The much talked-about proposed R1bn South African Tourism and Tottenham Hotspur sponsorship deal has left so many unanswered questions in the minds of our people. The confusion, through lack of adequate information and details on the matter, has not helped the cause at all.
For starters, not even the government communication department could articulate the background, the vision, aim and purpose of this move. To even throw the spanner in the works, we are told the London club was ready to make an official announcement on the controversial deal last week already. The very same week we woke up to the news, for the first time, which means this is something that has been going on behind the scenes, right under our noses! Word on the street has it that this is a move that has been in motion for a couple of months already, although very few people knew about it. Why Tottenham Hotspur? Why go the English Premier League route? Once again, what has become evident is lack of transparency that's laced with arrogance or lack of knowledge even from the government officials who are supposed to be leading the way in this whole process. It has become apparent that this is a replica of the failed R22m South African flag project that was dismissed by the citizens before it could even see the light of day, also thanks to poor information and lack of consultation and foresight.
We are told the sponsorship money will be coming from the Tourism budget, not necessarily from the taxpayers, and one of the conditions is that this budget should be spent outside of the country. That means, this budget – wherever it is coming from – is not meant for internal use but rather should be used to foster relations with the outside world. More time spent on just this condition, the rationale behind it and where this budget comes from would have avoided a lot of what has become a contentious issue. The sad part, however, is that even those who are tasked with disseminating the information seem either ill-informed or not detailed enough. Subsequently, they get dismissive and lack tolerance for those who don't seem 'to get it', which are two of the most dangerous weaknesses for any public office representative. When dealing with people, time and tolerance should be at the forefront because not all of them will understand at the same level. More importantly, it is advisable to arm yourself with as much information on the subject as possible, just in case you come across more questions than anticipated and you can give satisfactory answers. You can't give proper answers on something you're not well-versed on.
For all intents and purposes, this huge amount is probably not coming from our coffers as a country, which could explain the condition of it being used outside our borders. This is a huge amount of money in a country that has been forced to accept random power outages as second nature. A country with a high unemployment rate and a country that has seen the poor become even poorer. Now, more questions that need to be answered are about SA Tourism's plans for this sponsorship! How are we going to leverage the rights and benefits that are expected to come from this sponsorship so that they benefit our country, at the end of the day? Having witnessed sponsorship deals in football, one understands that there is a difference between a sponsorship and a donation. Sponsorship is an investment, not a charity case, and therefore there must be a return on investment for the sponsorship relationship to continue and become a success. Like any investment, you can't put in R1bn and get just R6m back. So, what is the projected return on this sponsorship/investment? If you invest R1bn over three years and promise a return of R88bn without any details on how this will come about, it is tantamount to a thumb suck. How do you work that return out? Our people deserve to know these things, but the fact that very little consultation seems to have taken place is a serious concern.
There are marketing experts who have been heavily involved in sports tourism, for instance, and they've played critical roles in hosting major sporting events. Surely these are just some of the people who should have been consulted before this decision was even tabled for consideration. There are a lot of insights even from people dealing with sport sponsorship and the number of tournaments that have been hosted and are still upcoming, who could have also helped. You can't talk about sport sponsorship, engaging Tottenham – a football team – without involving sport people. Yes, this is a Tourism SA initiative, but it is done through sport, which necessitates the involvement of SA Sport Tourism to ensure the understanding of the business of tourism. Maybe with sport people's involvement, a different team could have been chosen looking at the huge following your Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City and others enjoy in our country, more so than Tottenham. Yes, the Premiership is broadcast all over the world and enjoys massive following in our country and any relationship with that league is of value because of its international appeal. However, what are the objectives of SA Tourism and how do they expect the awareness that will come from appearing in the Lilywhites' jersey will influence our tourism? Having a sleeve sponsorship or messaging in the electronic boards at the stadium won't guarantee an influx of tourists. There is a lot of work that goes into impacting tourism because it is not like South Africa is an unknown tourist destination. The world is aware of what we have in store, it is just a matter of us turning that awareness into numbers rather than trying to amplify it even more.
We are talking about a country that hosted the biggest sporting event on earth, in the FIFA World Cup, the Rugby World Cup, Cricket World Cup and we will now have the Netball World Cup in July, and it is for that reason that you can't compare us to Rwanda, who have a similar sponsorship deal with Arsenal. There are so many other international tournaments that we host and it is not like we don't get worldwide media coverage like Rwanda. We have the loadshedding and high crime rate that are not doing any justice to initiatives that seek to market our country. Maybe, just maybe, these are some of the issues that we should try to spend more time on. There is massive power in sponsorship, but there's equally a huge risk of loss involved when things aren't done correctly. The allegation of the CEO being linked with the agency involved in the deal isn't helping either, as it suggests someone setting themselves a through pass, one-on-one with the goalkeeper. If the opportunities that come with this sponsorship are not leveraged properly, this will be another failed project for the masses and only help a select few to line their pockets. While details are a bit sketchy, it is possible that SA Tourism negotiated a super deal that will go a long way in enhancing our tourism industry, but only time will tell. For now, we can only ask the questions since not enough information has been made available.
Cheers, VeeJay
You must be SIGNED-IN to view and post comment
Click HERE to Register!
