Commenting in a press release on the prices of hotel and other accommodation in Cape Town and other South African cities for the 2010 World Cup, Michael Doubinski, General Manager, of prestigious international booking portal HotelsCombined.com has stated that :“for the first time, the highly anticipated 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament is failing to boost inbound tourism and failing to meet its 16% quota of South Africa’s US$11B revenue target.” “We’ve never expected the hotel industry to drop prices during a peak sporting event. It’s most unusual that prices have dropped this significantly."
We are sure that visitors to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup will welcome the news of reduced accommodation prices , because with only a week to go before the start of the tournament, we are still receiving enquiries for affordable self catering accommodation which is within easy access of the city and the stadium. We have previously written on the independent survey conducted by a reputable audit firm commissioned by the Department of tourism which showed that the non-hotel accommodation sector of Cape Town was responsible in its pricing from the outset and did not seek to exploit this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If you are still looking for accommodation in South Africa during the period of the tournament you should take the opportunity to make good use of the Internet where you will undoubtedly find bargain rates at this time.
Mr. Doubinski may be correct about the slashing of prices; but his statement that the World Cup tournament is failing to boost inbound tourism is sure to be strongly rejected by the Department of Tourism and by the many other bodies involved in the industry. Whilst the recession, air fares and other factors may have contributed to the number of visitors being significantly less than anticipated there will be an undoubted increase in tourism during what is the low season in South Africa, and the economic benefits to our country in these recessionary times will be significant.
We believe that the benefits to inbound tourism in Cape Town will be experienced over the next few years because of the positive perception that will be created to more than 1 billion people watching the matches on their TV screens.
Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (Fedhasa) and the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (Satsa) have issued a joint statement, explaining the circumstances surrounding the release of so much accommodation contracted by MATCH for the FIFA 2010 World cup. Match was officially mandated by soccer's governing body FIFA to provide accommodation during the tournament and initially contracted accommodation for 450 000 visitors. The release claimed that original impression that there were not enough accommodation rooms available stemmed from the fact that South Africa did not have a national accommodation database and that projections of visitors have declined from 450,000 to around 300,00. They stated “the impression that there were insufficient rooms to meet the needs of the event was not created by MATCH nor FIFA but by all stakeholders in the industry as well as by the media”. The press release went on to blame the global recession and high airfares for the lower than expected turnout of Soccer World Cup tourists. Their press release states that "Had it not been for the global recession we have faced during the critical reservation periods of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, South Africa would have secured a significantly higher level of visitors, which in turn would have necessitated the full use of all room inventory."
I am sure that those of us who did not choose to do so , but chose to rely upon our own Internet marketing efforts will feel vindicated.
New surveys have shown that visitors prefer to stay in close proximity to the stadium during the World Cup tournament and their bookings in suburbs further out tend to be disappointing. For this reason if you have still not booked accommodation you should look for bargains such as that offered by Horizon Holiday Cottages into beautiful coastal Valley suburb of Noordhoek where 50% discount is being offered on the published rates for stays of four or more days during the World Cup. Whilst this rural country village suburb may be a little further out, guests who stay there will have the pleasure of driving in just 40 minutes to the stadium over Chapman’s Peak drive, said by many to be the most spectacular and beautiful coastal scenic drive in the world.
Enquire now on the website : http://www.horizoncottages.co.za/
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