By Mark Baber
August 15 – As Brazil suffered a shock defeat to Switzerland on Wednesday, the country has also been hit with off-pitch woes as the Confederacao Brasileira de Futebol (CBF) has reportedly suffered losses in a bank collapse. At the same time the Brazilian Sports Minister has said work on the World Cup stadiums needs to speed up and it is has been revealed hotel costs for World Cup fans will be double those of Johannesburg in 2010.
Speaking to senators, Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo (pictured) said that meeting FIFA’s December deadline for completion of the World Cup stadiums “will require a faster pace of work”. Currently work on the Sao Paulo arena is estimated to be 82% complete, with the other five being built requiring a “general acceleration”.
Meanwhile Bloomberg reports an anonymous source [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-13/brazil-soccer-body-may-lose-half-of-2012-profit-in-bank-failure.html ] saying the CBF may have lost up to 30 million reais ($13.14 million) in this month’s collapse of the Banco Rural with the CBF’s chief financial officer and treasurer being fired.
And according to a report from the state tourism agency Embratur, a Rio hotel will cost on average RM1,508 (US$460) for next year’s World Cup, double the price at the last World Cup in Johannesburg. The cost of a hotel room is forecast by Embratur to increase between 200-583% over the rates seen for the recent Confederations Cup.
Flavio Dino of Embratur, speaking to AFP, said: “Embratur believes it is essential to debate this issue ahead of time These events bring a huge number of new tourists to the country and the image formed from the destination shapes not only the opinion of one individual, but also that of his friends, relatives.”
In June, Sports Minister Also Rebelo vowed “zero tolerance” of hotel price gouging during next year’s tournament. Given that, in normal times, Rio’s hotel prices are $246.71 on average – higher than in New York or Paris – Rebelo stated that: “We will not accept that the hotel network take advantage of sporting events to overcharge…if it is necessary we will use the federal police, everything that is under state control.”
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