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Malawi hopes to benefit from 2010 FIFA World Cup
Malawi's Director of Tourism Isaac Katopola has said the country stands a good chance to benefit from South Africa's hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He said, since Malawi is only two hours and ten minutes away by air from South Africa, it could host some of the 55,000 FIFA delegates.
4 Jun 2009
“Out of this number of delegates, 35,000 rooms of accommodation have already been contracted out and since the process will go on until 2010, Malawi stand a chance,” said Katopola on his way back from a day-long Regional Tourism for Southern Africa ( RETOSA) meeting.
He said there is also a possibility that others might want to take a breather away from the "rainbow nation" after some games.
The only hurdle Malawi could face is that tickets for fans are being sold in one package.
“Since the package included tickets for the match, air travel, ground transfers, accommodation and neighbouring countries that they want to visit, this could be Malawi's undoing,” he complained.
Katopola said they have however, requested contracts for accommodation from a company known as MATCH which is jointly working with FIFA in selling the tour package.
About Gregory Gondwe
Gregory Gondwe is a Malawian journalist who started writing in 1993. He is also a media consultant assisting several international journalists pursuing assignments in Malawi. He holds a Diploma and an Intermediate Certificate in Journalism among other media-related certificates. He can be contacted on moc.liamg@ewdnogyrogerg. Follow him on Twitter at @Kalipochi.