Jury still out on SA Tourism’s Spurs deal

As South Africa waits to see whether the R1 billion sponsorship deal with UK football club Tottenham Hotspur will proceed, the jury is still out on whether a similar sponsorship by Rwanda actually delivered a return on investment.

The country’s dictatorial president, Paul Kagame, says he knows what was spent and what the country is “getting out”… but he won’t give much in the way of detail.

Rwanda Development Board chief executive Clare Akamanzi claims sponsorships of Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) generated over $160 million (about R2.9 billion) in media value.

This had, in turn, brought one million visitors to Rwanda, injecting $445 million in tourism revenues, she adds.

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“These guests not only left Rwanda with positive memories; they also played a direct role in improving peoples’ lives,” says Akamanzi.

Similar justifications – with claims of huge monetary benefits for South Africa – were made about the SA Tourism deal with Spurs.

The appearance of the “Visit South Africa” on one sleeve of the Spurs shirt – and only from the second year of the deal onwards – means the sponsorship will have to do some heavy lifting to deliver anything like a decent return on investment.

Fortunately, SA is still a democracy and we can still object.