Black Economic Empowerment led transformation within the South African accommodation industry: The case of Clarens.

In South Africa, the tourism industry has long been identified as one of the key drivers for economic development and the transformation of the economy. Although South Africa joined the world tourism stage after the democratic dispensation of 1994, the country to this day still contends with issues linked to its unjust past, such as poverty, inequality and severe unemployment, especially among the youth. To date South Africa remains one of the most unequal societies in the world. More specific and related to this study is the transformation of the accommodation sector within the tourism industry. Post 1994 the newly elected democratic government sought to rectify the unequal ownership of the economy via a transformation programme known as Black Economic Empowerment, followed by Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment. More than a decade since the Tourism Charter, this article seeks to determine how transformation in small localities has fared since the tourism sector-specific targets were introduced. The results of this study are further made poignant by the newly coined term of Radical Economic Transformation, which is proposed as a more aggressive approach to Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment. The study aims to explore and gain a deeper understanding of transformation within the tourism sector. This article specifically focuses on the accommodation sector in the village of Clarens in the Free State Province of South Africa. The article’s ambition is to further highlight issues relating to the transformation of the accommodation industry