HOPES that Garden Route guesthouses and hotels would be overflowing during the soccer World Cup have been dashed after Fifa drastically cut back on official accommodation.
The number of international fans expected to attend the June tournament has also been revised down, from 450000 to 150000.
Match, Fifa’s official provider of accommodation, has cancelled 65000 bed nights in the Western Cape and 441695 nationally, prior to the April deadline after which a cancellation deadline will apply.
“This has had a devastating effect on morale,” George Tourism head Ludrick Barnard said yesterday.
Barnard said that at a 2010 district committee meeting last week, provincial co-ordinator Laurine Platsky said realistic figures showed that only about 150000 international fans would attend the games in June, compared to the 450000 originally expected.
“The reality is that the Garden Route was declared a Matchville – where fans could buy package accommodation and transport, because it was perceived there would be a shortage of accommodation in Gauteng, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. It was for this reason that many accommodation providers contracted to Match, but now all accommodation in outlying areas has been released,” said Barnard.
The Western Cape areas worst affected by the Match move were the West Coast and other outlying areas, including the Garden Route.
George guesthouse owner Colin Horn was among those who had contracted to Match. “Everyone on the Garden Route who contracted to Match has had their bookings cancelled,” he said.
Horn felt that the worldwide economic recession had hit European travellers hard and this, coupled with negative press over airline price-fixing, exorbitant prices for both accommodation and tickets, and the attack on the Togo soccer team at the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, was influencing fans’ decisions.
“The bottom line is that we need bums in beds to survive. I think that nearer to the time there could be an abundance of tickets and cheaper fares or accommodation, which could influence fans to fly out for the games at short notice. I certainly hope so.”
Ted Laverty, who owns a guesthouse near Fancourt which is hosting the Japanese team, said he had opted out of Match, “preferring to get direct bookings”. But he had only had one or two inquires, he said.
According to Barnard, the 2010 committee was looking at other strategies to bring visitors to the Garden Route. “We are not sitting back and will now look at the domestic market, like getting people from Gauteng down here and giving them lots of things to do.”
The hospitality industry as a whole is under pressure because the expected flood of visitors is not materialising. Auction Alliance head Rael Levitt said this week that he expected to see several large hotels come under the hammer in the next few months. The Keurbooms Hotel and Chalets would be auctioned on February 11.
Concerned about the perception that accommodation establishments in the Western Cape were overpriced, Finance, Tourism and Economic Development MEC Alan Winde ordered that a survey of accommodation availability and pricing be completed by next Monday. This followed a meeting between government and the tourism sector.
“We need to obtain objective data so that we can develop a clear sense of whether we are indeed overpricing ourselves, or whether this is a perception caused by media hype and an unscrupulous minority of the accommodation industry,” Winde said yesterday.
He was adamant the Western Cape should maintain its reputation as a value-for-money destination. “We are concerned that the current perception of pricing will impact negatively on the tourism industry. (The World Cup) could drive our economy for the next 10 years. But it can only do that if people leave South Africa with a good perception.”
Additional reporting by: Janine Oelofse
Source: The Herald
