Tag Archives: Moeketsi Mosola

Tour Operators clash with MATCH

It would appear that Tour Operators too are clashing with MATCH, the FIFA accommodation and ticketing agency for World Cup 2010, according to a report on TravelHub.

Smaller tour operators have been slow to sign up with MATCH, and have complained about calls not being answered and not returned, and that the MATCH Tour Operator Programme does not make sense.  

S A Tourism CEO Moeketsi Mosola will take up the Tour Operator issues at the next meeting of the 2010 Local Organising Committee Tourism Forum.

MATCH is on again!

 

At an industry presentation in Cape Town last week, Vivienne Bervoets, Senior Accommodation Manager of the FIFA Accommodation Office, described the publicity surrounding S A Tourism and MATCH as unfortunate, and said that it had damaged MATCH’s marketing.  She intimated that S A Tourism had wanted to protect the industry’s interests, when it did not wish them to be protected!   She indicated in question time that the MATCH accommodation pricing formula was now completely flexible, and that every establishment could set its 2010 pricing at the “fair” level it wishes to.  

 This is a major breakthrough for the small accommodation industry, and reflects the power of resistance and critique, which has been expressed in the past two years.  WhaleTales has been very vocal in its criticism of the MATCH pricing.     What is odd is that the wording in the MATCH contract regarding pricing has not been amended, and therefore unsuspecting establishments may still use the pricing formula of 2007 rates + 16 %, as specified in the contract.   No other aspects of the MATCH contract are flexible. Soccer fans wanting to buy tickets for the 2010 World Cup matches are not obligated to buy accommodation via MATCH.  MATCH and S A Tourism met last week, moderated by Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism

 

 

  Both parties reached a “common understanding”,  S A Tourism CEO Moeketsi Mosola said. ” S A Tourism will continue to work with MATCH based on fair pricing and terms in an effort to make the 2010 Soccer World Cup a success.”    In the meeting fair accommodation pricing and terms, a transparent tour operator programme, and the implementation of a tourism advisory forum were discussed ..  

 

Van Schalkwyk said: “The tourism industry has a very good working relationship with FIFA and MATCH.   We remain committed as partners to assist MATCH in achieving their target and we will continue to encourage players in the industry to sign up their facilities.   Our working relationship is one of mutual respect and partnership and I would like to encourage all role players to ensure that nothing detracts from this.”    No details have been released to the industry as to the specifics of the discussions between MATCH and S A Tourism.

S A Tourism resigned its seat on the Advisory Board of MATCH, the FIFA accommodation and ticketing agency, early last month.   Mosola expressed his dissatisfaction with MATCH’s pressure on the pricing of accommodation for 2010.  He motivated his organisation’s withdrawal from the Board on the basis of the “unfavourable trading terms placed on local accommodation establishments.   As we move towards 2010, we want you to know (as the South African tourism industry) that we at S A Tourism are on your side”, Mosola told the delegates at the 7th Annual National Tourism Conference in Johannesburg.   He added that MATCH should be expected to pay market related prices for accommodation.    Mosola highlighted that MATCH was using “bullying tactics” to move block bookings made with hotels at the time of the bid announcement across to MATCH, according to TravelHub.  
He said that the threat by MATCH to bring in cruise ships for additional accommodation, and it stating to FIFA that the country was short of accommodation,  was an unacceptable means of getting tour operators to release their accommodation holdings to MATCH.   He added that S A Tourism was defending the rights and interests of the tourism industry, and felt that it could communicate more effectively with MATCH from outside its Board than from within.
The MATCH contract set the 2010 accommodation rates utilising a formula of the 2007 rate + 16 %.  The inflation rate this year alone is 13 % !  MATCH then adds on its 40 % commission fee to this rate.MATCH has not used the small accommodation industry for any previous World Cup event.    

Marketing key in tourism downturn

Destination marketing takes on an even more important role in times of a global financial crisis, so that a country can achieve awareness amongst its target market when the global economy recovers.

This is the message S A Tourism CEO Moeketsi Mosola brought to the tourism industry this week, after the August arrival statistics were released. and reflected a slowdown in the arrivals growth rate, to 6 %.   Tourism growth has been double-digit in the past.

Mosola warned the industry of difficult times ahead, and said that the industry should not lose heart, even though he acknowledged that the arrivals information indicated that the credit crunch was affecting tourism for the first time.   “The industry at large was reporting its worst results since the outbreak of SARS in 2003” says the S A Tourism media release, but is in line with global tourism market conditions.

In line with its destination market strategy to aggressively market the country in general, and especially for the run-up to the 2010 World Cup, S A Tourism will be launching advertising campaigns on CNN, BBC, Eurosport and in cinemas in 2009.   It already has a regular presence on SkyNews, showing a hot air balloon over a beautiful landscape.

Mosola encourages the industry to use the downturn to invite the media and tour operators to experience their products and services, and the country’s “variety and depth of travel experiences South Africa offers leisure travellers”, to be ready for the upturn.    He also encourages the industry to focus on domestic marketing.

Just a week prior, S A Tourism’s Didi Moyle had said that her organisation was “monitoring the economic turmoil ‘closely’, but that there had been no decline in tourism arrivals to South Africa”, reports the Cape Argus.   She had said that the credit crunch could be positive for South Africa, due to the undervalued Rand, but that fewer tourists would visit South Africa as they would rather travel in their own countries.

Arrivals in August showed good growth from France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium, India, USA, Canada, and Australia, whilst it was flat for the UK and Germany, two of the three most important overseas source markets making up just less than half a million visitors.    Arrivals from China, Japan, and Italy also were relatively flat.   Only Japan showed a decline in arrivals, by 3 %.

S A Tourism Sweet and HBR Human Resources Sour Service Award

The third Sweet Service Award goes to S A Tourism, and Its CEO Moeketsi Mosola specifically, for taking a  brave stand against FIFA accommodation and ticketing agency MATCH on behalf of the local accommodation industry, by resigning from the MATCH Advisory Board.   Mosola expressed his dissatisfaction with the “bullying tactics” that MATCH is using to set unrealistic accommodation rates for 2010, and to pressurise establishments to sign up.    

The third Sour Service Award goes to HBR Human Resources, for supplying a fraudulent CV for a candidate, who had been fired by her previous employer but did not state this in the CV, and inflated the income of the candidate by 55% above her last salary.  When the candidate was confronted with the information,  she blamed HBR for the deceit, saying that she had been advised to be deceitful so that she could get the job, and so that the agency could earn its commission.   When the unethical action of the HBR staff member was revealed, Tracey Hibbert, its Operations Manager, called to beg for forgiveness, saying that disciplinary action would be taken against her employee.  She said that she would not charge for the placement fee as an apology, and would find a replacement for the candidate.    When the candidate left after a month,  Ms Hibbert was contacted, and her offer taken up for a replacement.  In the two months to date, the agency sent only two CV’s for the replacement, one candidate deciding to stay with her current employer, and the other accepting a position before she could be invited for an interview.     As a replacement was urgently required, Ms Hibbert was contacted again.  Her response was that there are no suitable candidates available now as it is the busy season, and if she had to search for a suitable replacement, she would have to charge, which was contrary to her initial promise.   HBR Human Resources has breached the Codes of Conduct of APSO and of FEDHASA Cape, the logos of both associations featuring prominently on its website.   In its response, the company has admitted its staff member’s unprofessional conduct, and has offered to find a replacement within the next four months after all!

 

The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog.  Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at info@whalecottage.com.