Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

As MATCH is unable to fill the missing 15 000 beds it requires to accommodate FIFA’s officials, sport teams and ticket package holders, it has made the shock announcement that it is letting go of its requirement that 2010 World Cup accommodation must be graded by the Tourism Grading Council, reports the Southern African Tourism Update.

MATCH requires 55 000 rooms, and has contracted 40 495 rooms to date, of which 75 % are hotel rooms and 25 % small accommodation rooms.

The report says that MATCH will use its “discretion” to select non-graded accommodation for the event. The Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Tourism and MATCH will be amended to reflect the grading requirement change.

However, Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk was adamant that he preferred that graded accommodation be used: “The South African government neither supports nor promotes the use of non-graded accommodation establishments. Furthermore, the South African government respects the right of all accommodation establishments, whether graded or not, to choose whether they want to contract with MATCH or not”. These are interesting words, reflecting the Minister’s understanding of the resistance to MATCH by the small accommodation sector, regularly reported by WhaleTales in this blog.

In the media statement, MATCH reiterated that it will not contract private homes, an initiative driven by Seeff and Pam Golding estate agencies.

FEDHASA National CEO Brett Dungan addressed the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee last week, and trashed the Sunday Times report of a week prior, which described the resistance from the small accommodation sector to FIFA’s “MATCH-fixing”. Southern African Tourism Update reports that Dungan said that MATCH requires “100 000 rooms”, clearly an exaggeration of the FIFA accommodation requirement. Dungan is also quoted as saying that only 13 % of small accommodation establishments have contracted with MATCH, which, if correct, reflects how deep the distrust of MATCH is by small establishments. Dungan also is quoted as saying that a 20 % commission is a standard fee to pay when receiving business from tour operators. Once again he appears to be poorly informed, as MATCH is taking a 30 % (not 20 %) commission on top of the 2010 accommodation rates, a most exceptionally high rate. Dungan did acknowledge that there would not be enough accommodation in each of the towns and cities with 2010 soccer stadia, according to the report.

One of the solutions to general accommodation during June and July 2010 is cruise ships, not for MATCH, but for soccer fan groups and individuals. The QE2 from Dubai was reported to have requested docking in the Cape Town harbour, but Minister van Schalkwyk had strongly rejected the request, saying that South African accommodation establishments should be supported.

The latest news on cruise ships is that a German based company Moltke Promotion GmbH, through its subsidiary One Ocean Club, has partnered with IKapa Tours & Travel. The MS Noordam is reported by Southern African Tourism Update to be based in Durban harbour, accommodating soccer fans, who will be taken to Port Elizabeth for the quarter final, and for the third and fourth place play-off. The MS Westerdam will be based in Port Elizabeth for the first half of the soccer tournament, and then will be cruising between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town in the second half.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio www.whalecottage.com]

The Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs as well as the CEO of S A Tourism are sending out messages of hope to the tourism industry, given the global credit crunch.

Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk is quoted in TravelHub as follows: “Our industry is by no means immune to the effects of the international economic crisis, but we are still confident that we will reach our target of 10 million visitors in 2010. Our country continues to be a value-for-money destination and with international events like the Confederations Cup and World Cup lined up, there will be opportunities in abundance and tourism will retain the important role it plays in our economic growth.”

Tourist arrivals in the first eight months of 2008 showed a 5 % increase, compared to 8 % in the same period a year before.

SA Tourism CEO Moeketsi Mosola urged the tourism industry to not “panic”, even though 2009 will be a challenging year. He projected tourism growth to reduce to 2 % this year, with hotel bookings already down by 25 – 30 %, reports TravelHub. “This is a time of opportunity for South Africa to catch up with other destinations. When everybody in the world withdraws (from markets), we must move in,” he said, speaking at a conference in Somerset West.

The first six months of 2009 will be busy, he said, with an Australian cricket tour in February/March; the SAA Open golf championships in February; a British Lions tour in June/July; the Confederations Cup in June; and the elections in April. Mosola is confident that the 2010 World Cup will the biggest success story ever for South Africa.