World Cup 2010: More Than Half Of Hotel Rooms Fully Booked

It's not only football tickets which are selling like hot cakes, but hotel rooms marketed by FIFA for the World Cup in South Africa this year are fast running out with nearly three-quarters having been all booked out, organisers told Sapa.

According to the LOC Chairperson Irvin Khoza, about 73% of rooms have been reserved for the international football governing body courtesy of Match, which provides accommodation services for FIFA.

“The report we received from Match is satisfactroy,” Khoza told the media.

Match is reported to have struck deals with hotels across South Africa to market 48,000 rooms during the one month long tournament which will begin on June 11 and end on July 11.

However a number of bed and breakfasts and some big hotel chains like Hyatt opted not to work with Match as they did not want to have to set aside big blocks of rooms months before the finals.

About 450,000 thousand foreign visitors are expected to pour in for the tournament which South Africa spent a whooping R33bn on in preparations.

The number of arrivals is expected to be lower than previously estimated due to a series of challenges but no predictions have been made by the Sepp Blatter-led body.

“Whenever you play the tournament away from Europe, it is a challenge for some fans to come... a financial and organisational challenge,” FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke told Sapa.