Tourism Business Council still behind MATCH
07. Nov, 2008
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Pretoria – Following the well publicised media reports on South African Tourism’s resignation from the MATCH 2010 World Cup Accommodation Advisory Committee, the countries body for organised tourism businesses, the Tourism Business Council of South Africa (TBCSA) would like to put it on record that it has its support firmly on the World Cup in 2010.
This according to Mmatšatši Marobe, TBCSA CEO, who said her organisation wishes to assure the stakeholders in the travel and tourism sector that its support for all the preparatory work towards the 2010 FIFA World Cup is still intact.
“We are on record for encouraging our members and the tourism businesses at large to support the work of MATCH in preparation of the World Cup and to enter into contractual agreements in the way they would do with any other business transaction. It is not the TBCSA’s place to get involved in its member’s private business matters.”
We have also said that our members and the industry at large should have a long term view on the 2010 World Cup – they must have a sustainability plan which will ensure that their businesses operate now, during and post the event.” The FIFA World Cup has much bigger value for South Africa and as such it is in the interest of our country for all role players to support the preparatory work towards the event including the provision of accommodation, transport and other related services.
Marobe says the industry realise the importance of 2010 FIFA World Cup, its benefits for the country, its people and the economy at large. “Hence most of our members have already signed their accommodation inventory over to MATCH – an act that we support unreservedly. “However, we are concerned that many other accommodation establishments are not signing-up with MATCH and time is running out.
According to reports in the public arena, the reason behind the slow rate of accommodation signups ranges from the complexity of the contracts they are required to conclude, payment models, lack of guarantee that rooms will be occupied as well as anecdotal stories coming out of countries that hosted previous World Cup events such as Germany and Japan/South Korea.
“We cannot ignore these stories whether factual or otherwise as they influence the actions of some of our industry role players” said Marobe. We therefore call on MATCH and related parties to address the ongoing concerns raised by certain sections of the industry to ensure that we realise the set accommodation target for the event.
In this regard, we want to commend the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism on his call for a special meeting with the key role players in the hospitality sector to resolve the current impasse which threatens to spill over internationally.”
“We hope that the Minister’s meeting will also address the unfortunate public spat between South African Tourism and MATCH,” said Marobe.
The FIFA World Cup is the biggest marketing opportunity coming our way as a country and we need to put our best foot forward and ensure that we are ready to welcome the world”, conclude Marobe.
The TBCSA, as the voice of organised business in the travel and tourism industry looks forward to forming part of the role players who will resolve the current impasse and to support the work of MATCH and related agencies including South African Tourism.
My name is Muzi Mohale a full-time travel blogger, your host at Travelwires.com responsible for all editorial on this blog. I blog about the travel and tourism industry in Africa. Apart from blogging about tourism, I also run 
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