Hotels report nothing extraordinary ahead of World Cup

TSHIRELETSO MOTLOGELWA
Staff Writer | Friday April 16, 2010 00:00

Hotel bookings, the usual standard for determining turnout figures for high profile events like the World Cup, have not shown any marked change going into May, indicating that the build-up to the world's biggest football showpiece to be held nearby are yet to be felt in Botswana.

 Bruce Page-Wood, the regional Director for Peermont Global in Botswana, says at their hotels, the Grand Palm, Mondior and Metcourt Inn in Gaborone and Francistown and Walmont at the Grand Palm, they are yet to experience any upsurge in bookings related to the World Cup. 'Our hotels do not show any additional bookings when comparing with our normal bookings,' says Page-Wood. 'So there is no positive impact from the World Cup.'

The Marketing and Banqueting Manager for Gaborone Hotel, Ishmale Matumba, speaks of the same experience as Page-Wood. 'There is a lot of hype relating to the World Cup but we are yet to see that hype turning into actual bookings,' he says. However, Matumba is optimistic that there could yet be a change in the coming months: 'We are hoping that next month (May) things will pick up.'Accommodation providers, like other service providers, have been preparing for an influx of visitors relating to the World Cup in South Africa. Alongside Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho and Mauritius are South Africa's other neighbours that expected to benefit from extra beds to accommodate the close to 300, 000 estimated visitors for the soccer extravaganza.

South Africa can only accommodate just over 200, 000. However, despite its proximity to the host country, Botswana lost out on the chance to become a FIFA-accredited host for some of the visitors. The island of Mauritius seems to be the only country that has emerged with a clear, specific and direct role and that also meets some of the criteria set by FIFA.

Botswana failed to qualify for consideration of becoming a Match Ville, which requires a country to at least have 1,000 rooms in one large concentrated area as found on a beachfront. While Gaborone does have more than 1,000 rooms, the facilities are too sporadic to meet FIFA requirements.

Delays in the construction and completion of a new Holiday Inn Hotel in the new Gaborone CBD and a four-star hotel at Phakalane Golf Estate did not help Botswana's chances. Initially, construction of both hotels, which is still ongoing, was scheduled for completion by March 2010.

Only 300 kilometres separate Gaborone from Rustenburg, where England will be based. The source of 70 percent of the world's platinum will stage six matches during the World Cup, starting with the opening Group C clash between England and the United States on June 12.

That will be the first of five group games, with the Group D tie between Ghana and Australia another highlight, while the Round of 16 match pits the winners of Group C, which includes Slovenia and Algeria, against the runners-up in a Group D made up by Germany and Serbia. In addition, the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace will also host New Zealand against Slovakia (15 June), Mexico vs. Uruguay (June 22) and Denmark against Japan (June 24).

Despite the authorities' failure to lure visitors to the country, Batswana have emerged as leading applicants in Africa for the 2010 World Cup tickets after the third ticketing phase closed. According to FIFA, Botswana has registered the highest number of applicants for the tickets at 2, 519. Mozambique is second with 1,795, followed by Namibia's 1,191.

The United States leads the ticketing standings for the third phase with 50,217 applications, followed by the UK with 41, 529. Australia is third with 15, 523 inquiries while Mexico is fourth after making 14, 804 applications. The last phase will begin on April 15 when ticketing centres will be opened in each host city for fans to buy tickets over the counter