{"id":8807,"date":"2010-05-23T11:54:17","date_gmt":"2010-05-23T09:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=8807"},"modified":"2010-05-23T15:28:16","modified_gmt":"2010-05-23T13:28:16","slug":"s-a-government-blasts-fifa-about-world-cup-bookings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/accommodation\/s-a-government-blasts-fifa-about-world-cup-bookings\/","title":{"rendered":"S A Government blasts FIFA about World Cup bookings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In what is an unprecedented attack on FIFA, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, the South African Minister of Tourism, has blasted FIFA over the low number of international visitors coming to attend the World Cup in 18 days from today, reports the Cape Times<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 It is the first attack on FIFA by a member of the South African Cabinet.<\/p>\n

Van Schalkwyk told Parliament that only a quarter of the 44000 tickets which had been allocated for Africa (excluding South Africa) had in fact been sold, and he blamed this on the lack of internet access for bookings to be made by soccer fans in African countries, and the exorbitant prices of the tickets.\u00a0 “This is what I will tell Fifa to improve on when they next host the cup in developing countries: ‘Look at the way you sold tickets in Africa’.\u00a0\u00a0‘Africans do not buy tickets on the internet”, he is said to have added.<\/p>\n

Van Schalkwyk’s outburst is interesting in that S A Tourism, the country’s national marketing tourism marketing agency, did little to make South Africa attractive to international soccer fans – other than some ads on CNN and SKYNews there was little visibility of advertising for this country.\u00a0 Many soccer fans are not English-speaking, or from the UK and USA, and would not have seen the advertising.\u00a0 The pay-off line for South Africa “It’s Possible” is hardly inspiring, exciting\u00a0or informative about what South Africa stands for as a tourism destination.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Van Schalkwyk also criticised MATCH, the FIFA ticketing and accommodation agency, about its strategy to book accommodation at small accommodation establishments, and then cancel the majority of these bookings as late as two months before the start of the World Cup.\u00a0\u00a0 “I think the escape clause in the contracts for accommodation is unfair to small operators.\u00a0 We raised this issue with Fifa from the start”, he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This writer criticised MATCH about the legally worded contract and the MATCH cancellation policy, which did not allow establishments to set their own cancellation terms,\u00a0whilst a Director of FEDHASA Cape, via this WhaleTales Blog<\/strong>, and via the WhaleTales <\/strong>newsletters since 2006.\u00a0\u00a0 For the first time in its history, MATCH booked accommodation at ‘non-hotel’ establishments, at guest houses, B&B’s,\u00a0and self-catering establishments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

POSTSCRIPT:<\/strong>Poor Minister Van Schalkwyk is having a bad time – on Fin24.com <\/strong>today <\/strong>he is quoted as saying he was pained and embarrassed that\u00a0guests were handed scarves with a “Made in China” label on them at a media conference, at which he outlined the country’s tourism strategy going forward, two days ago.<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In what is an unprecedented attack on FIFA, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, the South African Minister of Tourism, has blasted FIFA over the low number of international visitors coming to attend the World Cup in 18 days from today, reports the Cape Times.\u00a0\u00a0 It is the first attack on FIFA by a member of the South […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[7,124,22,21,11],"tags":[2158,130,4840,2140,32378,18,129,4841,534,23,1318,2112,4844,4026,4843,32388,4842,32373,531],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t