Fifa needs 200 000 beds

Bloemfontein - As things stand, 2010 World Cup tourists travelling from all over the world may end up wandering the streets of Johannesburg looking for a place to sleep, said Danny Jordaan, head of the 2010 Fifa World Cup Local Organising Committee.

Speaking at the Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut's national congress in Bloemfontein on Wednesday, Jordaan responded to the local tourism industry's reservations about registering with Match, Fifa's accommodation agent, aimed at providing accommodation for visitors to the 2010 Fifa World Cup soccer tournament.

"The challenge is this: If we sell two million of the three million tickets for this tournament overseas, we have to provide accommodation for each one of these ticket-holders. And we don't have it yet," Jordaan said.

He said it would be safer for visitors to finalise their accommodation before they arrive in South Africa, saying this is the reason why accommodation suppliers should register with Match.

But he is also willing to engage with providers of unregistered accommodation.

"It [registration] is the responsible thing to do - but if there are other ways of dealing with the issue, we'll be glad to hear about them," Jordaan said.

Jordaan said that South Africa still needs 200 000 beds to accommodate soccer tourists.

"Regardless of whether accommodation is rated or not, whether it's accredited with Match or not, we must find 200 000 beds. If there is more accommodation available that we don't know about, we would like to hear about it, because we need more beds."

Referring to satellite accommodation for visitors in cities like Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth, Jordaan said it's preferable to accommodate large numbers of visitors in the same area.

"But we know we won't be able to do that in this country. We realise we will have to look further afield and that there are implications that have to be addressed."

"The further away people sleep from the stadiums, the more transport we will need. There are also other challenges. The security network has to be expanded. Internet connections have to go further."

"You can't say to the visitors you have to stay in this town, but, sorry, there's no internet. They won't like that." Jordaan challenged the hospitality industry to work with Fifa to find solutions to these problems.

- Sake24.com

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