MS Noordam | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

The countdown to the last 100 days to the largest sports event ever to be hosted by South Africa starts today. FIFA has given South Africa 8/10 for its readiness to host the World Cup, with only 100 days left for it to become 10/10, reports the Cape Argus.

A whirlwind visit by the FIFA and Local Organising Committee top executives and 120 local and international journalists of all ten the World Cup host cities has focused attention on the status of the preparations for the event.

1. The Cape Town Stadium is completed, and two test events which have taken place in the stadium went off reasonably smoothly. FIFA Secretary-General Jerome Valcke heaped praise on Cape Town for its stadium yesterday, and he said that the city stadium pitch should be the benchmark for all stadiums. Valcke also said that “Cape Town will be the perfect place to be during the World Cup.” He lauded the Cape Town Stadium, and said that it would attract many thousands of soccer fans, even after the completion of the World Cup.

The pitch at Mombela Stadium in Nelspruit is currently a sandpit, but will be ready for the June start.

2. The roads in most host cities and highways leading to them, have been significantly improved, and should be completed by April. The roads in Cape Town in particular will be transformed, with the N1 and the N2 both having more lanes, and previous traffic blockages such as Hospital Bend on the N2 will be something of the past soon. Even in the city centre, the roads and pavements have been radically improved in Green Point, close to the Cape Town Stadium, making it a pleasure to drive past the Stadium to get to the Waterfront, and to walk in the area.

The roads around the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg and the Mombela Stadium in Nelspruit are still in a poor condition.

3. Bookings seem to have slowed down to a trickle as far as accommodation is concerned, and this is FIFA’s current largest challenge, in that international media are reporting negatively about the “rip-off” pricing in South Africa and the level of crime. These two factors appear to be the major deterrents to soccer fans attending the matches. Accommodation in a leading suburb like Camps Bay in Cape Town, a 10 minute drive from Cape Town Stadium, is about 50 % booked for the World Cup. MATCH, FIFA’s accommodation agency, has been severely criticised for creating the image of “rip-off pricing”, by adding 30 % commission to all its package components, including accommodation, tickets, flight tickets, and transport.

4. FIFA’s is expanding the number of low cost tickets it is making available to South Africa, and denies lowering the price of its category 3 and 4 ticket prices offered to South Africans. But tickets are not selling as they should, meaning that the estimate of 450000 international soccer fans attending the World Cup will not be achieved, meaning more locals will make up the viewership, but will not be using the hospitality facilities which have been pitched at international soccer fans. More tickets could be made available at lower prices closer to the start of the World Cup.

5. Excitement in South Africa about the World Cup remains low, and in fact appears to have reduced in interest since the Final Draw of 4 December. This follows the news that the international soccer fans will not be attending as expected, and that top international trainers are expressing their resistamce and restentment to FIFA for choosing South Africa and maybe even Africa as the host country for the first time ever.

6. What was meant to be an African World Cup, stressed to be such by FIFA President Sepp Blatter over and over again, appears to be a South African World Cup. Due to a reduced demand of accommodation, MATCH is not using accommodation in neighbouring countries or in Mauritius, as previously threatened. Worst of all is that ticket sales to soccer fans in African countries are extremely low (about 2 %), due to the difficulty in making bookings via the internet in African countries, and the low ownership of credit cards on this continent.

7. What is missing is a campaign of support, to enthuse South Africans to be positive about the World Cup, and to be friendly and generous to soccer fans. In Germany an advertising campaign was launched in the last few months prior to the start of the World Cup 2006, with the slogan :”Die Welt zu Gast bei Freunden” (The world at home with friends), to encourage the generally stiff Germans to reach out and welcome soccer fans from around the world. The campaign was particularly successful in uniting East and West Germans at the time. Plans to teach locals foreign languages such as Spanish and French, and to guide them in regard to cultural differences, have not been followed through. Volunteers have been interviewed but not appointed. Some of them will be appointed for their foreign language skills, and for their knowledge of their city. But time is running thin, to train them as to how to deal with the calibre of such an event.

8. What will give the marketing of the World Cup a much-needed boost will be the attendance of the World Cup by VIP’s : those that appear likely to attend include President Obama; Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder; top businessperson Lakshmi Mittal; Businessperson and Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich; Charlize Theron, who assisted with the Final Draw in December; Victoria Beckham, who is said to have rented an apartment in Camps Bay rather than join the England team in Rustenburg; rapper Akon and possibly Lady Gaga; Franz Beckenbauer, previous German star soccer player and trainer, will spend the first five days of the World Cup on the MS Noordam outside Durban, reports The Times.

Cape Town celebrates the 100-day countdown with a demonstration of the Diski Dance at Cape Town Stadium, organised by Cape Town Tourism.

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

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]