SA Tourism overspends by R24.1m

Parliament slammed the marketing agency for missed key targets amid allegations of procurement irregularities

- Aarti Bhana

Parliament's portfolio committee on tourism says South African Tourism has underperformed in its mandate to market the country and drive economic growth.

"With the organisational performance of South African Tourism (SAT) for the period under review, it seems that the organisation does not fully appreciate the importance of the role it has to play in driving economic growth and creating job opportunities," committee chairperson Ronalda Nalumango said on Tuesday.

"It is grossly unacceptable that for the fourth quarter, South African Tourism only achieved 89% of its 55 targets while overspending by R24.1 million on its allocated budget. This depicts 101% overexpenditure, of R1.45 billion of the R1.43 billion budget that was allocated to SA tourism," Nalumango said during a briefing by the agency on its fourth-quarter performance report for 2024-25.

"The reported information is the combined efforts of the private sector and government through South African Tourism. It is therefore of paramount importance that South African tourism takes its mandate seriously and improves on its financial and non-financial performance."

In 2024, the tourism sector contributed 8.8% to South Africa's economy, valued at about R616 billion, and created 1.68 million jobs.

Based on the current performance, the sector has the potential to contribute 12.8% to the country's economy by 2030 and create 2.23 million jobs, said Nalumango.