To add local value, tourist money must stay in economy
March 5, 2006
 By Renée Bonorchis
This time last week I was flipping around in the blue, blue sea off the island of Mauritius, contemplating what to do next. Should I have lunch, should I read my book and drink a beer, should I go diving? It was hard to have to sift through so many decisions.
Le Coco Beach was pretty cool. It offered a huge array of activities and had been kind enough to give us one of the best rooms. The staff were a delight - chatty and helpful, even warm.
However, as you will know if you have been on holiday in Mauritius, the staff at the resorts are the only way to come into contact with Mauritian culture because the resorts are bleached of all things local. You could be in the Seychelles or the Bahamas for all the carefully landscaped palm trees and dreadful muzak being softly pumped through hidden speakers.
Chatting to the locals is worthwhile. You'll discover, for instance, that the horse-riding instructors work 13 days out of every 14, for 12 hours a day and earn the equivalent of just R60 a day. You'll find that the waitering staff work at least six days a week for 12 hours a day, also for minimal pay. And the diving staff, against all health warnings, conduct three dives a day, every day.
All of this goes some way to explaining the poverty you see around the island when you leave the cocoons created by the hotels. It also exposes the feeble labour laws in Mauritius.
What it doesn't explain is why a New York-listed company founded by our one and only Sol Kerzner, which purports to have high levels of corporate governance, is showing such shoddy corporate citizenship.
The former Sun International Hotels, now known as Kerzner International, operates five Mauritius resorts, and it should know better.
Sure, on the one hand these hotels offer some of the best value for money in terms of tropical island escapes; management at Kerzner would no doubt say that my holiday would have cost much more if the huge staff were to be paid more. And the resorts create much-needed employment in a country that is critically short of jobs.
But what sort of jobs are these? My dive instructor said wistfully that because he was always diving, he was never able to have a drink at night. The barman we befriended, Bhikram Joyram, said there was never time to see friends. He had finished school in 1994 and had been working at Le Coco Beach ever since. To save costs he still lived with his mother.
These are not jobs that bring opportunities or any measure of wealth. These are jobs that, in the middle of paradise, keep people on a treadmill that they can never leap off.
No doubt Kerzner International would not be allowed to exploit workers in the US like this, where unions are stronger and labour laws are fairer. As for Sol Kerzner's links to South Africa and our tough labour laws ... well, even if I sound naive, you just know that this company could be doing a heck of a lot better for its workers than it is.
The other problem with tourism, and you see it in so many countries in Africa, is that despite huge influxes of tourists there is little economic benefit for the locals. Kenya attracts big spenders to its game parks and beaches but poverty cripples its people. The same could be said for Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The trickle-down effect just doesn't seem to happen when it comes to tourism.
One cause is no doubt the fact that between airlines, tour operators, hotel chains and greedy resort owners much of the cash being spent by the tourists is sucked up and away from the country in question.
And here's where warning bells should be going off for South Africa. In his latest budget speech finance minister Trevor Manuel fingered tourism as one of the fast-growing sectors of our economy, which must be nurtured.
Some our of tourist spots are great. Although I would expect that staff are not paid very well, there are places where tourist money is used to boost communities and provide amenities for local people.
But tourism sometimes has few rewards. For each bunch of Germans, Brits or Americans who go home happy, we may be creating a bunch of overworked South African staff who will never see a profit share and who will watch all the real money being siphoned off by large organisations, some of which are based offshore.
Making sure that tourist money stays in the economy is the trick to master. This translates into better wages and it will uplift communities.
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