BUDGET: Allocation to Deat

THE Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has been allocated R1,62bn for the 2004/2005 financial year up from R1,45bn in the 2003/2004 fin year. According to the budget report on environmental affairs and tourism, the allocation for the tourism role of the department has increased only marginally from R320,8m in 2003/04 to R375,6m in this financial year. This is projected to increase to R421,6m by 2006/07. Trevor Manuel allocated R260m for international tourism marketing this fin year compared with R220m last year and has given SA Tourism R81,8m compared with a previous allocation of R76,4m. SA Tourism’s total revenue in 03/04 was estimated at R416,9m with R296,4m coming from government. Of the remaining funds, R64m came from formal business contributions (National Business Trust, TBCSA), while R56,5m came from other sources including deal-driven campaigns with airline and trade partners and the sale of exhibition space at SA Tourism events. The report also said that amounts of R10m; R12m and R15m have been allocated in the next three financial years to the Tourism Enterprise Programme (TEP) which has created more than 10 000 jobs, assisting 646 black-owned tourism enterprises. The increase in turnover of enterprises assisted by TEP since its inception in July 2000 exceeds R585m. Expenditure on biodiversity and conservation is expected to increase from R215,8m in 2003/04 to R276,8m in 2004/05. Expenditure is expected to increase to R316,7m by 2006/07 and a key reason for this growth has been attributed to funds spent on the Transfrontier Conservation Areas Subprogramme, which is expected to grow at an average of 33,5% per year between 03/04 and 06/07 in order to increase the area of land under conservation and implement the Protected Areas Bill in the medium term. • To view the entire document, go to: www.gov.za , click on Budget Speech on the homepage, click on Estimates of National Expenditure and then scroll down to Economic Services and Infrastructure, click on the Environmental Affairs and Tourism PDF file. (Miguel de Sousa)