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World Cup to disrupt local travel
March 19, 2010
Domestic tourism during the extended school holidays is almost certain to be hit by the competing demand for travel and accommodation from thousands of foreign visitors for the World Cup, according to advisory firm Grant Thornton and Michael Tatalias, the director of the SA Tourism Services Association (Satsa).
Many South African families, particularly in Gauteng, are expected either to stay at home or to make long trips to neighbouring countries instead of visiting local destinations. Local business travel is also expected to be affected during the cup.
Tatalias expected domestic tourism would be affected in the summer season too, with many local families taking shorter holidays than usual because of the expenditure they would have incurred in long cross-border trips in June and July and because of shorter than usual December holidays.
But he pointed out that some less well known domestic tourism destinations, where there was little World Cup activity, might benefit from being "discovered" by local families.
And Gillian Saunders, the director of Grant Thornton Strategic Solutions, said although "the regular domestic holiday business linked to school holidays will be displaced", the economy would enjoy long-term benefit as "the legacy of the World Cup will continue way beyond the month of the soccer games".
Saunders said: "There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that South Africans who are not staying at home will be travelling farther afield to destinations such as Namibia, Mauritius and the Seychelles. Host cities like Cape Town and Durban will swap domestic holiday business for Word Cup demand.
"Travelling inter-city for business purposes will also drop off significantly due to congestion and inflated prices. Local business travel will almost cease unless absolutely necessary. This will be a welcome development as we need the hotel rooms and rental car pool for tourist use."
However, she pointed out, this country already hosted 960 000 tourists in a top holiday month, so "while there will certainly be a tourism spike the impact of congestion should not be overstated.
"After the World Cup in Germany the host country benefited from being a better known and understood destination, with 88 percent of visitors saying they would recommend a holiday there. An estimated e1.5 billion (R15.1bn) was added to the German economy from increased tourism for three years after the 2006 World Cup."
Tatalias said there would be accommodation for business travellers, who could avoid flying to match venues around games. The long school holidays would be an ideal time for a cross-border trip.
There were new guest houses and opportunities for adventure holidays in parts of South Africa that normally had fewer tourists, and these might prove so attractive that families would return to them later.
But he thought the end of this year would be less busy. Many families would have incurred high expenditure in the long holidays and, if they went away, it would be for a short period.
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