The stadiums are almost all finished, and Cape Town and Durban’s must surely join the ranks of the great stadia of the world.  Johannesburg’s Soccer City, demonstrating local is lekker, is sure to appeal to many locals. It seems the cities (or their consultants) were up to the tasks.

You’ve given the world assurances that it will be a great World Cup and that people will be safe.  But what happens if the people don’t come, or they come and they are ripped off by greedy airlines and accommodation establishments?  Imagine the tourism catastrophe, the branding bungle, if tens of thousands of people go home and say they were ripped off in South Africa.

It’s time we realise that we have to make 2010 a love affair, not a one night stand.

Is government blind to this?  How the hell can they allow our national carrier, South African Airways, to be the flagbearer — extending the metaphor of one night stands — of whorish behaviour, raising air fares for the World Cup month by almost 400%?

With government and its subsidiary setting that kind of example, how can little guest houses and B&B’s take calls for them to offer value for money seriously?

Just for the record here, we should state some facts.

Although MATCH missed their targets, they have contracted 48,093 rooms and 1,725,190 room nights. So you have 48,000 rooms but you’re expecting 450,000 fans.

The fans who book through MATCH will be protected from racketeering, one hopes, because that’s why it was established.

(It’s worth noting that many hotel groups committed inventory many years ago so that South Africa could tender for the 2010 games and they did so at reasonable market related rates. In Cape Town, hotels like The Table Bay and Winchester Mansions are charging for World Cup almost exactly what they are charging in the current high season.)

So government is looking at cruise liners. “They are going to be quite important especially for 2010 both as people movers and even as accommodation,” Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele told Reuters on Wednesday during a visit to London. Now that’s priceless, before one even asks what sort of value for money these will offer. Has the ministry secretly been digging a canal to link the coast to Gauteng where most matches will be played?

No, the solution lies with the “small accommodation” sector, the non-accredited accommodation.

And there it’s a free for all largely through a lack of direction by tourism authorities. We looked at one random establishment — a lodge in Sea Point — to see its World Cup rates, and then compared that to its usual rates.

Its usual off-peak rate is R450; the usual peak rate (January 2010) is R750. The rate during World Cup is R1990! A 250% premium over their current peak season rate. This is scandalous.

Now that’s obviously not the norm but it’s evidently commonplace enough for many overseas newspapers to have started highlighting rip-offs and naming the offendors. The only host city tourism authority with any guts and gusto is Cape Town Tourism who have been workshopping pricing policies with their members for many months. By comparison, Johannesburg Tourism Company refused to respond to media complaints.

At the World Travel Market in London recently, Kwazulu-Natal MEC for economic development and tourism, Mike Mabuyakhulu, promised an urgent investigation into allegations that local hospitality businesses are planning to overcharge tourists. He had been briefed by Ndabo Khoza, the chief executive of Tourism KwaZulu-Natal, who said that service providers in certain circles had not only doubled and tripled their prices, but were believed to be quadrupling them. Is Tourism KZN toothless and has the MEC delivered on his promise?

So dear Dr Jordaan, please ask government to get serious about leadership and protecting brand South Africa. Get them to make South African Airways reduce fares and set an example to everybody else in the hospitality industry.

Maybe then we’ll make 2010 a love affair, not a one night stand. And the fans will go home as fans of South Africa too.

Note: The headline and phrase “make 2010 a love affair, not a one night stand” comes from Cape Town Tourism’s Lianne Burton. It is exactly what South Africa needs now and should be the rallying call through to the end of the World Cup. Click here to read Lianne Burton’s interview.

Some 3,000 VIP guests from all over the world will gather at the Cape Town International Convention Centre to add glitter and glamour to the event that determines which teams will be matched against which, and where they will be playing.

Just up the road, Long Street will give locals and TV viewers a taste of what they can expect for Cape Town’s main Fan Park.  Over 15,000 people and at least five TV crews are expected to gather in South Africa’s best-known ‘party street’ to watch the final draw on big screens… and party, from noon to midnight.

Of course, for World Cup, Cape Town’s main fan park will be on the Grand Parade, the site of so many historic events.  It was here, from City Hall’s balcony, that Nelson Mandela first addressed the world after his release from prison.

It was here, in 1997, that many gathered to watch on big screens the IOC’s decision for which country would host the 2004 Olympic Games.  Media hype led many locals to believe that Cape Town would win and the following iconic cartoon by Zapiro captured the mood after the city lost to Athens.  No doubt it will be the site of many joys and sorrows again in 2010.

If the eyes of the world are on Cape Town on December 4, it also marks the date when fans start making their bookings in earnest.  What’s the state of readiness?

The 2010 World Cup Stadia

All the stadia will be ready.  Even Cape Town’s, the last to start, has been handed over to the City by the contractors, ahead of schedule.

The German architectural firm of gmp, which designed the stadia for the three coastal host cities — Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban — did a remarkable job.  (Read the interview with gmp’s Hubert Nienhoff.)

While Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium adds admirable new feature to a city where man-made features are a necessary drawcard, our favourite is Cape Town Stadium.  It demonstrates hard work at designing a massive structure that displays architectural good neighbourliness, respecting both the city’s awe-inspiring natural setting and its urban environment.  It has great integrity and fans will love it.  Even critical Capetonians seem to be changing their minds because it is a stadium of almost sculptural beauty.

Cape Town Stadium during construction. Photo: Bruce Sutherland

Johannesburg’s whimsical calabash — Soccer City — will certainly get talked about, but is it in the same league as Cape Town or Durban?  Vote for the stadium that will do SA most proud.

One thing that really enthused Capetonians were the weekly striking and unusual construction photographs taken by Bruce Sutherland, the City’s photographer and posted on the City of Cape Town website.  His photographs appear frequently on CapeInfo.

Much is made of the marketing value that comes with hosting the World Cup, as justification for the huge sums spent.  Well… most host cities still have to demonstrate that they understand the meaning of the word “marketing” and it’s the coastal host cities again that seem to lead the way.

Transport arrangements

While the Airports Company has spent billions on upgrading the major airports, one hopes that the government departments who process international arrivals have beefed up their abilities.

As for adequate seats on international airline flights, even the LOC’s Dr Danny Jordaan has expressed concerns.  Airlines are expected to schedule additional flights after the final draw — but could this become the Achilles Heel of the whole tournament?

Public transport at most host cities are also in the process of being upgraded at a cost of billions.  Johannesburg’s Rea Vaya opened recently to commuters’ acclaim and violence from sectors of the existing taxi minibus industry.  But the inner city loop has already been closed because of poorly designed elements and scanty usage.

Anybody who plans on renting a car during that month had better book their vehicle now!  CapeInfo recommends First Car Rental.

Accommodation

Claims that there will be an accommodation shortage are unfounded.  FIFA’s MATCH may not have reached their targets, but there’s a lot of accommodation that was not contracted to MATCH.

Many hopeful establishments have still to sort out their marketing, and how fans will find their rooms.

But on the whole… it will all be okay on the day…