This summary highlights the key components emanating from the consultancy process as conducted by the Haley Sharpe Southern Africa/Udidi consortium on behalf of the uMngeni Municipality.

The consultancy process has involved inter alia:

1.1 Initial meetings with the UM to confirm the scope of the assignment and which sectors of the community should be included as stakeholders for the Tourism Management Plan (TMP).

1.2 A public meeting to introduce the TMP and its proposed outcomes and any additional persons or groups required as stakeholders.

1.3 Stakeholder feedback meetings during each phase of the process.

1.4 Public invitation for final comment via strategically available copies of the final draft of the TMP followed by a public presentation of the TMP outcomes.

Stakeholders communicated with during this assignment included:

UM Councillors
UM Officials
KZN Wildlife
Midlands Meander Association
Hilton Meander Association
Mphophomeni CTO
Karkloof Tourism Association
The Amble
Howick Tourism Association
Nottingham Road Tourism Association
Community Tourism Association of South Africa
WESSA
Umgungundlovu District Municipality
Tourism KwaZulu-Natal
Amafa aKwazulu Natali
Umgeni Water
Department of Agriculture
Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
Howick Environment Action Trust
Howick Museum
Haley Sharpe Southern Africa
Udidi Project Management Company

The above entities are thanked for their input into the consultancy process and the TMP as a whole.

 

Two initial reports were provided for the UM as client and included a Situation Analysis (Report 1) followed by a second report that included the provision of visions and strategies with associated projects and financial requirements.

Both these reports were presented to the project steering group and adopted as a precursor to this final draft from which key extracts will be highlighted.

The Situation Analysis initially covered the guiding principles of tourism management and the base considerations of the "Rules of Best Practice" in order to:

Grow volumes of visitors to higher levels in a sustainable manner.

Increase spend in terms of per capita value with minimal leakage of revenues to the local economy.

Increase the stay period via higher quality attractions, greater visitor choice and high standards of service excellence.

Spread the visitor load in terms of volumes and spend over a wider geographic area.

Create inclusion from the emergent tourism sector in order to establish greater ownership and empowerment.

The focus areas for the assignment would be:

Tourism Management.
Tourism Marketing.
Tourism Development.

with the UM being considered as the:

Co-ordinator for tourism related initiatives in association with tourism stakeholders.

Facilitator of processes relating to tourism projects and developments.

Stimulator of local economic development via tourism support and investment.

The analysis also reviewed public sector policies, goals and objectives with due recognition of:

The World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002.
DEAT's National Tourism Structures.
White Paper on the Development and Promotion of Tourism in South Africa.
National Responsible Tourism Guidelines 2002.
KZN Tourism Act of 1996 and 2002.
TKZN Tourism Strategy 2003-2006.
TKZN Tourism Product Development Strategy 2002.
uMngeni Municipality IDP.
Market intelligence and trends for both international and domestic tourism were provided which revealed that from a UM perspective, the area was performing well domestically with further growth required for foreign visitors.

Some 40-60% of the visitor spend in the Pietermaritzburg/Midlands area was suggested for the UM area thus indicating the sector's crucial importance for LED especially as an employer of semi and unskilled personnel.

The tourism product base indicated that there was the need to:

Strengthen the country experience of the UM area.
Develop eco tourism and nature based within the area.
Ensure that culturally orientated attractions were developed and profiled.

The attractions and experiences within the UM area was categorised as being: