Bogus 2010 World Cup hotel website slammed by FIFA
FIFA's local organising committee has distanced itself from a website asking property owners to pay upwards of R100 to list their property on a site purporting to be dedicated to 2010 World Cup accommodation.
The website - 2010Digs - the address for which has been relayed via email, claims that FIFA needs more than 200,000 beds.
The accompanying email message quotes Danny Jordaan, head of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee, as saying: "As things stand, 2010 World Cup tourists travelling from all over the world may end up wandering the streets of Johannesburg looking for a place to sleep.
"The challenge is this: If we sell two million of the three million tickets for this tournament overseas, we have to provide accommodation for each one of these ticket-holders. And we don't have it yet. Regardless of whether accommodation is rated or not, whether it's accredited with MATCH (FIFA's accommodation agency) or not, we must find 200,000 beds. If there is more accommodation available that we don't know about, we would like to hear about it, because we need more beds."
FIFA's local organising committee spokesman Rich Mkhondo said this morning that the committee had no knowledge of the website and encouraged property owners to be careful when approached with similar initiatives.
"We work closely with South Africa's official tourism authorities and encourage prospective tenants to consult with the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa when looking to grade and register their prospective properties and to have solid business plans for sustainability long-term beyond the tournament."
Mkhondo added that accommodation was an issue the committee took "very seriously" and it was working closely with FIFA's accommodation agency MATCH and the Department of Tourism to secure the necessary inventory to cater for all officials, teams and local, as well as international, spectator requirements.
"We believe we have sufficient accommodation inventory in South Africa and the final draw in Cape Town on December 4 2009 will help us to determine our accommodation requirements and how we need to plan to meet the accommodation demand for the tournament," he said.
External source: Written by Bonile Ngqiyaza - http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=6&click_id=2871&art_id=nw20091015131917975C861760
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