sa tourism tottenham

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By Devina Haripersad

4 minute read

SA Tourism defends R1bn Spurs sponsorship, says it can get R88bn back

Acting ceo themba khumalo said the r1 billion it wants to invest would lead to more r80 billion coming back to south africa, but didn’t detail how this would happen..

Mzilikazi Themba Khumalo from SA Tourism speaks during a press conference, 2 February 2023, in Sandton. Picture: Michel Bega

SA Tourism hit back at criticism of its planned R1 billion sponsorship of English Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur, saying it is not as tone-deaf as South Africans have accused it of being.

Acting Chief Executive Officer for South African Tourism, Themba Khumalo, said they were expecting to see a good return on that investment – more than 80 times its value – over a three-year period.

SA Tourism-Tottenham Hotspur deal

Khumalo didn’t detail how the return on investment would total R88 billion.

He explained that government had set SA Tourism a goal of achieving 21 million international tourist arrivals by 2030.

Watch: SA Tourism briefing

They were thus exploring sponsorship as an avenue to achieve this, with the scale that is needed.

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Aggregated audience.

“South African Tourism has chosen to explore a partnership with Tottenham Hotspur FC for a number of reasons, particularly as the United Kingdom is one of South Africa’s key source markets, as per the entity’s Marketing Prioritisation Investment Framework (MPIF).

“Furthermore, sport is one platform that has sustained aggregated audiences, which the entity can tap into to convert fans and spectators into tourists,” he said.

Despite this, the marketing agency for the government’s tourism department came under heavy fire after the news of the sponsorship of the English soccer team leaked.

Many South Africans were flabbergasted by the amount of money allocated to this.

Ridiculous! @LindiweSisuluSA & SA Tourism want to spend R1 billion sponsoring Tottenham Hotspur. This to market a country without jobs, electricity or the Rule of Law. Are there “success fees” involved? Let's rather start by fixing South Africa 🇿🇦 https://t.co/DJDzMd5hph — Herman Mashaba (@HermanMashaba) February 1, 2023

Social media users argued that the money should have been put to better use and invested on local platforms, or to address the country’s more challenging issues.

Khumalo, during a press briefing on Thursday, 2 February 2023, went to great lengths to explain that the money that SA Tourism had allocated to the deal was not actually coming as an additional cost to be derived from the country’s fiscus.

Instead, he said, funds were allocated to them and the typical sort of budget they invested in smaller projects internationally anyway.

SA tourism needs to read the room. The tone of this press conference is just wrong! — Thabi Leoka (@thabileoka) February 2, 2023

“The country has a separate budget to deal with the energy crisis and the potholes. We are not tapping into that,” he said.

Media money

He explained that it was money that was generally used as ‘media money’ and was spent for smaller projects.

The difference now was that it being aggregated and allocated to buy one massive project – Tottenham Hotspur – which he believes will have a greater impact than the smaller projects SA Tourism had in the past.

“The decision was made not based on football but on the concept of aggregated audience. We are accessing the audience of the English Premier League to persuade them to travel to SA and spend their Euros and pounds here,” he said.

Khumalo said that they were still making decisions, and rounding up the calculations when the documentation was “maliciously leaked”.

“The document claims that we were going to allocate a certain amount to the sponsorship. We cannot confirm nor deny that that figure is correct,” he said.

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Inside SA Tourism's nearly R1bn Tottenham Hotspur sponsorship proposal

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Inside sa tourism's nearly r1bn tottenham hotspur sponsorship proposal, embed video.

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1st February 2023 By: News24Wire

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The South African government, through the department of SA Tourism (SAT), is looking at sealing a deal worth almost R1-billion to sponsor one of England's elite soccer clubs, Tottenham Hotspur.

SA Tourism proposed a three-year deal worth £42.5-million (about R900-million) starting at the beginning of the 2023/24 English Premier League season and ending at the end of the 2026/27 season.

The presentation revealed that in exchange for the whopping investment, SA Tourism would receive kit branding, interview backdrop branding, match-day advertising, partnership announcements, training camps in South Africa, and free access to tickets and stadium hospitality.

However, it noted that a risk was raised at a board meeting on 27 January 2023, which was related to Tottenham being relegated to a lower division during the three-year agreement.

"While this is obviously unlikely, given the historic performance of Tottenham Hotspur, raising this will undoubtedly bring into consideration a possible bonus payment to be made by SA Tourism should Tottenham Hotspur perform better than expected," the proposal read.

A source close to the matter told News24 that the proposal was presented and voted for at a board meeting held at 20:00 on Tuesday.

According to the source, Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu met with Tourism SA acting CEO Themba Khumalo before the meeting.

The source said a delegation was expected to fly out on Thursday to sign off the deal.

News24 understands that the finalisation of the proposal has to be settled before the imminent Cabinet reshuffle by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The documents read, "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."

The documents also revealed 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".

It noted that the football club had strong links to SA, with Manchester United's Benni McCarthy , Mbulelo Mabizela , Steven Pienaar , and another local, Bongani Khumalo , having donned the team's colours.

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'."

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.

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Here’s why SA Tourism chose to sponsor Tottenham Hotspur instead of your favourite team

South African Tourism acting CEO Themba Khumalo says the proposed almost R1bn deal to partner with Tottenham Hotspur has nothing to do with football but the economic impact of tourism. 

The agency on Thursday held a press conference to defend its proposed sponsorship deal with the English football club using taxpayer money, saying it will keep money rolling into the country. 

News of the proposal was met with angry reaction since it was broken by Daily Maverick , with many South Africans questioning its cost amid load-shedding and crumbling infrastructure.

Speaking to the media, Khumalo said it was nothing new for South African Tourism to spend millions on foreign marketing, as  had been done in previous years.

“We are in the business of persuading foreign nationals across 24 markets around the world that we have identified travel to South African and spend money in our economy.

“They bring foreign investment into our country, which creates job support SMMEs, supports young people to come into the sector and drives people with disabilities to have the dignity of a livelihood and recover the economy in general,” said Khumalo.

SA Tourism’s proposed Spurs deal ‘has more benefits’ than Rwanda and Arsenal

He said Tottenham Hotspur was chosen because they were the only top performing team that did not have a destination partner.

“This is the doorway for us to be able to access the followers of  Premier League football in the UK. We also looked at the audience footprint for the Premier League and the team we are engaging with. The biggest audience is in the UK, which is our biggest international travel market to South African. 

“The second biggest audience is in the US, which is our fastest growing international arrivals market, and the rest is Europe and Asia.”

Khumalo said the deal was not a UK-based initiative but it the team is based in the UK.

“Because the games are played throughout the year, it gives us presence on TV throughout the year and gives us marketing platforms throughout the year. We can change our creative and message, make it seasonal and based on what we are selling on the supply side within South Africa. 

“This is about the economic impact of tourism. It has nothing to do with football.”

ActionSA rejects SA Tourism's proposed R1bn sponsorship deal with Tottenham Hotspur

Listen | ‘it’s about economic recovery’: sa tourism on r1bn spurs partnership, tottenham hotspur deal ‘irrational, irresponsible, vain’.

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New £42.5m Tottenham sponsorship deal gets conditional approval from South Africa tourist board

There looks set to be an influx of new money coming into Tottenham Hotspur in the near future if a proposed sponsorship deal is signed off

• 15:00, 2 FEB 2023

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Conditional approval has been given for South Africa Tourism to tie up a £42.5million sponsorship deal with Tottenham Hotspur, it was confirmed on Thursday.

Leaked documents emerged earlier in the week in South African media outlet Daily Maverick, who claimed that the country's government, through its marketing agency SA Tourism, was preparing to sponsor Spurs for 910million South African rand (£42.5million).

The media outlet claimed that they had seen documents from a presentation given by SA Tourism this month for a three-year sponsorship beginning next season and the matter was due to be discussed further by another presentation on Tuesday night (January 31) and that the deal was close to being finalised.

READ MORE: Pedro Porro struggles, curious case of Matt Doherty and Tottenham transfers that didn't happen

The news of the deal has caused some controversy within the South African sports community, with suggestions that such a large amount of money would be better spent on local sports development.

Then on Thursday, speaking to the media, South African Tourism's acting chief executive officer Themba Khumalo, while unable to confirm or deny the figures involved, did confirm that the deal had been given conditional approval.

"The board made a conditional approval because it commercially makes sense, but it needs communication with the stakeholders to make sure they're aligned," he said, as reported by South African media outlet news24 . "The stakeholders were not engaged because we were going to do so before the leak came out.

"We believe in the engagement, but there isn’t a signed contract with the entity. There was a conversation that led to the conditional approval. There's no signed contract, but there is an intention to. We need to do due diligence and follow government processes.

"We had to halt this conversation to have this conversation, so once we complete this one, we'll look forward. The other teams had tourism partners and Spurs didn't have one. We looked at every team in that tier."

One of those other teams are Tottenham's local rivals Arsenal, who have a partnership with the Rwandan tourist board.

It has been reported in South Africa that in exchange for the £42.5million investment, SA Tourism would receive kit branding, interview backdrop branding, match-day advertising, partnership announcements, training camps in South Africa, and free access to tickets and stadium hospitality.

The deal, which has reportedly been in the works for six years, would still need to be approved by South Africa's tourism ministry and receive approval from the national treasury.

Tottenham declined to comment on the proposed sponsorship when asked by football.london , a standard response on commercial matters.

Khumalo added that the deal was about promoting tourism to South Africa in the United Kingdom rather than being a football deal as the country is one of his country's premium travelling markets.

In response to the criticism, he also stated that SA Tourism could not use its mandated budget for other areas of government spending.

"The money that is invested in tourism isn't money that's required for other needs in the country. There are departments that are dedicated to that," Khumalo said.

"Ours is to spend money to persuade travellers to come to South Africa to spend money. That is what we're legislated to do. Sport and entertainment are audience aggregators, so people will pay money to have you access their product.

"Our deal has nothing to do with football because ours is to access the viewers who watch the football to become part of the travelling market to South Africa.

"We are accessing the audience in the English Premier League so that they can come to South Africa to spend money here through tourism. This deal is not isolation with other deals that we have in place because it's not about football, it's about audiences."

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REPORT: SA Tourism plot near R1bn Tottenham sponsorship

A report has unveiled an apparent proposal for SA Tourism to spend nearly R1bn on a sponsorship with English Premier League club Tottenham.

According to the Daily Maverick , the government – through its marketing agency SA Tourism – is proposing a 36-month deal with English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur at an alleged cost of £42.5m (R910m) over three years. It’s thought that this could be a sleeve sponsorship proposal.

Documents obtained by Daily Maverick apparently show that the South African government, through its marketing agency SA Tourism, was perhaps set to entertain a PowerPoint presentation that stated “Executive Summary: Proposed 36-month sponsorship partnership with Tottenham Hotspur FC”.

The article published on Wednesday outlines the following prospect: “The £42.5-million deal would run from as soon as February 2023 to June 2026, with the option to extend for another year. The presentation claims that in exchange for this R1-billion investment, SA Tourism will receive media exposure to the value of £277-million, or almost R6-billion.”

However, there has also been some suggestion that this proposal is not being unduly pushed forward, and that there should be no cause for panic.

Ridiculous! @LindiweSisuluSA & SA Tourism want to spend R1 billion sponsoring Tottenham Hotspur. This to market a country without jobs, electricity or the Rule of Law. Are there “success fees” involved? Let's rather start by fixing South Africa 🇿🇦 https://t.co/DJDzMd5hph — Herman Mashaba (@HermanMashaba) February 1, 2023

Blood boiling stuff. A third of SA'S tourism budget might go to an English football club. This while SA athletes are paying their own way to attend Olympic Games and even major sports struggle with sponsorship. An absolute disgrace. Bravo Rebecca Davis. https://t.co/gXbiU4nznW — Daniel Gallan (@danielgallan) February 1, 2023

🚨 South Africa 🇿🇦 wakes up to news that its state tourism agency, SA Tourism, is planning a shirt sponsorship deal with @SpursOfficial worth 1 billion Rand (£42.5million over 3 years). Uproar greeting the news as SA currently in energy/financial crisis. pic.twitter.com/wIxkyb0fIw — Gary Al-Smith (@garyalsmith) February 1, 2023

Tottenham close to £42.5m, three-year sponsorship deal (sleeve probably) with South Africa's Tourism board, according to reports there. Lots of questions in SA if this is good use of its money (33% of its total budget) https://t.co/PXg4eGqsFU — Martyn Ziegler (@martynziegler) February 1, 2023

Sooo, Spurs' Moneyball signing this transfer window was SA Tourism? — Simnikiwe Xabanisa (@simxabanisa) February 1, 2023

Sources close to English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur have confirmed that an agreement between SA Tourism and the club is in its final stages. eNCA's UK correspondent, Olly Barratt has the details. #DStv403 pic.twitter.com/BiqdLpGpKy — eNCA (@eNCA) February 1, 2023

Documents obtained by Daily Maverick show the South African government, through its marketing agency SA Tourism, is preparing to ink a deal worth R910,997,814.75 to sponsor one of the English Premier League’s best-known teams, Tottenham Hotspur. Read: https://t.co/H8fgThJCfx — Eusebius McKaiser (@Eusebius) February 1, 2023

Really? You seem to be part of a tiny minority that can justify R1billion spent on a British soccer team instead of the needs of poor South Africans and actual tourism businesses that had to close due to economic situation in SA. This money could have been used to help THEM. https://t.co/M6ihfh3XWs — OUTA (@OUTASA) February 1, 2023

Tottenham are one of the leading English football clubs

Interestingly, eNCA’s UK correspondent Olly Barratt had tweeted that his “sources suggest an agreement should be confirmed within days”, while adding “there is an acceptance among those close to the deal that this is going to be controversial in South Africa”.

A statement issued on Wednesday  by the Ministry of Tourism, through Steve Motale, stated as follows: 

Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has noted a report by the Daily Maverick on Wednesday 1 February 2023 headlined: “From Lindiwe Sisulu, With Love: Inside SA Tourism’s R1bn proposal to sponsor Tottenham Hotspur”.

Sadly, this article is riddled with inaccuracies and untruths aimed at tarnishing Minister Sisulu’s image. There is no doubt the report seeks to drive a political agenda rather to inform the public truthfully in line with journalism ethos.

The reporter falsely claims that Minister Sisulu is forcing SA Tourism to push the deal through before she is moved from Tourism portfolio.

This is a blatant lie. This reported deal is purely an SAT board matter on which Minister Sisulu has not been formally briefed by the board.

Like any other board, the SAT board is independent and Minister Sisulu does not interfere with its decisions.

Proposals get received by SAT, and are processed by a project team, then are sent through to the executive committee before being presented to the SAT board.

In the various portfolios Minister Sisulu has served since the dawn of democracy, her contribution to government speaks for itself. Even Daily Maverick through it source indicates that this proposal dates back to 2017, of which Minister Sisulu held a different portfolio.

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 this matter Minister Sisulu is still awaiting for a report and to be briefed by 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.

Minister Sisulu is in consultation with her legal team and will communicate the way forward in due course.

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Tottenham's Champions League hopes hit further by 2-0 loss at Chelsea in Premier League

Associated Press

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Chelsea's Nicolas Jackson, centre right, celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

LONDON – Tottenham’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League are getting thinner by the day.

By falling 2-0 at Chelsea on Thursday, Tottenham slumped to a second loss to a London rival in the space of four days in the Premier League — after a 3-2 home defeat to Arsenal in the north London derby on Sunday.

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In between those losses came confirmation that England will have just four places in next season’s expanded Champions League, and not five.

That’s another blow to Spurs, who are fifth and stayed seven points behind fourth-place Aston Villa with one game in hand. They still have to play Liverpool and Manchester City in their remaining four games so it is looking increasingly unlikely they will close the gap to Villa.

“We lacked belief and conviction in our game," Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou said. “I don’t know if it's low confidence but we're not playing with the mindset we need to play the football we want to and that's something I have to look at.”

Headed goals by Trevoh Chalobah in the 24th and Nicolas Jackson in the 72nd were enough for Chelsea, which could yet salvage a place in one of the minor European competitions from what has been an underwhelming Premier League campaign for a squad assembled at a cost of more than $1 billion.

Chelsea climbed above West Ham and into eighth place, two points behind Newcastle and three behind Manchester United in sixth. It’s likely that two of those three teams will be playing in either the Europa League or Europa Conference League next season.

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino said it was the best feeling he had had all season about his team.

“It’s the moment, after 10 months, that we start to realize how we compete,” Pochettino said. "It showed we're doing things well.

“We showed it's not about names. It’s about being competitive.”

Pochettino, however, didn't sound convinced he had the backing of Chelsea's American owners to be around next season.

“It’s difficult to see I am under scrutiny and judgment every week,” he said, adding: “We’ll see if I have time to build after today.”

Tottenham has now won just one of its past 34 away league games against Chelsea, making it one of the most one-sided top-flight fixtures. The sole victory came in 2018, when Pochettino was in charge of Spurs.

Chalobah got on the end of a free kick by Conor Gallagher to loop a header over Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario and into the net to give Chelsea the lead. It was a 15th goal this season conceded from a set piece by Spurs and that is becoming a major issue under Postecoglou.

Jackson, who had a shot partially saved by Vicario and subsequently cleared off the line by Micky van de Ven in the first half, eventually got his goal when he was quickest to react after Cole Palmer’s free kick rebounded out off the crossbar. Jackson did well to head the ball over two Tottenham defenders who were retreating toward their own goal line.

Tottenham is six points clear of Man United and might have to settle for a fifth-place finish, which would earn a spot in next season's Europa League.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.