Football World Cup popular with South Africans

NUMBERS are up
for South African
travellers visiting the
FIFA Football World Cup in
Russia this year compared
with the 2014 event in
Brazil, according to the
officially appointed agents.
Nicky Bell, ceo of
Edusport Travel and Tours,
says the company has
marketed the event online
and through social media,
which has resulted in
over 600 South African
passengers booking so far.
Nazeer Camaroodeen,
md of Fli-Africa Travel, also
an officially appointed
agent, has been selling
the Football World Cup
for over 30 years and has
also noted a substantial
increase in bookings for
this event.
Both agents, however,
cited the delivery of the
Russian FAN IDs as a
challenge. Guests apply
for the IDs through an
easy online process but
Edusport has recently
discovered that many
have not received their
IDs yet, due to delays with
the South African postal
service.
The FIFA Football World
Cup is still a relatively
small event for South
African sports fans and
all local sports operators
that were canvassed
reported that F1 Grand
Prix, European and English
Premier League attracted
a lot more people overall.
Nicky says this was due
to these events spanning
a longer time period and
being less expensive to
attend.
While most South Africans
tend to book for sports
events far in advance Nicky
says Edusport has also
received a flurry of lastminute
bookings. She says
group sizes vary from as
little as six to large groups
of over 80 passengers.
Nazeer says 60% of FliAfrica
Travel’s clients book
between six and 12 months
in advance for large events.
Fli-Africa is also still
taking last-minute bookings,
but Nazeer says high-profile
matches and the finals
are already sold out. He
adds that the majority of
the bookings focus on
games in Moscow and St
Petersburg and not on the
more remote locations.