Cape Argus - To mark Tourism Month in September, Khayelitsha-based entrepreneurs showcased their diverse businesses, as part of the Western Cape’s tourism offering, as well as their collaboration with Airbnb.
Airbnb is an online marketplace and hospitality service, which enables people to lease short-term lodging, including home stays and hotel rooms. In order to grow tourism exposure in Khayelitsha, Airbnb has collaborated with Khayelitsha’s bed and breakfast owners and tour guides.
The regional marketing manager for Airbnb Velma Corcoran said that working with the different townships in the Western Cape, especially Khayelitsha, ensures that tourists have a unique and diverse experience.
“Airbnb listings in Khayelitsha are on the rise, growing to such a point where we now have offices in The Barns, Khayelitsha to give advice and support to our current and aspiring tourism entrepreneurs.” Ayanda Cuba and Buntu Matole are part of the rising number of entrepreneurs working with Airbnb.
The two are the co-founders of the ABCD Concepts, which forms part of giving tourists an experience of Khayelitsha through cycling or an 8km jog around the township. Cuba and Buntu said that Airbnb has created a platform for tourists to form real connections with the them.
The owner of Majoro’s B&B, Maria Maile, is one of the six women who opened up their homes to tourists in Khayelitsha, she said that tourism and hospitality are a vehicle to finding solutions to crime and environmental issues. “Make a living with what you are good at and use what you have, the youth needs to get involved, through tourism.”
The different entrepreneurs and Airbnb were joined by Economic Opportunities MEC Alan Winde, who said that it was good that people in Khayelitsha were creating their own business opportunities.