Minister of Tourism, Lindiwe Sisulu, has acknowledged some of the challenges facing the South African tourism sector currently and has called on her team at the Department of Tourism to offer urgent recommendations on how to support businesses in the sector.
Tourism Update asked readers to weigh in on what the Ministry/Department could do to assist businesses, as well what she should prioritise to ensure growth and recovery of the sector as a whole.
We will highlight the many suggestions received over the next few weeks, starting with this submission from Mark Goveia, Chairman of the South African Grading Assessor Association (SAGAA).
“We would like to offer the following recommendations on how to support many members of the tourism sector.
Currently, the Tourism Incentive Programme (TIP) is a government initiative that includes government funding for grading fees, among other initiatives. The reality is that many of the 5 000-plus graded establishments are having difficulty accessing this support due to difficulties incurred in obtaining SARS tax clearance certificates as a result of COVID-19 and of meeting other qualifying criteria. This results in many properties losing their grading status as they cannot afford to pay the full grading fees.
However, the Government Gazette No 42010 (which is the published Grading Scheme) does, in Section 4.24.1, make provision for discounting of invoices that would bypass the red tape that is a barrier to properties remaining graded.
Our proposal is that all graded establishments currently graded, or that were in possession of a valid TGCSA grade on 27 March 2020 (start of lockdown) are provided with a 100% discount on their grading fee invoice for 12 months (from 1 July 2021 to 1 July 2022), to assist them in their recovery. This would ensure that the benefits of grading as a national quality assurance programme are retained, and that properties view their assessor as a resource – and the cost of grading is not seen as a barrier in this quality control system.
Previously ungraded accommodation that may wish to apply would still be eligible to access the TIP discount on offer.”
