Today’s us soccer fans, like other tourists are not stupid, and many have been doing research on the web, and finding out just how much prices have gone up in June and July in South Africa – and we are not at all happy at what we are being offered. This bad news is getting into the popular press, and this is not encouraging ticket bookings.

From Britain, Germany and the Netherlands, all great soccer countries, reports are coming in of very slow soccer ticket sales — in some cases less than a third of available tickets have been sold. For Germany in 2006, the Sold Out signs were going up by this time.

Given the hype and excitement around the world that greeted the announcement that World Cup2010 was to be held in South Africa, what has gone wrong?

Looking at reasons that have been given by people for not coming, the overwhelming reason is COST!

Not surprising, given the fallout from the economic meltdown that has afflicted the globe. Many people just don’t have spare money to travel these days, and those who do are counting their cash budget carefully. And they can watch the games with their mates down at the local pub.

Besides South Africa being a long-haul destination, it is “winter” there during our northern hemisphere summer. None of these things help, when we should be financially prudent during these stressed economic times.

On a brighter note, the British Football Supporters Federation who are concerned about many of these issues, and have made a very generous offer to list great value properties like http://www.2010camp.com

Interesting, thanks.
Anyone have any info about how safari camps are seeing things?


regards - tom

Hi guys,

As a South African, I have been extremely saddened by the events surrounding the World Cup. Although South Africa is getting a great deal of bad press, it should also be remembered that much of the situation can be attributed directly to a world-wide body called FIFA, and their cronies called MATCH.

These two organisations have basically held South Africa to ransom for their own enrichment. Most establishments were urged to "register" in order to supply accommodation to football supporters, teams and their structures, the media, and FIFA officials. All the hotels and all registered establishments were expected to allocate accommodation exclusively to FIFA/MATCH, who are selling the accommodation at highly inflated prices (up to 400% on top). MATCH also appears to have a one week cancellation option on most or all the accommodation they've block booked, and it appears that they only intend paying for the accommodation some two months after occupation.

Welcome to the world of Big Business (and South Africa appears to be a pawn in the game).

Don't forget that price escalations apply to every country where World Cup and Olympics are held, and it's not unique to SA.

The good news is that there is still accommodation available at reasonable prices, but you need to look around a bit.

There are a number of camping facilities around, camp2010 being one of them (as Gibbon mentioned). I know of one near Pretoria (www.guts.co.za), but there are others.

Many of the safari camps are fully booked already, Tom, but I suspect there are some places available if you check with some of the lesser known ones (there must be well over 300 lodges surrounding Kruger, and another 1000+ around the country). One of my favourite bush lodges near Kruger has a few bed-nights booked, but is still mostly available.

An alternative to look at is "home stays", or exchange programmes (organisations like Round Table, Rotary, etc.).

I consider South Africa to be a very affordable destination generally, but we often fall prey to good marketing ploys, which promote only the most expensive options.

And, Gibbon, don't forget that our "winter" is normally quite mild, and for many local folk, winter is prime holiday season. Our lowest night time temps drop to about freezing (and sometimes below) in the high lying regions, but warm up to 20+ deg. during the day. We generally have no rain. Our Eastern low-lying areas are magnificent destinations in winter (cool and dry). The Southern Cape coastal belt is very different (rain and wind often, but not always). Winter's also considered the best time of the year for wildlife viewing.

Good luck with your searches for places to stay, but they are there.

Shame that the OP appears to be a moderately well-concealed adv't.

Tom, The most popular routing to Maun in Botswana is throgh Joburg, many travelers have found they cannot do a safari in June or July. The hotels in Joburg are either booked solid or else have raised their rates to rediculous levels. Unfortunately, as far as I know, it is not possible to avoid at least one overnight in Joburg when planning a Botswana safari. Others may have alternative booking thoughts but when I was in Botswana last, the camps said the World Cup dates were pretty much wide open.
Chuck

Interesting Chuck. Would not have thought Botswana safari would be impacted but indeed are because of Joburg routing.

As for safari camps, I wonder how many soccer fans are staying at safari camps during matches, Jun 11 - Jul 11? A safari camp at $500 per person night plus the remoteness of many would not seem desirable - at first glance. I mean, you stay at say MalaMala and it takes you 2 hours just to get out to a main SA highway. I could easily understand safari camps being busy immediately before and after the matches.

regards - tom

I suspect that the air fare issue is every bit as imposing as that of overnight accommodation. Fares from Europe and the U.S. from early June through mid-July are $2000-$4000 higher than usual. In April or May, it's possible that airlines may pull back on those prices if they find that seats are unsold, but for now it's a huge extra expense.

(As for avoiding the overnight in Jo'burg, there are British Airways flights from Heathrow and SAA flights from Heathrown and Frankfurt that arrive around 7am, with ample time to make the 10am non-stop to Maun.)

I'm flying to Jo'burg in September. My routing is UA to Sao Paulo, Brazil, then an overnight SAA flight to Jo'burg, arriving at 7:30am, in time for the morning Maun flight. It's a FF ticket, so I'm hoping everything goes smoothly!