Southern Sun Hotels, Sandton
Update PPT linkages at Southern Sun's Sandton Complex, April 2005
When SOUTHERN SUN's Sandton Complex joined PPT Pilots, the aim was to strengthen
links with Alexandra township and support the development of local tourism businesses
there. Options for a township tour and a variety of township products were discussed
with the Alexandra Chamber of Commerce. Proposals such as recycling the hotel's soap
and old linen through local small women's enterprises were also explored. This pilot
has stalled for various reasons. One is that the partnership between Southern Sun and
Alex Chamber of Commerce did not flourish. And then the key Director in Southern Sun
left the company. As there was no momentum built up to keep the projects going, the pilot
stalled. This is a good case study for the potential pitfalls when trying to engage PPT.
It illustrates the critical need to establish a strong partnership at the start, and the
risk of initiatives stalling if a key champion moves on.
Southern Sun is one
of the largest hotel groups in Africa. It operates 80 hotels in seven countries
in Southern Africa, with a total room capacity of 13,342. The company is ranked
among the top 50 hotel groups worldwide and holds exclusive rights from Six
Continents plc. to operate the InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn
brands in sub-Saharan Africa.
Our partner site consists of six hotels and the Sandton Convention Centre in
the Sandton precinct of Johannesburg, the economic hub of Southern Africa. Our
partners, the 4- and 5-star InterContinental, Crown Plaza and Holiday Inn hotels,
have a total room capacity of approx 1,700 and thus provide the potential for
a variety of linkage opportunities with their ‘poor’ neighbours.
They are located in the
Gauteng province where
tourism
is an increasingly important economic sector.
Southern Sun already has considerable interest and involvement in Black Economic
Empowerment, in particular in its strongly growing gaming division
TsogoSun
where the majority shareholder is a broad based black economic empowerment group.
The company is seeking to broaden its transformation and
CSR
policy and strengthen its contribution to poverty alleviation. The key
concern for the partner sites in Sandton is the creation of new or stronger
links with its immediate neighbour, the
Alexandra
township (known as Alex).
Alex is located approximately 3km from Sandton. It is the most densely populated
township in South Africa with 350,000 people officially crammed into 7.6 square
kilometres – unofficial estimates set the number of inhabitants closer
to 600,000. Unemployment in Alex is estimated to be anywhere between 32% (the
official census figure) and close to 60%, and it is particularly high among
women. The monthly income distribution is highly uneven with an average of R1,029.
A main problem in Alex has been the severe overcrowding and, linked to this,
the mushrooming of informal dwellings, shortages of services and infrastructure,
coupled with high pollution and crime rates.
There seems to be good potential to create linkages between Southern Sun hotels
and Alex due to their proximity and existing linkages between the stakeholders
and other tourism players in the area such as for example the Alexandra Renewal
Programme and the
Gauteng Tourism
Association. Alex offers an extensive cultural, social and political history
that might appeal to tourists, in particular overseas visitors and South Africans
exploring the country’s rich political and cultural tapestry and diversity.
Tourism has been identified as one of the
Alexandra
Renewal Project’s strategies and is supported by the national and
provincial government. However, while employment opportunities are lacking,
so are skills, infrastructure, support structures, tourism experience and market
access knowledge.
Several linkages between Southern Sun Hotels and Alex already exist. They range
from local enterprise linkages (e.g. sourcing of room decorations; support of
Kwaze Kwaza restaurant through supply of equipment and training, Emerging Entrepreneurs
Scheme; support to local dance and music performers at Sandton Convention Centre);
employment and training (e.g. learnership programme); CSI investment (group-wide
R8million in 2002); and collaboration with local organisations such as the Alex
Chamber of Commerce (AlexCoC).
PPT linkages at the Southern Sun Site:
In autumn 2003 the PPT team facilitated an agreement between Southern Sun
Hotels and the Alex CoC to create the following linkages:
Township tours to Alex: Southern Sun will work with the AlexCoC
and other stakeholders to develop township tours to Alex. These tours will
be marketed to Southern Sun guest who up to now can only book township
tours via the concierge desks that feature Soweto. In the process of developing
these tours, a focus will be on issues such as designing an attractive and
sellable product, securing that health and safety standards are set and maintained,
ensuring guests safety and marketing the product.
Supply of materials to Alex businesses: Southern Sun will
supply a sewing centre in Alex with disused bed linen to be recycled into
shopping bags, soft furnishings or other products, and sold to or used by
Southern Sun guests. Similarly, Southern Sun will supply soap leftovers to
Alex soap manufacturers to produce resalable soaps.
Click
here for the summary scoping report
