Following reports that emerged on Wednesday that South African Tourism was on the verge of signing a mega sponsorship deal with Tottenham Hotspur, South African radio listeners have weighed in on the matter.
On Thursday morning on the 5FM’s “5 Breakfast Show”, the 5FM team and listeners discussed the pros and cons of the highly contested proposed deal between the club and SA Tourism.
Show host, Dan Corder, highlighted that Rwanda has a sponsored spot on the Arsenal shirt and it’s done wonders for their tourism.
According to the team’s sport’s desk lead, Xoli Zondo, Rwanda’s tourism revenue increased by 17% and tourists from Europe increased by 22% due to the Rwandan Government’s sponsorship deal with Arsenal. A similar deal could be beneficial for South African soccer and tourism since 4.7 billion people watch the premier league every year.
The biggest bone of contention on the South African deal is that most people feel that the money or investment could be better used elsewhere in a country crippled by load shedding and failing infrastructure.
“A lot of people are upset. What about spending a billion on diesel to reduce load shedding or on potholes? Like how can they just be spending a billion rand on this club?” Corder said.
One listener, Adriel, said he has no issues with South African Tourism spending their budgets and trying to boost the country’s tourism.
“But if we had better infrastructure, if we had stuff working within the country, it would be worthwhile. So we are spending a billion rand to bring tourists to the country to get them frustrated and take that message back to the world,” Adriel said.
Another listener, Kelly, said the deal could be extremely beneficial, but the timing is off.