This type of tourism is focused tourists coming into a region to either participate in an event or to see an organized event put on by the city/region.This type of tourism can also fall under sustainable tourism as well and companies that create a sustainable event to attend open up a chance to not only the consumer but their workers to learn and develop from the experience. Creating a sustainable atmosphere it creates a chance to inform and encourage sustainable practices. An example of event tourism would be the music festival South by Southwest that is hosted in Austin, Texas annually. This is a perfect example because very year people from all over the world flock to this one city for one week to sit in on technology talks and see a whole city of bands perform. These people are being drawn here to experience something that they are not able to experience in their hometown which is exactly what event tourism is about.
Purpose
The main purpose of the presentation is to provide basic information on the following concepts around Co-operatives: – What is a Co-operative,, – What are the Co-operatives principles, – Steps of Forming a Co-operative – Levels and Kinds of Co-operatives, – Support offered to Co-ops in the Northern Cape, – Co-operatives as Tourist guides
Co-op Defined
A co-operative is a voluntary organisation formed by a group of people who have a common need that they want to address jointly, or a group of people who want to create employment for themselves. A co-operative’s primary duty is to its members, not to anyone else outside the co-operative. The benefits of the co-operative are shared by all of the members. In a co-operative, people can unite their ideas, their skills and their resources to do things, which they would not be able to do on their own. It is important to remember that a co-operative is a kind of business. It is NOT a welfare organisation.
Co-operatives Principles
There are seven co-operative principles that are followed by co-operatives all over the world. Everyone who is involved in a co-operative should know and understand these basic co-operative principles.
Voluntary and open membership 2. Democratic member control 3. Member economic participation 4. Autonomy and independence 5. Education, training and information 6. Co-operation among co-operatives 7. Concern for community
5 Basic Steps of forming a Co-op
Hold a first meeting of interested members: At this first meeting the group should determine the objective of the cooperative (i.e. exactly what does the co-operative plan to do); • 2. Appoint a steering committee: A steering committee may be elected to drive the formation process; two key tasks that they need to carry out is: Draft initial plan of action and the Draft a constitution • 3. Hold a formation meeting: Draft initial plan, Constitution and the election of the board of directors • 4. Convene a first meeting of the board: Those people elected, as directors will convene a first meeting of the board to elect the chairperson, vice-chairperson, secretary etc.; • 5. Registration: An application for registration of the co-operative should then be lodged with the registrar of co-operatives;
Levels and of Co-ops
Primary Co-operative – Formed by a minimum of five persons • Secondary Co-operative – Formed by two or more primary Co-ops, • Tertiary Co-op – Formed by Secondary co-ops or both secondary and primary co-ops
Co-ordinate the development of Provincial Co-operative Strategy, • Convene and chair the provincial Co-operatives forum, • Mobilise co-ops in the Northern Cape to form a provincial co-ops movement (APEX Co-op), • Assist with registration of new co-operatives, • Offer business mentoring to 10 identified Co-ops from all regions for the 2012-13 financial year, • Expose product ready co-ops to exhibitions for enhancing their product marketability, • Link Coops to SEDA and other DFI and business support organizations for ongoing capacity building and or financial and none financial support.
Co-operatives in Tourism
Formation of Tour guide co-ops – May apply for CIS to be supported with tourism tools of trade eg: Transportation vehicles, information brochures, office equipment etc, – Tourist guides especially those who are HDIs and find themselves in a common bond which is within the same local or district municipalities, may form a co-operative, – They may also acquire business management capacity building from co-operatives support stakeholder organizations such as SEDA, NDA or Francis Baard SMME Trust
