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Bed shortage in South Africa results in desperate measures

While many of the larger towns and cities involved in the football World Cup in South Africa are well-served by hotel rooms for travelling supporters, certain other places are struggling to match demand with beds, according to a new report.

Looking into the issue, Agence France-Presse (AFP) found that places including Polokwane and Nelspruit, which will be at the centre of the action on many an occasion this summer, are having to resort to house-sharing and other ideas to match the demand for mattresses.

It explained that other creative ideas were in the pipeline, such as the co-opting of student housing, the preparation of tented camps and the recruitment of residents to offer beds for the surge in visitors, particularly given how it will benefit the local economy.

Mike Tauatsoala, Limpopo tourism spokesman, told AFP: "Realising that we might not have sufficient accommodation for this major event, we thought maybe the best thing is to identify a travel agent (for) registering houses as home stays."

England has got arguably the easiest group in the tournament, being handed Algeria, Slovenia and the US.

Posted by Elizabeth Mewes