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Pretoria - With only 58 days left before the 2010 Fifa World Cup, Fifa's accommodation agent Match has dumped another 300 000 bed nights on the market.
This means that Match now holds only 600 000 of the 1.9 million bed nights it originally reserved for the World Cup.
Brett Dungan, CEO of the Federated Hospitality Association of SA, says it is disappointing.
But he says this is no time to point fingers. The industry must pull together to bring as many people as possible to the tournament at reasonable rates.
Dungan has appealed to all business people who can contribute to the effort by marketing their products through the website Rooms4u.travel.
This website was set up with the support of the department of tourism as a counter to exorbitant accommodation prices.
Prospective visitors can book accommodation and rent cars through the website, and there is also a link to Fifa's website where tournament tickets can be bought.
Dungan says industry leaders specifically insisted that the original contractual release dates be brought forward to prevent hotels standing empty during the tournament - as had happened in Germany in 2006.
He notes that airlines have already reduced prices on flights, and other service providers should now do everything in their power to attract visitors. It was a matter of survival.
Hotels are usually fully booked two months in advance, and the industry needs to do what it has always done.
Dungan believes the markets the industry should focus on are Britain, Germany, Mexico and the US.
Sake24 previously reported that Match released 450 000 bed nights, including timeshare units and practically all of the Kruger National Park stock.
According to Dungan, the bed nights in Mauritius and neighbouring countries were released next.
The industry had hoped that the 900 000 bed nights Match had held on to would be taken up, but Fifa's agent indicated that this would not necessarily be the case.
Dungan reckons the 600 000 still retained by Match will be paid for, even if not all are used every night of the tournament.
This accommodation is mostly in the host cities in three-, four- and five-star hotels close to the stadiums.
- Sake24.com
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