The Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) has reported that collections of the 1% tourism levy charged on all accommodation in South Africa reached a total of R40-million including VAT, cumulative to September last year.
According to the council, the highest collections, exceeding R5-million in a month, were recorded in January and March last year, with R5,9-million and R5,4-million respectively. The lowest collection was in August with only R3,3-million collected. Percentage growth measured against 2002 was 10%.
And in an attempt to entice more tourism establishments to do their bit and collect the levy, Tourism Marketing South Africa (Tomsa) has taken on a number of Tourism Grading Council assessors as a sales team.
“It was decided that this was the most cost-effective means of reaching those out of the fold, as the assessors will only be paid on signed-up Tomsa levy collectors,” says the TBCSA’s Adrienne Harris.
“We are hoping that this will substantially increase the numbers but, as always, we do rely on the industry’s enthusiasm and peer pressure to keep this vital initiative going.”
The announcement of the levy figures came at a time when fears were ripe within the industry that the stronger rand would adversely affect the number of visitors to South Africa. Price increases were announced and there were worries that South Africa would no longer hold the reputation as a good value-for-money destination.
According to Harris, SA Tourism CEO Cheryl Carolus had undertaken some on-the-spot research on these matters during a recent whistle-stop tour of key markets in Europe and the United States.
“Cheryl reported that on the whole our partners in Europe still don’t think we’re expensive, but because we were considered to be underpriced previously the sudden massive increase in price [in some case reported 30% to 40% increase] is a hard knock to take,” says Harris.
“It seems that the volatility of the rand is the real problem and how we as a tourism industry manage perceptions is the challenge. TBCSA will be working closely with SA Tourism to reinforce the value-for-money concept but the industry as a whole must play its part.”
Harris ended with a tough warning for the South African tourism industry. “Now is the time for all of us to reinforce the value-for-money perception, which includes not being opportunistic over peak seasons by upping prices unreasonably.”