Tourism enterprises encouraged to support sustainability, improve energy efficiency

fanjianhua© via 123rF

Following the recent handover of a solar photovoltaic mini-grid at Robben Island Museum by the minister of tourism, Tokozile Xasa; the programme was developed to encourage privately-owned tourism enterprises to move towards cleaner energy sources and more energy efficient operations.

Responsible tourism operations

Managed and administered by the IDC, the programme will provide grant funding on a sliding scale from 30% to 90% (capped at R1m) to qualifying small and micro tourism enterprises to implement interventions that will improve energy efficiency and reduce operational costs.

Minister Xasa indicated that the programme will support several energy-saving solutions.

“Renewable energy generating systems should be more accessible to all within the sector. For this reason, we have introduced the Green Tourism Incentive Programme developed in partnership with the Industrial Development Corporation. The aim of the programme is to encourage small and micro tourism enterprises through a cost-sharing grant to retrofit their facilities with energy efficiency systems.

“Responsible tourism is everyone’s business, with an immense potential to increase our country’s global competitiveness. I urge the industry to embrace the Green Tourism Incentive Programme, and help us build a sustainable and inclusive tourism sector,” said Xasa.

Robben Island turns to the sun for power

23 Oct 2017

Transformation and ownership

The department and IDC will work closely with the National Cleaner Production Centre of South Africa to conduct energy efficiency audits and determine the best possible solutions to be implemented. The IDC’s head of development funds department, Christine Engelbrecht says one of the programme’s fundamental criteria is transformation.

“Transformation and ownership is a critical dimension of IDC’s mandate. Enterprises with high levels of compliance in terms of the Tourism B-BBEE Scorecard will be awarded a larger grant” says Engelbrecht.

She added that only exempt micro-enterprises with the total annual turnover of below R5m and qualifying small enterprises with the total annual revenue of between R5m and R45m respectively will be considered.

The first two-month application window will be opened from 1 November 2017 to 31 December 2017 to call for prospective applicants to submit applications for the GTIP.
Information, application forms and guidelines are obtainable on the IDC website.