TEP is in partnership with the NDT. TEP was established and initially funded by Business Trust from 2000 to 2004. The erstwhile Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism then became a funding partner on a 50% / 50% basis from 2004. The organisation reported that NDT has given a notice that when the current partnership expires on 31 March 2016, they may not be inclined to renew it as the Tourism Incentive Programme (TIP) may become operational and SMME development may be done in-house by NDT itself. This may not be a good move as TEP is a well-established organisation that has vast experience and has established a solid reputation in tourism SMME development. The challenging question of mobilising SMMEs remains a vexing subject and TEP is convinced that with more resources more can be done. With the Tourism Incentive Programme not clear at this. TEP is in the process of reinventing its business model to identify new opportunities to mobilise funding to support its SMME development work and will build on its 15 years of successful experience in tourism SMME development.