The Department of Tourism has been on the receiving end of backlash after it was discovered that its marketing wing, SA Tourism, is chasing a ‘deadline day’ deal with Tottenham Hotspur worth R1 billion.
SA Tourism comes under fire for Tottenham Hotspur deal
In an explosive Daily Maverick exclusive, writer Rebecca Davis unpacked a proposal pitched by SA Tourism to the Premier League top-flight football club on Friday, 27 January 2023.
According to the details contained in the PowerPoint presentation obtained by the cited publication, SA Tourism pulled a third of its annual advertising budget, a total of R910 997 814.75 when converted from the proposed £42.5 million, for a three-year sponsorship deal with the North London club.
In essence, based on the contents of the presentation pitched by acting CEO Themba Khumalo last week, SA Tourism may seek to allocate R25.3 million, or £1.1 million, per month between February 2023 and June 2026, toward increasing visibility at the London-based club.
From what we understand, the 36-month investment SA Tourism is pursuing may include stadium branding and match-day advertising at a 62 850-seat football venue that attracts not only Premier League, UEFA Champions League and other club competitions every week, but also has links to other major sporting events like rugby and the NFL.
Based on SA Tourism’s projections, the billion-rand investment could yield R6 billion in media exposure over three years, in a country with one of the largest numbers of tourists visiting South Africa, according to Statistics SA.
While Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has yet to issue a formal response to the backlash, Radio 702‘s Clement Manyathela spoke to her representatives, who made it clear that she was aware of the deal but had not been briefed about SA Tourism’s plan to pitch an R1 billion sponsorship to Tottenham Hotspur.
In response to the deal, the Democratic Alliance (DA) confirmed, in a statement released on Wednesday, its plans to send a delegation to Tottenham Hotspur “to ascertain exactly what the status of this deal is and if any money has exchanged hands.”
“South African Tourism’s (SAT) plan to sponsor and English Premier League team, Tottenham Hotspur, is a slap in the face of every South African whose hard-earned tax will be used to sponsor a first-world football team. It is also an insult for the South African tourism and travel sector which was decimated, and in many cases completely destroyed, during and post Covid,” DA’s shadow minister of tourism Manny de Freitas wrote.
Here’s how social media reacted to the SA Tourism deal: