According to the Daily Mail, Embratur, Brazil’s tourist board, the price of a hotel stay during the Brazil World Cup could soar by 500% over normal regular prices.
The shock figures have prompted the concerned organisation to ask football governing body FIFA to help bring down the price of the hotel rooms and make them more affordable for the tourist.
Embratur fears that the “stratospheric” costs could damage the country’s reputation and affect tourism beyond the 2014 competition as tourists may feel Brazil is expensive and over-priced.
FIFA has appointed booking agency Match Services to sell hotel rooms for the event, but Embratur has claimed that Match is “exercising intermediation fees that are a lot higher than usually exercised in the tourism market.”
Embratur says it has officially asked FIFA and hotel operators to negotiate lowering prices during the World Cup, fearing that long-term tourism figures could be affected by high costs in 2014.
In a document received by the Associated Press, Embratur states: “We propose that the companies involved conduct new rounds of negotiations to lead to a restructuring of the prices.”
It goes on to state: “We reiterate that FIFA/Match charges mark-up rates of more than 40% on the amount contracted with the hotel, something that contributes decisively to the increase of already high rates.”
Related articles
- Brazil asks FIFA, hotels to lower WC prices (arabtimesonline.com)
- Controversy with FIFA over hotel prices for the 2014 World Cup (en.mercopress.com)
- Brazil concerned about hotel price hikes at WCup (fresnobee.com)
Well I doubt if they’ll lower the prices. Hoteliers know that tourists will come to Brazil anyway so what’d be the point for them to lower the price?
Is it going to affect future tourism in Brazil? Maybe yes. But if then it won’t last for a long period due to the fact how popular Brazil is.
We will also think so, greetings form Lima.