Durban — The Tourism Ministry’s marketing agency, SA Tourism (SAT), said it would continue persuading people from abroad to visit South Africa and spend money in the economy until told otherwise.
SAT chief marketing officer and acting chief executive Mzilikazi Themba Khumalo made these comments during a press conference yesterday. The briefing came after reports that SAT was preparing to enter into a deal to sponsor English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur to the tune of R910 million.
Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s office has denied knowledge of the deal. Khumalo made it clear that all the stakeholders, including the minister, were yet to be briefed when the deal was leaked to the public domain.
“We had the planning meeting in August 2022. In November, our exclusivity strategy was presented to the board. In January the board considered doing verifications and engaging with the stakeholders in the UK. Everything went through the board process to the marketing committee of the board.
“On January 27, additional time was needed to conclude the conversation. On Tuesday, the story went out and was leaked out of context,” said Khumalo.
He said everything could have been avoided had the conversation as to why SAT was considering a deal was conducted. Khumalo said whomever was responsible for the leak should be isolated and was “un-South African” to behave in that manner.
“The board had decided on a conditional approval that it believed made sense to align with all the stakeholders, minister, director-general and Treasury. But before we could, it was out. All the stakeholders had the right to say they weren’t consulted and that is the truth.
“We couldn’t have engaged without the approval, in principle, from the board,” said Khumalo.
He said although the contract was not yet signed, they intended going through with the engagement.
Khumalo said it was important to market South Africa in the US to persuade Americans to travel here. If they wanted people from the UK to come, you also had to market South Africa there.
“For the last 20 years, money has been spent on foreign soil to persuade foreign nationals to travel to South Africa. It isn’t a new thing. So, whether the money is spent on a single initiative, or small companies with different travel agents and different pockets of audiences, that money does get invested on foreign soil every single year. I just thought I should get the record straight in that respect, “ said Khumalo.
Khumalo explained that SA Tourism found itself operating as a destination in terms of econometrics of tourism.
He said pre- Covid-19, the organisation was contributing 6.4% to the GDP of the country and contributed throughout Covid-19, the riots and the floods. He said this contribution had dropped to 2.2% and they had to return to a peak over 2019 levels in order for them to get back to 6.4% and beyond.
Khumalo said money invested in tourism was not the same money that is required for providing energy or fixing potholes.
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