producer and there i little new product development. Townhip in other citie can be conidered competition a ome tourit that had been there did not have the deire to viit another one in Cape Town. 4.3 Related & Supporting Indutrie Repone from producer quetionnaire are a follow: Quetion Did anyone help you to get tarted? Relationhip Grid 4 Advantaged area (4 repondent) Ye 1 (friend & colleague helped with contact) No 3 Townhip (20 repondent) Ye 8 (range of family; friend; NGO; government; international donor with advice; finance; help in buine) No 12 The anwer to thi part of the quetionnaire were ubjective. They are ummarized in the Relationhip Grid hown below. Some repondent had good and improving relationhip with all the group that they dealt with. Obervation and interview: Although the townhip buinee viited tock brochure promoting buinee from other area, thi i generally not reciprocated. Only one of the crafter made ue of retail tore outide of the townhip. Placing their tock at other townhip venue wa not effective a mot tourit to the townhip viit the ame ite. Many repondent alluded to a ytem of kickback required by tour operator to viit their ite, which made it le profitable for townhip tour buinee to operate. There i confuion over the role of government and the tourim authoritie that are auming everal role in the upply chain and even creating unfair competition (ee government). 4 Due to time contraint and other factor, e.g. tart-up buinee, only 11 buinee anwered thi quetionnaire, 9 of them from the townhip. The ame i true of the quetionnaire ued to determine ue of IT in 4.4

11 The potential role of ICT in the upport of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry Page 8 Townhip economy i baed on cah. There are few banking facilitie and mall operator are charged a premium for the ue of a credit card verification ytem. There are no foreign exchange kiok. Only 3 repondent aid they ued Internet banking. The mot active buinee in the townhip had direct link with larger companie outide of the townhip. Thee in turn were referring overflow buine to the le active buinee. Relationhip with Tourim & local authoritie NGO ervice provider Network / cluter Large tourim buine I there a relation-hip with thi role-player? None (X) 1 Same ( ) 2 Improving () 6 Worening ( ) 2 None (X) 8 Same ( ) 2 Improving () 0 Worening ( ) 1 None (X) 4 Same ( ) 0 Improving () 6 Don t know (?) - 1 None (X) 3 Same ( ) 0 Improving () 5 Worening ( ) 3 Bank None (X) 0 Same ( ) 2 Improving () 6 Worening ( ) 3 IT ervice provider None (X) 3 Same ( ) 4 Improving () 4 Worening ( ) 0 What i the nature of the relationhip? Rival (ri) Partner (p) Supporter () 6 Inhibitor (in)- 2 Member / client (m) - 2 Rival (ri) Partner (p) Supporter () - 3 Inhibitor (in) Member / client (m) Rival (ri) Partner (p) 5 Supporter () 2 Inhibitor (in) Member / client (m) Rival (ri) 1 Partner (p) 2 Supporter () 3 Inhibitor (in) 2 Member / client (m) Rival (ri) Partner (p) 1 Supporter () 5 Inhibitor (in) 3 Member / client (m) 2 Rival (ri) Partner (p) Supporter () 4 Inhibitor (in) Member / client (m) 4 Advantaged area (2 repondent) /in? Townhip (9 repondent) m in X X X p X m p/ in X X X in m m X m X p in? in X X m m p p X X X X X? X X? p ri p in p m

12 The potential role of ICT in the upport of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry Page 9 Indutry model Below i the indutry model that emerged from our reearch. At preent the tranaction path between the producer and tourit i convoluted and there are everal opportunitie for blockage to occur. M arketing Agent Agency Prom otion Influence Enquiry Group Package Booking Tour Viit Tourit Route Location A vailability Tranaction Paym ent Producer Supplier Product /Service Memberhip Experience Service Org. In paragraph 5.2 SOMDITTI.CO.ZA there i a revied model that accommodate the Internet, and that will be explained. 4.4 Firm trategy, tructure and rivalry Repone from producer quetionnaire are hown in the table below. Interview and obervation There are no formal alliance amongt townhip buinee conequently a full range of reliable ervice ha not been packaged or marketed Townhip buine ha a high dependence on network and tour operator Townhip buinee are competing on cot when they have an opportunity to compete on the bai of a differentiated product Townhip buinee are very flexible and are better able to provide tailor-made ervice. Mot are conducting product reearch and development on a regular bai Buine ytem are a flexible a the ervice on offer, making it difficult to apply ICT.

13 The potential role of ICT in the upport of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry Page 10 Quetion How old i your buine How many employee What are your working hour How do you promote your buine (repondent could chooe more than one option) Are there imilar buinee in your area Do you collaborate with thee Are you a member of any network Do you have linkage with other uburb Advantaged area (4 repondent) Average 4.5 year Between 3 and 6 year ole (2) 1 5 (2) Townhip (20 repondent) Average 3.3 year < 1 year to 7 year ole (5) 1 5 (9) 6 10 (4) 10+ (2 cooperative) 24 / 7 (4) 24 / 7 (9) hour (5) 8 hour (5) don t know (1) Promotion agency (3) Media(1) Brochure (4) Network (3) Tour operator (1) Friend and relative (3) Internet (3) Part of tour (0) Ye 4 No 0 Ye 3 (referral) No 1 Ye 4 No 0 Ye 2 (none in the townhip) No 2 Promotion agency (4) Media (3) Brochure (8) Network (10) Tour operator (9) Friend and relative (3) Internet (8) Part of tour (2) Ye 11 No 9 Ye 8 (referral; tour route) No 7 No anwer 5 Ye 15 (5 member of informal network; 8 of formal) No 5 Ye 18 (9 within the townhip) No 2 Ue of IT A eparate quetionnaire wa compiled to determine the ue of IT within each buine. The reult are a follow: Do you ue IT for thi function 1. Flow of good 2. Flow of money Sub-function Advantaged area (2 repondent) Townhip (9 repondent) X 5 X X X X X X X X X X i X X X i X X X i 2.1 Banking i x x x i X x X x x i 2.2 Other x x x? X x x? 5 X mean that IT i not ue for thi function or ub-function; I mean that the Internet i ued ; mean that IT i ued? mean don t know

14 The potential role of ICT in the upport of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry Page Flow of information 3.1 Client communication 3.2 Supplier communication 3.3 Partner communication 3.4 Market reearch 3.5 Generating new idea i i i i i I i I X X i i i i i i I i I x x i x x x i x x X x x x i x x x x X x X x x x i x x i x X x I x x x i x x i x X x X x x x 3.6 Training x x i x x X x X x x x 3.7 Performance Management x x i x x X x X x x x The following quetion wa alo aked of the repondent: Do you have a written buine plan? x x x x X Eight of the repondent had Web page. Of thee, 4 were active; 2 were incorrect; 2 were unued. One of the 4 with an active Web ite wa diatified with the reult achieved, tating that hit tranlated into only 2 enquirie. All repondent who were uing the Internet believed it gave them a competitive advantage. Workhop Three full day technical workhop on ICT marketing technology and tool were held over the lifetime of the project. Theoretical eion about buine trategy and non-pc baed information and communication technology, e.g. cell phone, were conducted. Practical eion included how to create Web page, MS PowerPoint preentation and MS Word baed marketing tool. Third year Information Sytem tudent aited the team member by providing additional technical upport during the workhop. All of the delegate were able to cope with the material but varying degree of interet were hown in matering it. Mot delegate expreed a deire to be given more opportunity to attend uch workhop. 4.5 Government There are 4 tier of government aociated with the development and promotion of tourim, i.e. national; provincial; metropolitan and local. Some government activitie eek to create an enabling environment, e.g. funding; advice; promotion; creating capacity, but other are direct intervention in the upply chain, e.g. upplying IT ervice; etablihing buinee.

15 The potential role of ICT in the upport of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry Page 12 Structure of the Tourim Indutry in the Wetern Cape Minitry of Tourim SATOUR (Statutory body) National Provincial DTI & Tourim Province 1-4 Wetern Cape Tourim Board Province 6-9 Cape Metropolitan Council Cape Metropolitan Tourim 6 Local Council Local Economic Development 6 Local Tourim Bodie Information Office Independent Publicity Aociation Other government department uch a Social Service; Trade and Indutry; Labour are alo involved indirectly in tourim development. Service offered at municipal level i not tandardied. Recent change in the municipal tructure have left mot repondent confued about who they hould pay their voluntary memberhip due to. Government department at all level of tourim development are involved in funding community-baed project. There i reluctance on the part of local government to commit funding to area where the population i een a tranient. One townhip repondent complained about the unfair competition created by 2 additional buinee being tarted up in the ame complex, offering the ame product, namely pottery. There i no linkage between a national trategy for IT infratructural development and micro enterprie development. The 3 top tier each have a Web ite. Provincial and Metro authoritie offer hoting or linkage to their ervice. Local Community Tourim Development officer, taked with microenterprie and townhip tourim development, generally do not have a trong undertanding of IT. 4.6 Chance Unfortunately recent event in Southern Africa have impacted negatively on the country tourim figure a a whole. Some repondent tated that they had not een tourit for up to 3 month, i.e. May to July Thi they acribed to the activitie in Zimbabwe. The recent urban bombing in Cape Town for the pat 12 month have erved to further depre the market with newpaper report of partie of tourit checking out of their hotel in the city centre and going home after the bomb in the centre of town. In the townhip, the taxi indutry dipute earlier thi year that reulted in the lo of everal live in a erie of random hooting, further dampened demand for trip into the area. Gangterim, alo aociated with random hooting, alo added to the negative image of the townhip. On the poitive ide, new technologie uch a ICT, new cutomer and new local buying pattern have contributed to growth of buinee in the townhip.

16 The potential role of ICT in the upport of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry Page 13 5 The way forward Three poible indutry trategie have been identified in which ICT can be ued to benefit tourim development in diadvantaged communitie. Two of thee trategie eek to create new ditribution channel, which will leen the dependence on the formal tourim indutry. The third eek to make carce ICT related reource available to micro enterprie in a coteffective manner. 5.1 New network An embryonic network of townhip baed tour operator ha been formed. The reearch would eek to ait and tudy thi network in order to determine whether a network with more empathy for, and knowledge of, townhip dynamic will increae the income to townhip tourim buinee ignificantly. Another approach would be to market the townhip buinee to more mall buinee in Cape Town and to meaure whether thi reulted in increaed buine opportunitie in the townhip through linkage & referral. Dicuion at the workhop revealed that thi had not occurred to the buine owner in the more advantaged area and that they would be willing to refer client to people and place that they know in the townhip. 5.2 SOMDITTI.CO.ZA A prototype Web baed application ha been commiioned a part of the project. The reearch conducted by Cranfield ha helped hape the requirement. Initially the thinking wa to provide tranaction capability, i.e. booking and buying, through a Portal. However the Cranfield reearch ha revealed that uer would like information on event and attraction but would want the pontaneity of booking once they arrive in the country. The focu group alo expreed a reluctance to purchae craft on-line a the product could vary ignificantly. They did expre a deire for information about people, place and product. The pecification of the prototype therefore include: a calendar of event; townhip and community profile people, place and product profile newletter a dicuion forum link to townhip buine Web ite

17 The potential role of ICT in the upport of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry Page 14 The Portal will be owned and hoted by the Univerity of the Wetern Cape in the hort term but once etablihed, ownerhip will be tranferred to a legal body repreenting townhip tourim micro enterprie. Template will be created for inputting the firt four item. The owner of the application will create the content of the profile. Uer will be able to download and print the calendar and profile. Marketing Agent Agency Promotion Influence N ew Agency Enquiry Group Package Booking Tour Viit Tourit Route Location Availability Tranaction Payment Location Info Product Info Producer Info Producer Supp lier Product /Service Memberhip Experience Service Org. In the figure above, the dark block how which component of the indutry tructure will be offered on-line in the prototype. Product, producer and location information block have been added. The white block could be explored a the ite mature. The new agency refer to the network dicued in Time-haring reource Creation and maintenance of application, training, technical upport and acce to advanced oftware and hardware are the factor that raie the cot of uing ICT effectively. The next round of reearch will eek to etablih an Information Reearch and Reource Centre that ha a it primary objective the proviion of thee carce reource to micro enterprie. Student will provide Human Reource with econd tier upport from other ponor and role player in the IT indutry.

18 The potential role of ICT in the upport of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry Page 15 6 Concluion To the quetion if ICT can ait microenterprie development in the townhip, the anwer ha proven to be ye. All of the repondent who were uing the Internet tated that they believed it gave them a competitive advantage. However much can be learnt and there i cope for uing IT for internal buine proce and more tructured inter firm communication. There wa a poitive attitude diplayed toward technology at all of the workhop. How to achieve more of a competitive advantage lie in providing acce to technology beyond jut putting a PC and an Internet connection into each buine. Capacity i needed at the firm level and within a formal network to decreae dependence on the larger, etablihed buinee in the indutry. Thi can be achieved by haring carce IT reource in an organied and utainable manner. The tourit urvey ha alo hown that ome people with acce to the Internet could be peruaded to viit the townhip if they had more information. It ha been proven in the workhop that given the infratructure and upport, mall buinee could develop Internet baed content. Acce to ICT therefore could help micro enterprie to influence deciion to viit the townhip through peronal and global communication.

19 The potential role of ICT in the upport of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry Page 16 7 Team Project Leader: Denie Bigg Denie Bigg i an independent conultant. She ha a background in corporate Information Sytem Development. After tudying Development Economic part-time he changed career to work in micro enterprie development. Since 1992 he ha worked on local, provincial, national and international project in variou capacitie. Conultant: Prof. Andy Bytheway In July 1998 Andy Bytheway took up the Old Mutual Chair in Information Sytem at the Univerity of the Wetern Cape, near Cape Town in South Africa. He i developing the new Department of Information Sytem in order to addre the ubject in the context of the new South Africa. In 2000 he introduced a new Mater Degree Programme and a portfolio of hort coure that will addre the need of South African buinee. Previouly Andy worked in the Information Sytem Group at the Cranfield School of Management in the United Kingdom, where he contributed to one of Europe' mot pretigiou MBA programme and pioneered the development of commercially ponored information ytem reearch. He directed a major international reearch project into electronic commerce that wa upported by 20 European organiation and which wa linked with imilar work baed in Japan. He hold degree in engineering and computer cience from London Univerity and Brunel Univerity. He ha publihed more than 55 learned and practical paper and authored two book (one with hi colleague at Cranfield). Reearcher: Yvette Gouard Yvette Gouard joined the Department in Augut 1999, following completion of her Mater tudie at Stellenboch Univerity. She ha pecialied in ocial cience reearch method and i developing a new reearch project into electronic commerce a well a aiting with the undergraduate teaching programme. Aitant reearcher: Contance Mtweni Contance Mtweni graduated with an Honour degree in Library Science at the Univerity of the Wetern Cape in April 2000.She ha joined the department on contract. She ha been reponible for data gathering and cataloguing all the material gathered. She i alo reponible for liaiing with the 10 tudent that aited the project.

20 The potential role of ICT in the upport of microenterprie development in the tourim indutry Page 17 8 Reference Book Burdman, Jeica (1999) Collaborative Web Development, Strategie and Bet Practice for Web Team, Addion-Weley Page, Stephen (1995) Urban Tourim, Routledge, London and New York Porter, Michael E. (1990) The Competitive Advantage of Nation, The Free Pre, New York. Paper Wegro (1998). Wetern Cape Tourim Trend Wegro (1996). Tourim in the Wetern Cape: Key magnitude on incoming tourit in Working Paper 1/96. Wegro (1998). The macro economic ignificance of travel and tourim to the economy of the Wetern Cape. Working Paper 3/97 (Revied Feb. 1998). Cranfield School of Management. MBA programme, SOMDITTI (2000) Web ite: Cape Metropolitan Tourim Cape Town Tourim - Department of Trade & Indutry Government SATOUR Statitic South Africa (STATSSA) - Univerity of the Wetern Cape Wegro Wetern Cape Tourim Board - Micellaneou Variou newpaper clipping from the Mayibuye Centre (Univerity of Wetern Cape) archive