World Cup Ripoff
Tourism chiefs warn against World Cup greed – Mail & Guardian Online: The smart news source
“We want fair prices, we want quality services,” World Cup chief executive Danny Jordaan told Associated Press Television News on Wednesday. “We want returning visitors and tourists and the only
way we can get that is if people feel a sense of fairness in the prices.”
Initially, the rand was worth more than the dollar, but after PW Botha’s Rubicon speech fell to around R2.50 per dollar. In December 2001, it hit R13 to the dollar. To foreigners, this was heaven and the South African tourist industry rallied around the rand, changed their prices to be on par with overseas prices and promptly killed off local tourist’s ability to go on holiday. When the rand got stronger, many of these unethical practices were exposed. R770 for perlemoen starters for two at Panama Jacks in the harbour. And R7000 for a rare wine at Belthazar.
Now the 2010 Soccer World Cup is coming round and already the first reports of ripoff prices are surfacing. If history is anything to go by, the locals will skin the goose, not so much to get to the golden eggs, but will fry it up, and wake up the morning after the night before and complain because the goose is gone, the stomach is empty and why is FIFA not shipping more geese. Not that FIFA is any better. They pretend that the event will benefit the locals, but if you take a closer look at the reality, this seems to be an empty promise. If you didn’t pay them, you are not allowed to use the word soccer and 2010 in the same sentence. Billboards in exclusion zones around stadia have to be covered up and any advertisements visible from the exclusion zones are no-go. If you are a local with some gimmick you were going to sell outside games, good luck. And don’t even think of wearing clothing that are not officially sanctioned to a game.
We will revisit this issue next year this time. Hopefully I am proven wrong.
By the way, do this Google search: ripoff restaurant prices cape town
Recommened reading: Unseen Academicals (Discworld)
Terry Pratchett’s newest book, subject foot-the-ball. As all his other material, well worth the read. If you can get hold of the British cover, so much the better. All the Merkin covers (ha-ha!) is ugly.
Possible reading: 100 Years of Football: The FIFA Centennial Book
