Metro eyes homestays for World Cup rush

Buffalo City Metromayor Princess Fakuhas called on the city’s homeowners to consider converting their homes to bed-and-breakfast rentals to help meet accommodation demands ahead of the2027 ICC Cricket World Cup. Faku said the city’s accommodation sector had not recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic and the metro was looking at alternative ways to meet the demand of hosting World Cup matches, when 40,000 visitors are expected to visit the province for the tournament. Faku was speaking to the Dispatch afterpremier Oscar Mabuyane’s state of the province address (Sopa)at the provincial legislature offices in Bhisho last week.

The province’s two metros are set to host matches when fans and teams descend on SA for the tournament in late 2027. In December, the metro council approved the allocation of R20m to upgrade theBuffalo Park Cricket Stadium. The province estimated that the 40,000 people would inject R800m into the provincial economy.

“The premier is emphasising that we must invest in tourism,” Faku said. “We need to try to assist, especially by providing BnBs to revive the tourism economy.” Faku said the metro had asked the provincial department of economic development to develop packages for businesses. “We must encourage people to convert their households into bed-and-breakfasts, and the metro must assist.” Faku did not rule out the possibility of monetary relief for metro BnBs. “I know some owners of these BnBs owe municipalities a lot of money, but it must be case by case.”