WHILE approximately R2,8m is being raised each month for the Tourism Business Council of South Africa's (TBCSA) Tourism Marketing South Africa (TOMSA) levy, records indicate that many small and medium-sized businesses have not joined the levy scheme.
This emerged in a letter sent out to the tourism industry by Mark Perl, recruitment consultant to the TBCSA, in which he urges these businesses to join the scheme to "avoid the risk of SA losing out on a global scale due to local apathy".
"If we cannot show a united front to government in supporting this levy, then it will not take this valuable public/private sector partnership seriously and will see little value in consulting with us further."
Perl adds that the 1% levy is negligible compared with the 2-7% levy for regular travellers abroad.
Levy details are available on the TBCSA website - click on their banner advert or the link to the site on Travel Now by clicking on the 'Advertisers' list.
(Adele Mackenzie)