A DEAL worth a billion is on the pipeline between South African Tourism and one of the world’s top Premier side Tottenham Hotspur.
It is worth £42.5 million (about R900m) starting at the beginning of the 2023/24 English Premier League season and ending at the end of the 2026/27 season- a three year deal.
The ROIs for SAT would see a logo on the sleeve of the club jersey, social platforms, adverts and posters both in England and Europe and tickets to the games.
A board meeting was held in January 27 and the deal was voted for on Tuesday.
Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu is reported to have met with Tourism SA acting CEO Themba Khumalo before the meeting. So, this means Sisulu is abreast of what is going on the deal.
A delegation was expected to fly out on Thursday to sign off the deal but it was unconfirmed who exactly.
It is understood the deal had to be finalised before imminent cabinet reshuffle.
In a statement on Wednesday, Sisulu’s spokesperson, Mpumzi Zuzile, said proposals were received by SA Tourism and processed by a project team before they were sent through to the executive committee and presented to the SAT board.
“Essentially, the SAT proposal is to conclude a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. It is non-binding. Such a proposal must still pass muster within the tourism ministry and is subject to the concurrence of National Treasury, to conform to government prescripts.
“With regard to this matter, Minister Sisulu is still awaiting a report and to be briefed by the SAT board as they are independent and take their own decisions on various matters. It is mischievous to relate this to the imminent Cabinet reshuffle,” Zuzile said.
Zuzile added that Sisulu was consulting her legal team and would communicate the way forward in due course.
The documents, according to reliable sources, reveal that SA Tourism engaged with the club to be a tier-one partner of “London’s most valuable football brand and the 8th most valuable football brand worldwide”.
The documents further revealed that some board members, including South Africa’s High Commissioner in the UK, had already been to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to assess and verify the “feasibility of this proposed venture”.
The document further stated:” For SA Tourism to break through the noise and reclaim our position in the global travel community, we will need a step-change growth strategy and a series of BIG strategic and specific actions to re-assert our position above pre-[Covid-19] pandemic performance measures.”
Under the Q&A regarding the financial obligation to be incurred by SA Tourism in terms of the partnership proportionate to Return on Investment (ROI) it would obtain as a result, the proposal stated: “As entering into a sponsorship partnership with Tottenham Hotspur will likely result in a disproportional contribution (of more than 36%) towards the achievement of primary objective (21 million tourist arrivals), it would therefore be completely justifiable for SA Tourism spending a disproportional percentage of its annual marketing budget (36%) on the proposed Tottenham Hotspur partnership while having in place a risk management strategy to properly manage all risks associated with that.
“This can in no way be construed to a scenario of ‘putting all your eggs in one basket’.”
But South Africans who’ve just come out of the pandemic, facing dire economy, and constant electricity blackouts, are having none of it, some describing the move as an ‘insult’ and ‘insensitive’ to the poorest.
In future, such deals would yield good dividends; but for now the country needs every cent to stabilise infrastructure and other community basic services. Township Economy policy forms part of tourism revitalisation programme following thousands of businesses that were shut-down during the pandemic and unrest in July 2021, and one would expect the agency to be in the forefront to aid were possible.
Is acting CE at SAT, Reverend Themba Khumalo and his board going to survive this?
Is this part of sport tourism, Thandiwe Mathibela, spokesperson for SAT, in a very terse response said they’ll issue a statement once it has been signed off?
The same deal has been entered between current EPL log leaders (Gunners) Arsenal Football Club and Rwanda Government, as part of promoting the country, following years’ of genocide.
Image supplied (Tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu aware of the deal but the question is why was it done so promptly before cabinet reshuffle)?
