Philippine Sports and Entertainment Portal Online

HARARE, June 28, 2009 -- Zimbabwe will benefit enormously from the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup tournament as the country has been re-engaged to provide accommodations, reports China's Xinhua news agency citing The Herald as saying on Friday.

According to the daily newspaper, Match Events Services, a company specializing in providing ticketing and accommodation services, is re-engaging the local tourism sector to provide accommodation for the thousands of fans expected to visit South Africa.

Tourism industry stakeholders said Match Event Services had noted a number of positive developments in the country, which included the formation of the inclusive government this year and the eradication of the cholera outbreak.

Last year, the company concluded its assessment of hotel accommodation facilities and match venues in countries that fall within a one-and-a-half hour flight range from South Africa and resolved to sideline Zimbabwe because of the political situation and the cholera outbreak.

Africa Sun chief executive officer Shingi Munyeza, who had been lobbying for Zimbabwe's inclusion, said Match Event Services was engaging Zimbabwe because it offered some of the best facilities in Africa.

"I want to be on record on this one. Nothing is going to stop Zimbabwe from offering accommodation to teams and fans visiting South Africa as long as we carry on with progress in the inclusive government and as long as there are no other disease outbreaks. We really stand to benefit," he said.

The company had already given the nod to Zimbabwe's neighbors Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique and Zambia to host teams and fans.

However, Munyeza said it was subsequently discovered that the approved sites had capacity to provide only 32,000 of the 50,000 rooms needed, leaving a deficit of 18,000.

It was to cover the 18,000-room deficit that Match Events Services negotiated with players in Zimbabwe's tourism industry to chip in.

Zimbabwe has about 4,000 rooms in areas that have air links and are within the one-and-a-half hour flight range recommended by FIFA.

These places include Victoria Falls, Harare and Bulawayo, while hotels in the Eastern Highlands would be difficult to link up.

Munyeza called on service providers in the tourism sector and other stakeholders to continue upgrading their infrastructure.

"The teams are not allowed to use the match venues in South Africa 10 days before the official kick-off date, and out of the 32 qualifying teams, some of them will definitely decide to be in Zimbabwe, far from their opponents.

"Besides, very few hotels outside South Africa can match us, be it Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique. Right now there are less inquiries because the teams (that will participate in the World Cup) have not yet been confirmed," he said.

Munyeza dismissed reports that tour operators were shunning Zimbabwe because its hotel facilities were expensive, saying some players were only demanding half-down payments on all bookings before the arrival of guests.

"What will happen if we tell our guests that we are booked for June next year and then the people do not turn up? What we are saying is a certain percentage should be paid before the arrival of the guests," he said.

Munyeza said stakeholders in tourism industry needed to be innovative, adding that it is necessary to create fan parks at hotels with giant screens where people could watch some of the games.