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UCT opens its doors for World Cup visitors |
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Thursday, 06 May 2010 14:14 |
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The University of Cape Town (UCT) will be opening its doors as the continent's largest accommodation hub in time for the World Cup kick-off. Head of UCT's 2010 task team, Professor John Simpson, said the university and its huge residence infrastructure were ideally placed to provide comfortable, affordable and secure accommodation to visitors for the duration of the World Cup. Read more: http://www.ioltravel.co.za/article/view/5452133 |
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SA will meet 2010 accommodation needs, says minister |
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Wednesday, 22 July 2009 14:11 |
By Chris Bathembu
Johannesburg - Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk says South Africa will meet FIFA's accommodation requirements during the 2010 World Cup.
"We have enough accommodation in this country and that has always been our argument," the minister told BuaNews on Wednesday.
The minister explained that a distinction should be made between the accommodation that was needed for fans and that needed for the FIFA family, which included players, match officials and FIFA delegates.
He said 155 000 rooms were reserved within the host cities, and an additional 100 000 rooms outside of host cities, which was what FIFA required for the FIFA family.
"What FIFA says is that they want 55 000 contracted rooms," said the minister.
Satellite accommodation was introduced, where people are transported to the matches and back again, however, the minister said it was up to FIFA to find transport to get these people to and from the stadiums.
"We need to sort out the challenges in transport because we have enough accommodation here," said the minister.
He said he was having a meeting with Local Organising Committee Chief Executive Officer Danny Jordaan later on Wednesday to discuss, among other things, the issue of accommodation.
Meanwhile, domestic tourism figures for the country for 2008 have shown that despite the current economic downturn, the South African tourism industry remains buoyant.
Statistics for domestic travel indicate that more South Africans traveled domestically in 2008 than in 2007.
About 46 percent of the adult South African population travelled in 2008, which represents a figure of about 14 million domestic tourists, compared to about 13 million domestic tourists in 2007.
The total annual spend on domestic tourism increased from R20 billion in 2007 to R25.8 billion in 2008, which represents an increase in nominal terms of 29 percent.
"Even when this figure is adjusted for inflation, the real growth in revenue generated from domestic tourism was 17 percent over 2007, which represents healthy growth, especially given that it was achieved under difficult market conditions," the minister said.
However, despite the good news in terms of an increase in domestic tourists and spend, the industry saw a decrease in the number of trips undertaken in 2008.
Domestic trips decreased by 8 percent compared to 2007, with 32.9 million trips being undertaken in comparison to 35.9 million in 2007.
"We have to face these realities, but now that we can quantify the effects of the financial downturn on our tourism industry, we can plan and market better," the minister said.
Minister van Schalkwyk said.the newly formed Tourism Department has been on a countrywide stakeholder tour to consult with role players in the tourism industry about their needs.
"During times it is vital for South African tourism industry to strengthen its marketing campaigns and show South Africans that traveling in the country was still affordable." Source: BuaNews |
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Tshwane ready for Bafana, Uruguay clash |
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Wednesday, 16 June 2010 15:51 |
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Pretoria- The City of Tshwane's free park and ride facilities are ready for this evening's Bafana Bafana match, said the city on Wednesday.
Bafana Bafana takes on Uruguay at 20h30 at the Loftus Versfeld stadium.
"The City's park-and-ride plans haven't changed with the free park-and-ride, park-and-walk system still applying," said City spokesman Console Tleane.
The three park and ride facilities that will be made available to the public is the LC de Villiers Sports Grounds at the University of Pretoria, Unisa and Rugby Sports Union Grounds on the corner of Totius and Welheminah streets.
Fans coming from Johannesburg, Midrand, Ekurhuleni, North West as well as those coming from west of the City (Atteridgeville, Mabopane, Soshanguve, and Rustenburg) are encouraged to make use of the Unisa park and ride facility.
Those from the eastern suburbs of the city are encouraged to use the Rugby Union Sports Grounds. People coming from the north (Hammanskraal and Limpopo) and east (including Mpumalanga) are encouraged to use the LC De Villiers Sports Grounds.
The City of Tshwane will be providing buses to shuttle people to the stadium. All park-and-rides as well as the bus shuttle will be free of charge to match ticket holders.
A park-and-walk facility will be based at the Pretoria Technical High School sport fields on Wessel Street. People with disabilities will be able to utilise Pretoria High School for Girls next to Loftus on Park Street.
The park-and-rides will be manned by the Tshwane Metro Police and Fire Brigade Services while the Metro Police will also guide the fans into the park-and-rides.
Metrorail will provide a park-and-ride by train facility which will operate from the Pretoria Station. Fans will be able to park their vehicles at Salvokop just behind the station and catch a train from Pretoria Station to the Loftus Versfeld precinct.
"In general the City is ready for this big match. We encourage people to start arriving early for the match," said Tleane adding that the park-and-rides will open at 4pm. Source: BuaNews |
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The 2010 accommodation price scorecard |
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Friday, 26 March 2010 14:08 |
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Johannesburg - Research shows that 74 percent of all accommodation establishments in the country are charging reasonable prices, said Minister of Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Friday.
The department commissioned auditing firm Grant Thornton to investigate allegations that some accommodation providers were hiking prices excessively for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The survey found that half of all establishments will not be charging additional premiums.
The survey found that price premiums are a normal occurrence when big events are hosted in a country or city. It found that during these times, normal economic principles of supply and demand come into play.
Van Schalkwyk expressed his satisfaction that the majority of accommodation establishments in South Africa are "acting responsibly".
"I am also pleased to note that the survey found that many operators do recognise the damaging impact that exorbitant accommodation prices will have on the legacy objectives of the 2010 World Cup."
In areas such as Gauteng, the survey found that more establishments are charging higher premiums.
The survey found that 65 percent of the province's establishments were charging over 50 percent above the high season rate of the standard price for accommodation during the event. This was found to be in establishments closer to stadiums.
In the North West, 53 percent of the establishments were charging prices 50 percent over the high season rate while 53 percent of Durban establishments are charging premiums higher than 50 percent compared to 7 percent of establishments in the rest of KwaZulu-Natal.
Van Schalkwyk said his department will continue to discourage excessive premiums when these do occur, saying he has already consulted with the tourism industry in this regard.
For its part, the industry has committed unequivocally to take further steps. A Code of Conduct for major events will be rolled out. In addition, industry will encourage membership of the industry associations in order to extend their reach and influence more stakeholders.
"Given the fact that South Africa is a robust free market economy, fans are encouraged to shop around and avoid establishments with exorbitant pricing in line with our desire that South Africa continues to remain a value-for-money destination," said van Schalkwyk,
The respondents to the survey were accommodation establishments in all nine provinces and included hotels, guest houses, bed and breakfast establishments, lodges, camping and self-catering facilities. A total of 2 479 responses were analysed. Source: BuaNews |
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