2010 and beyond

2010 = The great leveler, the answer to all our problems, a huge business opportunity. We are ready!

Or......

A great waste of money! A money maker for only a few! We will never make it! We won’t be able to cope.

I believe the truth will be closer to the first statement. It will be a great leveler, it can be a nation builder similar to the rugby world cup! But Soccer needs to transform into a broader interest sport. The opportunities are far reaching and will allow large and small businesses a huge chance to stake their claim in the benefits the world cup will bring.


The business opportunities range from Accommodation, to IT from catering to Transport and many more.

The first time in the history of the FIFA world cup, Match AG will contract small accommodation establishments. This is a first we can be proud of and a first we need to make sure that we make a success of.

The recent IDF congress showed that the smaller establishments play a large role in South Africa’s accommodation offering. Global Conferences on behalf of IDF contracted a 109 different establishments in which they made 8400 bookings. Unfortunately they had to sign 109 differently laid out contracts with different conditions.

Here is lesson No 1, let us see that we standardize the way we want to do business, it makes us an easier destination to do business with.


This does not at all mean to standardize our product offering, we need to keep our range of unique products which shows the cultural diversity but also the various types of accommodation for all tastes and all pockets.

I would caution anyone who is building additional infrastructure purely based on expectations of the 2010 event. Don’t build extra rooms when you struggle to sell today!

I am convinced that the spotlight on our country until the kick off, the many first time visitors and the coverage during the event will help us to promote our country enormously. This will undoubtedly result in increased numbers of arrivals over the next few years. But level headedness is called for.

The demands on the accommodation infrastructure will be huge. Match AG on behalf of FIFA are still in the process of signing up accommodation providers to deliver on their mandate.

Whilst many of us have signed with Match in advance in order to complete the bid book, some are hesitant to sign. The reasons vary from suspicion, unhappiness about the notion that FIFA is controlling everything and the most concerning one: those fortune seekers who think they can simply ask for any rate and get rich quickly. To those I can only say, do not be naïve, the world cup is over after four weeks, yet most of us want to be in business well thereafter and those who rip people off will not be around for long!

With the inclusion of smaller establishments come great challenges. Match AG declared that it will only contract graded establishments. Since this sector ranges from township accommodation and homestays, in various areas, to super luxurious guest houses, much training and capacity building will need to take place. We have less than 3 years to bring all of these establishments up to standard and graded. The tourism grading council will not be able to do all this on its own.

Here are now opportunities where the more established business have to take on development roles and act as mentors to the emerging tourism businesses.

Mentorship is a wonderful opportunity to give back. I have participated three times in a mentorship program and would like to invite as many members as possible to join when we are ready with the framework on how we want to train and mentor those in need of assistance.

Mentoring emerging entrepreneurs and seeing that their businesses become sustainable is of great importance. A vital task all of us face however is to make sure that our own employees are trained and given opportunities for growth in the work place.

Training in our industry is still done on ad hoc basis and many are reluctant to train because they may lose staff after they were trained.

If we all train effectively we will not only improve loyalty in our staff but we ultimately will increase the pool of trained staff. Only well trained staff will turn into experienced and committed managers, that rare breed we all seek so vehemently! There are many initiatives dealing with training, may they be learnership programs, or funds set up to facilitate training. Of course there is still the so often criticized THETA, who are busy improving the service to us. In a discussion with TEP as well as Minister Lynne Brown we started to explore possibilities to fund training. The biggest challenge is to make our industry a good career option for all our people. After all, not so long ago it was legislated who was to serve and who was to be served.

BEE and the related scorecard is a reality that will not go away. Without wanting to go into too much detail on a subject that warrants more separate workshops and training sessions, I want to share some good news that not all of you may be aware of: The issues of mentorship and training attract many percentage points on your score cards in the sections of entrepreneur development and employment equity. We are in the process of filling in our score card with the self assessment tool and I am pleasantly surprised that we are already starting to get a better score than I expected.

So to ready ourselves for 2010 training and development are crucial if we want to ensure that we play our part in making this event a success.

The world cup will bring people of all walks of life together. There will be huge opportunities during public viewing, whether at big sites or in the pub.
We are all challenged to make more out of it then just selling a few boerri rolls, beer and to blow a Vuvuzela!

In 2006, Millions watched the matches at huge public viewing sites, the vibe was amazing and people came back time and time again to enjoy the special atmosphere, which in some instances was reported to be better than in the stadiums. Here the entrepreneurs, caterers and cooler bag guys are called to action.

Who are the visitors we can expect? We need to learn a bit more what to expect. Our communication with Match AG and the contacts we are busy making with counterparts in Germany will help us to ascertain with more certainty what to expect.

The research will also need to touch on Culinary tourism: research into the type of food to be sold at match venues. We are well advised to include some local favourites so as to show our very unique cuisine.
Hot dogs and burgers are not proudly South African, Miellies and Boerewors are.

Restaurants, sports bars and pubs will be packed to capacity; big screens and LCD panels will be in short supply, so it may be an idea to start looking now. Make sue yours is HD ready!

Crime, the so often debated issue will be an important factor leading up to and during the 2010 world cup. The vicious violent type that we so rightfully abhor, but also the one that follows global events, which will undoubtedly attract global crime syndicates to our shores more than we already see. As citizens and residents of his beautiful country we all need to play our role in combating the decay of social fabric that in many cases is the root of the crime problem. As professionals we need to work closely with Intelligence and SAPS to stem the tide of credit card fraud, pick pockets and opportunistic crimes that surround global events like flies.

Shortly FEDHASA and Business Against Crime in conjunction with ABSA will host a workshop on Credit Card fraud and other banking related fraud issues.

The upcoming Access the Destination
Workshop, or ADW, will focus on world class access for 2010 and beyond. FEDHASA Cape is taking an active part in the planning of this workshop, which promises to be a dynamic information and experience sharing opportunity. We have invited high level speakers from Germany to tell us where they went wrong and which lessons we can learn from where they went right! We absolutely need to realize that we can do it but that we need to learn from the mistakes our predecessors made.

Whoever thinks that 2010 will be a repeat of 2006 in Germany is wrong. We do not want a repeat, and neither do the prospective visitors.

The whole world wants a truly African World Cup and not one that those Afro pessimists forecast but one with world class standards but distinct African flavors.

One that will showcase our legendary hospitality, show the various cultural and tribal elements of our country and one that will allow visitors to get a touch of what we call Ubunthu.

Almost more importantly I wish that the word cup will allow us to get closer to one another and experience Ubunthu for ourselves.

A question that often comes up is “what does the Cape need to do that’s different from Gauteng or the East Coast?” Well, let us be true hosts, proud of where we are privileged to live and work. Hosts who continue to welcome guests from all over to our shores to show them our beautiful province.

Let us talk about issues that occupy our mind and seek solutions jointly rather than in fight and overload the media with too many silly stories.

Let us use our association FEDHASA as a sounding board and a lobbying group, let us get involved and engaged. Let us train our staff, so that they can truly benefit from the boom we all expect.

Let us learn lessons from others. Let us tell everyone that we believe that we can do it. Let us be ready, ready for a once in a lifetime opportunity. I am confident that we will be!