Socceroos fans & World Cup Price Hikes

With less than a 100 days to go this Article online in Melbourne's Herald Sun really stung. heraldsun.com.au Aussies Stung by Football World Cup Price Hikes here is the link.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/travel/news/aussies-stung-by-football-world-cup-price-hikes/story-fn32891l-1225843664435

I can understand the anger so I wrote the response below.It's a tough call to choose what to market to soccer fans & South Africa can be a tricky destination for many operators. So I tried to be nice but in essence we thought camping in Autumn was a youth product and what about rain, security & showers etc. A weekend at Meridith or the Falls Festival with a bit of rain is enough and you are only a days drive max from a shower, a sleep & a big feed at home. The other issue was Jo'burgs reputation was too scary for us even though it seemed like a cool place Aussies South Africans said otherwise. Anyway this is how it went.

A Travel Company Perspective: At SportsnetHolidays.com we are also an official participating tour operator for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa selling tours with Tickets & Hotel Packages. We have sold out one tour & are doing well in a second tour. We took 2 years to plan our World Cup packages & after visiting South Africa in Autumn chose against camping. We also believe Australians who have gone all the way to Africa should see Vic Falls, go to Kruger & Climb Table mountain. We figured it was better to pay & organise this before you left, but this made our offer more expensive. All our packages are hotel only as a week in tents if it rains with no place to leave your passport, tickets, ipods etc can be along time. Sportsnet focused on offering a range of African tours for fans that have gone all the way to South Africa & to back that up by offering a Cape Town Accommodation only option for fans that have their own tickets.