TBCSA collects the Tourism Levy South Africa (TOMSA), 93% of which goes to South African Tourism to market South Africa as a preferred destination. TBCSA deemed it necessary that its members should also get tangible benefits from the TOMSA levy. To this end, it established a collaborative fund in 2017, with the purpose of funding key strategic projects that are important for tourism businesses. To this end, TBCSA/TOMSA and South African Tourism agreed to ring-fence 15% of the agreed 93% of the levies collected to set up a Collaborative Fund, to be utilized for tactical trade projects which would in turn grow tourist arrivals into South Africa, as well as the ones boosting domestic travel.
During 2018, five projects were proposed at board level, of which only three were approved for funding. Here is a snapshot of what your levy collections have helped the tourism private sector accomplish so far:
Drought/ Water Crisis PR Campaign
The tourism sector supports approximately 300 000 much-needed jobs across the Western Cape. These figures came under heavy attack when the region was hit by a full scale drought crisis. The challenge however, was that local nd international media were reporting conflicting stories about the situation, thereby causing panic and confusion for both domestic and international tourists.
These negative perceptions began to translate into mass travel cancellations to the Western Cape. This would in turn cause a huge impact on South Africa as a popular tourist destination and further our country’s economy and employment figures.
To deal with the challenge at hand, communication around critical behaviour change needed to be addressed among all stakeholders without causing more panic around what was popularly termed “Day Zero”. This kind of apocalyptic reporting led to mass hysteria about what the situation really looked like in the Western Cape region.
Emphasis needed to put on the need for accountability, collaboration, leadership and unity of approach among all tourism stakeholders. The benefits of this, among the many that a revived popular tourist destination like the Western Cape would bring included water conservation while still encouraging travel to the region.
SATSA Adventure Tourism Project
Adventure tourism is one of the fastest growing tourism sectors and South Africa is emerging as a competitive destination. The overall objective of the project is to position South Africa as a domestic and international destination of choice for adventure tourism boasting a robust safety management framework through a coordinated and committed industry.
With South Africa’s unique set of challenges, a sound regulatory environment is critical for the growth of the industry and its contribution to national imperatives. Currently adventure tourism contributes R4.6 billion in revenue and supports 25,000 jobs. The industry is also ideally positioned to assist with empowering local rural communities.
Global Campaign Addressing Issues
SA Tourism submitted a proposal to the TOMSA Collaborative Fund stating they want to address perceived issues that threaten travel to South Africa. These being:
- Safety & Security
- Water Crisis
- Land Expropriation
- Wildlife
The goal of this project is to convert crisis’ into trips by sharing good news stories from the water crisis, engaging international stakeholders to help debunk fears around threats. By continuing to shape global messaging about South Africa, we can control the key messaging around our country through global participation in the narrative we create.
