Tourism gets Cup bonanza

At a Fifa briefing yesterday, local organising committee spokesman Rich Mkhondo said 456000 foreigners arrived in the country between June 1 and June 13, compared with 345000 during the corresponding period last year.

"A few weeks before the tournament, there were all these figures bandied around, so this figure is a bonus for us, just seven days into the World Cup," he said.

"This increase for 2010 can be clearly attributed to the Fifa World Cup."

National Accommodation Association vice-president Terry Browning said about 95% of the guests at guesthouses and B&Bs were foreign.

"I look after the smaller establishments, and certainly in Joburg, at least, we are jam-packed. We're having to turn people away or refer them elsewhere on a daily basis. Yes, we've benefited greatly," he said.

Browning said the tourists were "excited" and keen to visit places like Soweto and Sun City.

In April, global accounting and tax advisory firm Grant Thornton released the results of a study that predicted that 373000 visitors would come to the country, down from a previous estimate of 483000.

The study found that, on average, visitors stayed in the country for 18 days and spent about R30200 each. The forecast tourist spending was R93-billion.

Southern Africa Tourism Services Association chief executive Michael Tatalias said: "If it wasn't for the British and Irish Lions tour, the English cricket tour and the Indian Premier League, the local tourism industry would have been out of business.

"So it's going to be interesting to see what impact the World Cup will have," he said.

"Certainly, I think the reason the department of home affairs has released [its tourism figures] so early is because they got very excited and it continues the good feeling around the country. I think it is possible that the numbers are true, because the hotels and guesthouses are now buzzing."

Allan Dixon, general manager of Recreation Africa Hotels and Resorts, said the company's two hotels in Muldersdrift, west of Johannesburg, and in Phokeng, Rustenburg, had experienced an increase in revenue, and high occupancy rates, at an "usually quiet time of the year".