Here’s how hospitality small businesses can beat water restrictions

Small businesses in the hospitality sector often battle to stay open during water restrictions due to load shedding and drought. It has now become a problem all over the country and can force small businesses to close down.

“The water crisis currently affecting several parts of the country, including Johannesburg and the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality, will have an inevitable knock-on effect on small businesses whose operations rely heavily on the consistent supply of clean water,” says Kevan Govender, regional investment manager at Business Partners Ltd.

As the country gears up to welcome the usual year-end influx of local and international tourists, hospitality will undoubtedly be among the sectors most at risk to suffer the impact of ongoing water scarcity and restrictions.

The Sustainable Hospitality Alliance calculates that tourism-related businesses use more than eight times more water per person than the average population.

Given this immense volume of water usage, small businesses across the hospitality value chain have an important role to play in practicing and promoting responsible water usage, not only to prevent the impending drought, but as a long-term solution to water scarcity across the country.

“A crucial part of learning how to become a successful entrepreneur in South Africa is finding creative ways to fulfil the changing demands of customers, the environment and ultimately your bottom-line.”

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Govender has the following tips for small businesses to become more water-wise:

Water conservation tips in your communications strategy

One of the key lessons that the Thebe Tourism Group learned from the Cape Town water crisis of 2018, was that guests who were well-informed of how they could contribute towards saving water had no problem complying and welcomed being part of the solution.

Clear communication that emphasises the need to be proactive and practical about conserving water without causing panic will go a long way in inviting guests to do their part and understand how their travel behaviour impacts the business and the industry.

“This kind of messaging can be incorporated into welcome leaflets, in-room service brochures, bathroom signage and digital marketing campaigns and be framed as part of the broader goal of environmental awareness and conservation.”

Water tank systems

Installing water tanks can serve as an effective method to mitigate the impact that abrupt water restrictions and outages can have on small businesses in the hospitality sector, especially in the restaurant, food and catering businesses.

“These industries all rely heavily on access to sufficient volumes of clean water to prepare and execute high-quality dining experiences for visitors. Water tanks will optimise the overall experience that international and local guests have when visiting one of our country’s many B&Bs, lodges or boutique hotels by ensuring they have access to clean tap water for bathing and drinking purposes.”

Consider a water tank such as the JoJo 750-litre Slimline water tank, starting from just R2 000 and Govender says this solution is perfect for small businesses that continue to operate on tight budgets but need to ensure access to consistent water supply. Specialised finance is available from banks and Business Partners Ltd for businesses planning to go green via this route for their businesses.

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Indigenous landscaping

Govender advises that maintaining well-manicured lawns and flourishing gardens is often an important part of providing a world-class hospitality service but, unfortunately, it can be extremely water intensive. The best solution is to install rainwater tanks, a greywater irrigation system or a series of boreholes that can be used exclusively for maintaining gardens.

“Indigenous fynbos does not need a lot of water to thrive and there are thousands of beautifully blooming species that are commercially available from nurseries. Not only are indigenous gardens less ‘thirsty’, they are also the perfect way to capture a piece of South Africa’s biodiversity and use it as an attraction point for your hospitality offering.”