World Cup Travel

South Africa is abuzz with excitement for the 2010 Soccer World Cup - it is in the newspapers every day, on the television every night and in the magazines weekly and monthly. Excitement definitely, but also a level of anxiety, with well-founded rumours of hikes in airfares, car hire and accommodation, and even shortages of food!

As far as flights are concerned, a quick check on two of our local airlines (Mango and 1Time) shows that flight prices during the world cup will be two to three times more than normal. For example, the Joburg/Cape Town flights will be R2300 each way compared to the normal R700 on those airlines. The Joburg/Durban route will be R1200 each way compared to about R500 normally. These prices could increase even more if the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) is allowed to raise its fees to airlines by the proposed 133%, which will have a knock on effect on airport taxes!

(Today's exchange rates are R12.22 = 1GBP, R7.55 = $1 and R10.86 = €1).

Car hire prices will be similarly affected: a normal rental for the cheapest car at R260 per day will increase to R400 per day for the world cup period.

Accommodation will be even worse. Here's an example: A "three star" self catering cottage at Kyalami Estate at Midrand, just north of Johannesburg, which normal costs R500 per person per night, will cost R3000 per person per night during the world cup. Here's another example: a bed in a backpackers dormitory near Johannesburg (O.R. Tambo) International Airport usually costs R180 per person per night. During the world cup it will cost R750 per person per night.

By the way, when you are searching for this kind of information in South Africa, go to http://www.google.co.za/ and click on "pages from South Africa" - you'll get much better search results than using Google in your own country and it will all be in English. The majority of people in South Africa (particularly in the towns and cities) have a good understanding of English, even though their mother tongue may be one of eleven official languages!

That's all for now - look out for more useful information on our regular blog posting. We'll be covering security and crime, fan parks, soccer hooligans, stadia, travel times and distances etc etc.