TOMSA collects improved tourism levies

Johannesburg – The first quarter of this year saw a record breaking number of the Tourism Marketing Levy for South Africa (TOMSA) collections since 2004.

This was revealed by Mmatšatši Marobe, Chief Executive Officer of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) – administrators of TOMSA at a media briefing in Pretoria today.

Marobe said to date a record figure of R 24 million in tourism levies has been collected against the R 21 million target set for the first four months of the year. “As a result of this success in levy collections – we are already up by 15 percent to surpassing the annual targets.”

“The income received for the same for the same four month period up to April this year reflects an increase of a solid 24.2 percent.”.

According to Marobe the increase in collections can be attributed to a number of factors.  The most notable one is the healthy status of the tourism industry in South Africa – despite the sceptics in the industry around the figures of tourist’s arrivals in the country.

One other is the fact that the room capacity in the market has remarkably improved with the announcement of the hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup by South Africa. “A number of hotels and bed and breakfast have been developed to help with capacity for the expected guests in 2010.”

She said a 40 percent growth in tourist arrivals in 2006 was amongst others made possible with the help of the levy system – all thanks to the private sector tourism industry who continue to be the backbone of this success story. “The TBCSA also needs to be applauded for its efficiency in collecting the levy, not forgetting the industries commitment in contributing to the marketing and promotion of Destination South Africa.”

The tourism levy is collected voluntarily by members of the tourism industry, including accommodation providers, car hire companies and tour operators.  The standard practices is that the tourism business adds a fixed amount (in most cases one percent to the consumer’s account and pays the amount collected over to TOMSA, on a monthly basis.  

She said because the levy is generally one percent of the turnover and is collected one month in arrears, we can, with some confidence use TOMSA levy figures to give us a good indication of how the industry is performing.  “We can therefore deduce from April’s figures that the first few months of the year were an excellent for the industry.”

“It is against this background that we would like to thank our network of collectors for making it possible for TOMSA to continue to support South African Tourism’s efforts to promote our great country and renew our call to all product and service providers in the industry to sign up as collectors because ultimately the levies collect will benefit the industry as a whole,” said Marobe.

Marobe said during the month of June the TBCSA in partnership with South African Tourism and various industries bodies will embark on series of TOMSA Lekgotla `s. These Lekgotla`s will be a platform for South African Tourism to give feedback on their marketing efforts and allow the industry an opportunity to give input and raise concerns as far as TOMSA goes.

She said 13 June the Lekgotla`s will be in KwaZulu-Natal, followed by Western Cape on 20 June and Gauteng will have its turn on 27 June this year. Other areas of the country will be visited later in the year.

For more information visit www.tbcsa.travel or call your provincial and local tourism authority.

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