Accommodation prices slashed in Western Cape for World Cup

The research was conducted amongst the local industry, as well as a predominantly Western Cape accommodation-tracking survey compiled by CapeInfo and endorsed by Cape Town Tourism.

By the end of March this year, 46 percent of Cape Town's hotels, guest houses, B&Bs and self-catering accommodation were booked for the month of June, in comparison to 38 percent for the same period last year and 57 percent in 2008. Hotels received the most bookings, followed by guest houses and self-catering accommodation; while Cape Town's northern suburbs and Helderberg have proved to be the most popular, followed by the Atlantic Seaboard and Blaauwberg Coast, and then the city centre. Overall a slow, but steady increase is experienced.

Prices "adapted"

According to CapeInfo's February 2010 survey, the hospitality industry is adapting its pricing approach. Forty-five percent are now charging the same or less than current peak season rates, compared to 26 percent in January this year, with 12 percent charging their usual off-peak rates compared to January's 6 percent. Those establishments charging 20 percent above peak rates dropped from 23 percent in January to 17 percent in February.

Alan Winde, Western Cape Minister for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism said: "Almost two-thirds of expected World Cup visitors said that they would be heading to Cape Town. To them and others we want to say: we have a variety of affordable accommodation available for you - from five-star right through to backpackers - and a million ways to make the most of the game.

"With matches at the Cape Town Stadium almost sold out, visitors can catch the Cape carnival atmosphere for free at the FIFA Fan Fest with Table Mountain as their backdrop, or they can match-crawl the rest of the city's public viewing areas for a jol with the locals. Between the games, we have a colourful mix of tourist attractions and activities available for international visitors as well as our domestic travellers to make part of their World Cup memories."

Dr Laurine Platzky, 2010 Western Cape co-ordinator, addsed "We understand that 45 percent of World Cup visitors are considering making Johannesburg their base due to the large number of matches taking place around Gauteng.

"We want to encourage them to include Cape Town and the Western Cape in their trip for their most beautiful World Cup moment. A visit to South Africa is simply not complete without it. We're really rolling out the red carpet for our visitors. Besides the numerous infrastructure, road and transport upgrades, service excellence training across the board - from tourism front-desk staff to petrol attendants - is also now in full swing."

Marketing focus changing

Cape Town and the Western Cape's 2010 tourism marketing campaign, Beyond the 90 Minutes, will be intensified during the World Cup. Calvyn Gilfellan, CEO of Cape Town Routes Unlimited, explained: "We will target football fans already in the country, with a specific focus on Gauteng where the majority of teams and spectators from the campaign's key source markets, such as the US, UK and Germany, will be based."

Beyond the 90 Minutes, nearing its third and penultimate phase, Fuelling Exhilaration, has been running since May last year. It encourages international and domestic travellers to go beyond the 90
minutes of the football game and experience the beautiful and diverse travel fun of Cape Town and the Western Cape.

Outside of Cape Town, the Cape Winelands has proved to be the most popular for World Cup accommodation bookings by the end of the March, followed by the Cape Garden Route & Klein Karoo. Three international football teams, their officials and accompanying media will be based in this region, with France and Denmark at Knysna and Japan at George.