Fifa Women’s World Cup: Hotel bookings slow but tour numbers ‘really good’

Ferns striker Hannah Wilkinson with Fifa chief women's football officer Sarai Bareman during a trophy tour. Photo / Andrew Cornaga, www.photosport.nz, RNZ

By RNZ

Hotels across the country are bitterly disappointed they are yet to see the promised flood of bookings from international visitors ahead of this month’s Fifa Women’s World Cup.

Industry body the Hotel Council is blaming a Covid-19 restriction which forces people to isolate for seven days if they get the virus.

Tour companies, though, are seeing plenty of bookings.

Government forecasts in 2019 were predicting 22,000 overseas visitors for the Cup and a total of 355,000 overnight stays in tourist accommodation.

The Hotel Council could not put a number an exact number on the bookings so far but strategic director James Doolan said it has been extremely disappointing.

‘’Unfortunately for hotels the pace of bookings has been sedate, it’s a steamboat, not a jetboat so far.”

He said a Covid-19 restriction and long visa processing time could be playing a part.

‘’Immigration New Zealand’s website still has a warning banner saying that there are processing times that are longer than expected. There’s a note about the Fifa World Cup, advising fans to get their visas by the end of April, rather than any fast-track method for quickly getting a visa now.”

Annie Dundas, from Auckland’s economic development agency Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, is confident things will pick up for hotels.

“The tournament is obviously over a month so we will have people coming in and out initially in the first phases and then obviously we get into the quarters and the finals, semifinals and so on, so we expect stronger numbers into the central city.”

Tour companies said they are getting plenty of interest and gearing up for a busy couple of months.

EcoZip Adventures founding director Gavin Oliver said bookings were up 230 per cent on the same period last year.

“It looks like Christmas, so the forward bookings are absolutely fantastic, they are really, really good numbers. Particularly in the middle of winter, we could not be more grateful for this kind of stuff.”

Bush and Beach Tours owner Ben Thornton agreed.

“July, August is normally our low season and we are seeing days which are as busy as mid-summer on a cruise ship day, so we are absolutely blown away by the response.”

He said the cup was a much-needed boost as the industry had been struggling since the pandemic, especially in Tāmaki Makaurau.

Tourism Industry Aotearoa general manager Greg Thomas was confident that overall, the economic impact will be good.

“Our members are indicating that they are seeing valuable business coming through, especially from the teams and management of Fifa staff and guests. I don’t think what can be underestimated is the value of the overseas viewership of the games.”

The Fifa Women’s World Cup starts on July 20 in Australia and New Zealand - with the first game at Auckland’s Eden Park.

Matches will be played in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin.

-RNZ