Tourism levy collection for 'Marketing South Africa'

Abstract

Governments around the world implement tourism taxes as a means of generating revenue to promote their respective destinations. South Africa introduced a voluntary tourism tax to raise additional funds for destination marketing. This paper focuses on the stationary tourism levy collectors’ base, a growing concern for revenue collection and tourism marketing. This study aided previous studies using stepwise logistic regression to unravel the determinants of tourism tax/levy collection in Gauteng-graded accommodation establishments. The descriptive statistics showed that most establishments collecting tourist taxes are from Tshwane. About 55% of these establishments are hotels registered as small and medium enterprises with white ownership. Determinants of tourism levy collection are levy rates, lack of transparency in levy usage, and murky levy collection processes that limit the likelihood of collecting the levy and revenue base. Extensive marketing for levy collection, clarity in levy usage, and training of levy administrators are necessary to increase levy collection.