Contrary to popular belief, the Soccer World Cup has not increased the costs of accommodation during the June/July school holidays. In fact, it could have completely the opposite affect writes Maya Fisher-French.
The truth is that hotels are not as busy as they expected to be. So far, Fifa accomodation arm Match has returned 441 695 beds and a final release is expected on April 10, which is the last date that Match can cancel accommodation without penalties. Hotels around stadiums during matches are nearly sold out, and Johannesburg accommodation is in demand because the teams will be training at altitude, however what is clear is that foreign tourists are not taking the opportunity to tour outside of South Africa’s cities. To compound the woes of the tourist industry, locals are not booking for the June/July holidays because they expect prices to be stratospheric and accommodation unavailable.
Arthur Gillis head of Protea Hotels says the reality is that prices will have to come down. Protea currently has lower than average occupancy rates for school holidays in many of its hotels outside of the cities. Protea has gone on the offensive by advertising school holiday specials online at substantially discounted rates. For example a family of four can spend a three night weekend at the Protea Hotel Imbuvu for R800 per night; that same room during the April holidays is going for R1 221 a night. “South Africans should use this opportunity to explore parts of the country they have never been to before. This will probably be one of the cheapest times families will be able to travel during school holidays,” says Gillis.
This week SAA announced that it would be selling the 45 000 internal flights it received back from Match at a discount, so getting to your holiday destination will not plunder your pocket. A quick review of tickets prices on kulula.com during the tournament shows that outside of the matches, plane tickets, especially to Durban, are extremely reasonable. A one way ticket between Johannesburg and Durban is only R299, flights between Johannesburg and Cape Town are pricier but you can fly for between R700 to R900 one way if you select your dates carefully.
However not all hotels are quite ready to discount during the World Cup. Priya Naidoo, head public relations at Southern Sun said their city hotels are fully booked, but they were still assessing the situation with their leisure hotels like the Drakesburg Sun. “We do not know what the uptake will be and we will evaluate the situation in April once we have had the final release from Match”.
Dylan Rothschild, general manager of South Africa’s largest accommodation website SafariNow, says most hotels were trying to milk the World Cup. “They hiked up their prices and put people off but now they are sitting with vacancies”. Rothschild agrees with Gillis that we could see prices dropping once hotels realise they will be empty during the World Cup, specifically those outside the major cities.
However not everywhere is struggling.
Glenn Philips of SanParks said although they had received back a significant portion of their bed nights from Match, these were taken up by locals immediately and the Kruger Park is now close to fully booked. Philips says a place like the park is for many South Africans a form of pilgrimage and people will go every year, no matter what.
Significantly, SanParks have not increased their prices to take advantage of the World Cup, which is possibly why they have seen such a demand for their accommodation. Philips saids the park is not a bed night but an experience and therefore its promotion through Match was unsuccessful.
“People will come for the event and then leave. Their intention is to come to see football, but hopefully they will come back another time”.
Philip points out that visitors will already be financially stretched just with plane tickets, accommodation near the matches and match tickets, so they just don’t have the pockets to go touring.
However since releasing the beds back on to the website, SanParks did experience a high hit rate from the United States, which would suggest that tourists had done their homework and were not about to be ripped off by Match’s 30% additional fee. Foreigners are just as price sensitive as locals and any establishment that thought they could significantly increase their rates have come short.
So, if you’re planning on taking some time off during the World Cup, watch out for specials towards the end of April, you may be pleasantly surprised.
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