Johannesburg -
South African soccer and tourism officials on Thursday warned
hotels, airlines and restaurants not to scare off future tourists
by hiking prices during next year's World Cup.
With some 500 000 tourists expected to descend upon South Africa
in mid-2010 and spend an estimated $850m during the
monthlong tournament, tourism officials say they fear visitors will
by put off by exorbitant costs as hotels and guest lodges raise
their prices.
Media reports have said that some hotels are planning to charge
as much as $250 for a basic room that normally would be $100 to
$150. Other reports point to homes along Cape Town's exclusive
Atlantic seaboard renting for $1 000 to $35 000 a day - with one
house reportedly renting for a whopping $1m for the duration
of the tournament.
But Cape Town-based tourism official Calvyn Gilfellan said
viewing the tournament as a cash cow will harm South Africa's
burgeoning tourism industry. Up to 290 000 extra visitors are
expected to come over the five years after the tournament because
of South Africa's heightened visibility, and Gilfellan said
price-gouging could scare them off.
"We are extremely concerned," he told The Associated Press. "It
would be like killing the goose that laid the golden egg."
Gilfellan is head of Cape Town Routes Unlimited, which oversees
tourism in the seaside city and the surrounding Western Cape
province, known for its vineyards and beaches, making it one of the
country's top tourist destinations.
Cape Town will host several matches, including one semifinal. It
expects 150 000 visitors on match days.
Euphoria over winning the rights to host the first World Cup in
Africa has started to evaporate amid concerns over rising stadium
construction costs and locals' worries that Fifa's sponsorship
deals and marketing restrictions will not benefit them.
After initial fears that Fifa's booking agent, MATCH, would not
be able to secure 55 000 rooms, event organisers have said there
will be enough accommodation.
Friday's draw
Other concerns include infrastructure and transport challenges,
and South Africa's notoriously high crime rate. Official government
figures list up 50 murders a day, but World Cup organizers say the
country has recruited more than 140 000 extra police, with 100 000
more in reserve, backed up by more vehicles and water cannons.
But those concerns appeared to be momentarily blinded by the
arrival this week of stars like English soccer-player David Beckham
and South African actress Charlize Theron, who jetted into Cape
Town for Friday's draw.
"(The World Cup) is enormously important for South Africa,"
Helen Zille, Western Cape premier, said Wednesday at the start of
official events for the draw. "It's the biggest event in the world
and its our chance to dispel the Afro-pessimism that grips the
world still."
The normally sleepy Cape Town, famed for its striking Table
Mountain, is getting a taste of times to come with the arrival of
hundreds of foreign journalists and international soccer officials.
Roads are closed and there is heavy traffic.
The main subject among locals and visitors alike: whether they
are getting value for their money.
World Cup organisers say they are doing everything they can to
ensure that.
"We want fair prices, we want quality services," World Cup organising committee chief
executive Danny Jordaan told Associated Press Television News on
Wednesday. "We want returning visitors and tourists and the only
way we can get that is if people feel a sense of fairness in the
prices."
- Sapa-AP