If accepted the departure tax would be introduced by the end of the year to replace the existing "bed levies" collected from guests by establishments on behalf of government, Satour executive director Michael Farr said yesterday.

The tax will be charged in addition to an airport tax of R122 on international flights and R39 on domestic flights for the upgrading and maintenance of SA's airports.

The bed levies raised between R22m and R26m, and were collected on a voluntary basis by establishments which were Satour-graded.

"It has been estimated that an international departure tax of between $10 and $15 would earn government between R90m and R120m," Farr said.

Government and the tourism industry believed that a departure tax was the easiest to administer, he said.

Satour had several problems collecting the bed levies from hotels. "There is currently about R600,000 outstanding from 289 accommodation establishments," he said.

The proposal of the departure tax followed complaints by the hotel industry that the bed levy system was not equitable and threats that hotels would not collect the levy next year.

Farr said the current thinking was that Satour would receive 50% of the departure tax; that 30% would go to the provinces to promote tourism; and 20% would go towards the development of tourism nationwide.

SA earned about R12.5bn in foreign exchange from tourism, while Satour received R64m from government. The rest of its R102m budget was obtained from the bed levy and from money generated by the organization. Of the R102m, 55% was spent on administration and 45% on promoting SA.