Many home owners in Limpopo have been brought under the impression that they will not be able to rent their homes and/or other properties out as accommodation for tourists during the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup.

However, this is not true. It is true that MATCH Event Services, the company selected by Fifa to contract sufficient accommodation to meet the needs of the World Cup, will not be dealing directly with the private market. Private home owners will still be able to rent out their properties to MATCH, without losing out on a cent.

As early as April this year, Limpopo Tourism and Parks (LTP) chief executive officer, Mr Bennie Boshielo, explained at a media briefing that LTP is currently working on the development of standards and criteria of home stays in the province. He explained that once this has been done, LTP will appoint ravel agents to draw up packages for tourists, of which home stays will be a part. These appointed travel agents will be the only ones allowed, on behalf of LTP, to approach home owners to make their homes available for home stays. These travel agents will negotiate with MATCH. A price between the travel agent and home owner will be agreed upon and will exclude the travel agent’s fee, which the travel agent will add to the negotiated price before offering the home to MATCH.

The reason for private accommodation being offered to MATCH in this manner, is that MATCH has specified how many people must be accommodated in an area in one chunk, for that specific area to qualify as a MATCH satellite accommodation area.

This is the first time in the history of the Fifa World Cup that non-hotel accommodation is being contracted to supplement the official hotel room inventory for the Fifa World Cup.

MATCH is working in partnership with The national Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, the Tourism Enterprise Programme (TEP) and the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa (TGCSA). MATCH has also developed a strong relationship with South African National Parks and the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa.

Jointly with the TGCSA and TEP, MATCH is also working to increase the number of contracted non-hotel accommodation establishments. All accommodation contracted by MATCH will be featured on the FIFA.com website. Further information can be obtained through the MATCH accommodation hotline on +27 11 567 2710, or from www.tourismgrading.co.za. Enquiries to MATCH can be e-mailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Further information in this connection is also available on Fifa’s website at the following link: www.fifa.com/worldcup/organisation/matchag/accommodation.html.

All this bodes well for the accommodation industry as a whole, which currently seems to need just such a boost as at the moment, business is not going as well as it should be.

This was revealed by Statistics SA in its latest figures released regarding the accommodation industry. According to the survey, the total income for the accommodation industry for the three months ended May decreased by 10.2% compared with the three months ended May 2008. Total income for the accommodation industry in May decreased by 7.3% compared with May 2008.

Income from accommodation for the three months ended May 2009 decreased by 7.4% compared with the three months ended May 2008. This decrease was mainly due to the decrease of 8% in stay unit nights sold during the same period. Income from accommodation in May decreased by 7.8% compared with May 2008.

The number of stay units available for the three months ended May decreased by 0.7% compared with the three months ended May 2008. The number of stay units available in May decreased by 2.3% compared with May 2008. The number of stay unit nights sold for the three months ended May 2009 decreased by 8.7% compared with the three months ended May 2008.

The number of stay unit nights sold in May decreased by 10.0% compared with May 2008. - Karen Venter