'No World Cup accommodation boom'

Cape Town - Most people made the mistake of leaving the marketing of accommodation for the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament in Fifa's hands, and then resting on their laurels, says Calvyn Gilfellan, CEO of Cape Town Routes Unlimited.

The result has been an anticlimax.

Bookings for accommodation in Cape Town and the Western Cape generated by Fifa's accommodation agent Match were not as good as initially anticipated.

In January, Match relinquished the right to let 65 000 available room nights in the host city of Cape Town.

For that reason, says Gilfellan, his company decided to put in a team effort and interlink all marketing efforts for the tournament to arrive at the best possible marketing impact.

These efforts include commitment to a code of responsible pricing, which will this week be signed by players in the local tourism and hospitality industry.

According to Gilfellan, price in particular is the biggest deterrent for prospective visitors to the tournament in the light of the international economic downturn.

Another unexpected trend is the less-than-anticipated interest in attending the tournament coming from people in other African countries.

In contrast the response from America has, surprisingly, been the best.

Apart from the late impact of the global recession on the continent, Gilfellan attributes the smaller amount of interest to an overestimation of the extent to which the digital revolution has advanced in Africa.

He explains that simply because people in Africa often have more than one cellphone, this does not imply that they are well connected to the internet, and Match's marketing effort has principally been online.

He remains optimistic because, since foreign visitors will number less than the estimated 450 000, there will be opportunities for more South Africans to attend matches and find accommodation.

- Sake24.com

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