BITOU’S new tourism advisory committee has been advised by the municipality to include more people in its structures from historically disadvantaged backgrounds.

In a status report on the committee’s plans to revitalise tourism in Plettenberg Bay, municipal manager Lonwabo Ngoqo advised that the committee “urgently attend to its representation, with special emphasis on the inclusion of historically disadvantaged individuals, gender and the disabled”.

The committee, spearheaded by a group of local businessmen, aims to create a brand for the town and then market its tourism potential accordingly.

The committee, established last year, felt that tourism operators were not receiving the support they needed from the tourism office. There was no tourism calendar and big anchor events were lacking. There also appeared to be no coherent brand for the town.

The committee aims to develop iconic events, producing an activity guide and creating a business plan for at least one empowerment project involving previously disadvantaged individuals.

Before the end of this year the committee aims to fill key posts in the tourism office and initiate a staff motivation project. It hopes to have a restructured tourism office operational by January next year.

The committee told the mayor and his executive it would need about R420000 for employee costs and R770000 for marketing, project management, field research and a communication plan, over and above the existing R3-million-plus budget.