South African National Parks (SANParks) has unveiled its 2010 Fifa World Cup plan at Indaba yesterday.
According to SANPark’s Managing Executive Tourism and Marketing, Glenn Phillips, this will give confidence to many of those skeptical that South Africa’s readiness for the hosting of the 2010 Fifa World Cup is at stake.
SANParks’ plans for the tournament are based on principles which will ensure sustainable business way beyond the World Cup. “At the onset, our strategy is all about sustainable development. Secondly, we would like to see optimal occupancy in all national parks over the event period.”
He said the Kruger National Park had dedicated three of its camps to the event: Skukuza, Berg en Dal and Pretoriuskop. New mobile tented products within these camps at Kruger will also be utilized. This will add an additional 420 beds to the inventory contracted for 2010. “The tents will be used as a conduit to address the legacy issue – as they will be used to provide additional inventory to parks in other locations around the country that lack sufficient accommodation inventory during high season or specific events such as the flower season in Namaqua National Park.”
“If all goes according to plan, it means the value of inventory sold to MATCH per day is in the region of R1,4m and this over the event period will amount to an impressive R52,5m.”
Other contracted parks include: Addo Elephant National Park, Garden Route National Park, Marakele, and Golden Gate Highlands National Parks.
