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Pretoria - Huge profits are being made from soccer fans and in the process the local tourism industry is being harmed.
But who exactly is responsible, is unclear.
Chris Brothers of the inbound tour operator Brothers Sport has ignited a debate about exorbitant prices in an open letter to the editor of the website Tourism Update. He railed against hotels and other suppliers that are not only increasing their tariffs, but also seriously exploiting regular customers.
Brothers Sport has for the past seven years offered overseas clients travel packages to South African sports events.
Brothers mentions a hotel that would normally charge R600/night during June and July, which is now quoting R3 200/night.
In a conversation with Sake24 he said that a bus that he would normally hire for R5 000 or R6 000/day, will cost him R10 000 to R15 000/day during the tournament.
What is more, his normal supplier can't help, as the supplier's fleet has been leased to the Japanese at "sky-high" prices.
Brothers reckons it is shortsighted to hike prices so outrageously.
Of course prices will rise, but there should be limits, he declares.
He believes the local tourism industry will suffer if the 2010 tourists are exploited in this way.
At the same time, relations between local service providers established over the years could be sacrificed on the altar of short-term profit.
Brothers reckons service providers should follow the examples of low-cost airlines kulula.com and 1time, which are still charging reasonable tariffs.
Carmen Sampayo, who is managing reservations for the African Sky hotel group during the tournament, agrees that prices are being pushed up excessively.
But she says hotels are frequently mistakenly blamed.
Of the R5 200 that a soccer enthusiast has to pay for a room in African Sky's four-star St Georges Hotel in Cape Town during the tournament, the hotel will receive less than half.
According to Sampayo, it is increasingly common for tour operators to reserve rooms and sell them on at a profit.
There are up to 10 players in the middle, she claims, each adding their 10%.
Simon Blackburn of Three Tree Hill Lodge in the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg proposes a blacklist of service providers who are hiking prices excessively, or the publicising of the names of those keeping their prices unchanged.
Kagiso Mosie, spokesperson for the Tourism Business Council of SA, cautions operators against irresponsible price-fixing.
She said that enterprises that are experienced difficulties during the recession are probably trying to make good their losses by raising prices.
She believes that businesses should realise that the country will still be able to draw tourists after the tournament and the country's reputation as a destination offering value for money needs to be preserved.
- Sake24.com
For more business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.
