UPDATE: This story has been updated to reflect a full outline of the facts from Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa, CEO of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), which administrates the TOMSA levy on behalf of the industry. 

Should the TOMSA tourism levies – and how they are spent – be revised?

This is a question that FEDHASA and SATSA are asking their members, inviting them to give input on how the levies should be collected and managed.

The tourism levy, also known as the TOMSA levy, is the marginal levy charged to the consumer for the use of specific tourism services in South Africa. The funds collected are primarily used by South African Tourism to promote South Africa as a preferred travel and tourism destination.

SATSA unpacked its priorities for the year ahead at its first Western Cape Chapter Meeting in Cape Town held last week. The overarching theme of the event, and SATSA’s plan for this year, is to “thrive”.

SATSA CEO, David Frost, was outspoken about the controversial Tottenham Hotspur deal involving South African Tourism, which he said had been a “fiasco”.

He praised the whistleblower(s) for their courage and called for a different and calculated approach to marketing destination South Africa in the future.

Frost explained: “We give over R100m (€5.1m) of TOMSA levy money to SA Tourism. There is an MoU that is meant to govern that, that they never adhere to. It’s about oversight. We are asking: are you happy that we take that money and hand it over with no oversight and no control? Should we not keep that money; and if we keep that money, should we not control how we spend it? [At] 47%, we are lagging well behind the continent in terms of recovery.”

‘Leverage more natural marketing assets’

Frost said the industry must leverage more of its natural marketing assets, including national treasures like Nelson Mandela, and even big-name celebrities like Trevor Noah.

According to Frost, a team of creative marketing experts have banded together to see if they can convince Noah to participate in a fresh new campaign (Frost quipped that Noah would hopefully do the work free, as ‘national service’).

SATSA members are also being asked to share digital marketing assets (pictures and videos) to help market the destination. “This is up and running, it’s real, it’s something we are doing and that you can help us with,” said Frost.