Private-sector tourism leaders are exploring the best possible ways to use approximately R500 million (US$30.6 million) in collected TOMSA levy funds withheld from SA Tourism amid the ongoing governance issues and financial instability at the DMO.
The levy, a voluntary private sector-led 1% charge on travel and tourism services collected from tourism businesses and administered by the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA), has historically been handed over to SA Tourism to support global marketing campaigns.
TBCSA CEO Tshifhiwa Tshivhengwa said the association is engaging with the private sector to identify impactful avenues for investment.
“We are exploring investment in attendance at key trade shows along with many other possibilities for impactful destination marketing initiatives,” said Tshivengwa, stating that some of the funding has already been used to help businesses attend the IMEX America trade show in October last year.
“As the apex private-sector tourism association, we are fully committed to deploying this funding in the best possible ways that represent the sector’s best interests,” said Tshivengwa.
Filling gaps in destination marketing
Rhino Africa CEO David Ryan, who has been engaged in initial discussions with the TBCSA, said the funds should be used in a way that complements – rather than competes with – SA Tourism’s work.
“In an ideal world, the private sector and SA Tourism would be fully aligned and moving in lockstep. My sincere hope is that this is an interim measure that supports and complements SA Tourism rather than competes with it, and that, once SA Tourism regains stability and strategic clarity, alignment can be restored.”
While describing the decision to withhold the funds as “unfortunate”, Ryan said this presents an opportunity to fill gaps in areas such as modern marketing intelligence.
“SA Tourism’s mandate, while still critical, is increasingly outdated. The future requires less blunt-force marketing and far more intelligence-led strategy. That means investing in shared intelligence platforms, AI-driven tools, verified data lakes and capabilities that genuinely help the trade navigate the next frontier of tourism marketing,” said Ryan, emphasising the need for such initiatives to be designed for integration back into SA Tourism.
Ryan pointed out that the DMO continues to play a vital role in relationship marketing, particularly in South Africa’s primary source markets.
“Their foreign offices are staffed by people with decades-long trade relationships that are deeply valuable and not easily replicated.”
Ryan stressed that clarity is still required on whether the funds are to be structured as a finite allocation or a recurring pool.
“That distinction will heavily influence whether the focus should be on long-term infrastructure and capability building or on shorter-term campaigns.”
Tourvest Destination Management CEO Martin Wiest said he supports the TBCSA’s decision to withhold the funds.
“Monies need to be deployed in the best possible fashion to benefit the tourism sector and, if it has been decided that the agreement with SA Tourism is sub-optimal, then we are comfortable with that.”
Wiest identified familiarisation trips and joint marketing agreements with wholesalers as some of the most powerful tools that could be leveraged to bolster destination marketing efforts.
Confidence under strain
SA Tourism has faced a series of governance challenges in recent years, including leadership changes such as the recent resignation of COO Darryl Erasmus. His resignation comes on the heels of Patricia de Lille dissolving the DMO’s Board in August last year following their decision to suspend then CEO Nombulelo Guliwe.
Haseena Ismail, the Democratic Alliance’s Spokesperson for Tourism and a member of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Tourism, said: “It’s quite clear that SA Tourism does not have the faith of the tourism industry. The point of the TOMSA levy is for SA Tourism to make better use of it than the private sector can but, in its current state, you can understand why the private sector doesn’t think this is likely.”
Ryan described the relationship between SA Tourism and the private sector as “difficult and divided”.
“The way the Board process was handled left a bad taste across the industry, irrespective of which side one sits on. What’s really straining the relationship is uncertainty: the absence of a clear plan, strategy or vision for SA Tourism’s future.”
Ismail reiterated suggestions made in Parliament in late 2025 for the commissioning of a feasibility study to restructure SA Tourism into a public-private partnership.
“This would inject private-sector expertise, governance and funding, leveraging the withheld TOMSA levies, into the national marketing effort, insulating it from political instability and improving its effectiveness,” she said.
SA Tourism was approached for comment on the status of the TOMSA levy and private-sector confidence but had not responded at the time of publication.
