Lone travelers depart for World Cup

• Source: Global Times
• [10:45 July 08 2010]
• Comments

Tourists pose in Spain soccer shirts Wednesday in front of the Spain Pavilion inside Expo Park. Photo: IC

By Shen Weihuang

The first and only Shanghai travel group to visit South Africa during the 2010 FIFA World Cup will depart from the city on Saturday and will land on Sunday in time to watch the final game that evening.

The 12 travelers, made of customers from four Chinese travel agencies, paid a record-high 58,000 yuan ($8,656) for the package, up from the regular price of 9,000 yuan ($1,343).

The low-traveler turnout has disappointed the travel agencies, which originally thought that fans wanting to make the trip to the African country would help boost tourism revenues.

"A lot of clients told us that they decided not to go in the end because they were worried about their safety," Yao Min, a manager at Spring International Travel Agency, told the Global Times Wednesday. "Many robbery cases there have been reported over the past month, and that combined with the high cost has turned many people away."

She added that ordinary people who have no interest in soccer also believed that this would not be the best time to visit the country.

Looking on the bright side, however, some travel agencies said that the World Cup helped to pique the interest of Chinese in venturing to less known destinations. According to a report by Shanghai Evening News Wednesday, travel agencies expect tours to the Middle East and eastern European countries to become more popular once the World Cup ends.