With less than a month to go before the kick-off of the FIFA World Cup, Cape Town still has more than half of its room stock to fill and is pulling out all the stops to capture last minute bookings and draw fans based in Gauteng.
 
This emerged at a media briefing in the city on May 17 where provincial tourism MEC, Alan Winde, stressed that, “we are still open for business!”
 
The focus was now on filling the remaining beds by capturing last-minute bookings and enticing those who were still undecided, added Calvyn Gilfellan, ceo of provincial marketer Cape Town Routes Unlimited (CTRU). He said CTRU’s ‘Beyond the 90 Minutes’ 2010 marketing campaign was now targeting overseas fans already based in Gauteng, Gautengers and Western Cape residents. He said an online ‘Web-episode’ campaign, turning visitors into destination ambassadors by enabling them to post their holiday videos online, was already proving to be a huge success.  Ongoing marketing during the tournament would also target fans from different countries as their teams were eliminated.

The Minister said by the end of March, only 46% of Cape Town’s accommodation establishments were booked for June, better than the 38% booked for the same period last year, but worse than the 58% booked in June 2008. The reason? Some 18 new hotels in the city – representing a 40% increase in room stock totaling 26 000 rooms in the CBD and 50 000 rooms in greater Cape Town. This was resulting in more competitive pricing. Research showed that 45% of accommodation providers in February were charging the same or less than their peak season rates, compared with 26% in January. The Minister said empty rooms were also the result of fewer than expected visitors as a result of the worldwide economic downturn, Cape Town being a long-haul destination, the exchange rate, and unscrupulous operators hiking their prices - a situation the Western Cape industry addressed by signing a responsible pricing code earlier this year. He felt FIFA should also have made it easier to buy tickets online. In addition, 45% of fans would be based in Gauteng around where most matches would be played, although 63% had indicated they would also shortly visit Cape Town.