SA Tourism CEO, Nombulelo Guliwe. Picture: Supplied
South African Tourism (SA Tourism), the entity responsible for marketing and promoting South Africa as a world- class destination, issued a statement defending itself following claims that it may have to return more than 80% of its budget to the National Treasury.
On January 12, “City Press” reported that SA Tourism’s failure to spend its annual budget of R1.2 billion could result in the entity having to return more than R800 million to treasury.
Chief Executive Officer of South African Tourism, Nombulelo Guliwe, said that the current SA Tourism management and leadership team is committed to interrogating costs and, as such, inaccurate information about a non-existent 80% surplus will not coerce them into spending recklessly.
“Our organisational performance at the end of December 2024 was at an all-time high of 92% with 72% of our budget already spent demonstrating commitment to budget optimization,” said Guliwe.
The entity was also criticised for failing to address the appointment of a global marketing agency to market South Africa abroad and the appointing a service provider for R100 million tender for organising the annual Meetings Africa and Africa’s Travel Indaba scheduled to take place in February and May, respectively.
When it comes to these claims, SA Tourism said it is actively promoting South Africa in key markets, with resolute teams driving campaigns domestically and internationally.
The entity said that the process to appoint a global marketing agency in compliance with National Treasury regulations is ongoing and noted that it is committed to upholding the integrity of all procurement processes and an independent forensic investigation into a strategic events tender was initiated in December 2024, which is currently underway.
“As previously corrected in the statement issued on the 16th of December 2024, no bidder has been awarded a R100 million event management tender,” said Guliwe.