Overnight establishments in Bloemfontein were urged not to charge over-inflated prices to visitors during the coming Fifa Soccer World Cup, a problem common to all big sport events in the city.

"People are booking in Kimberley because of high prices," said George Mohlakoana, chief executive officer of the Mangaung local organising committee.

Mohlakoana said over-inflated prices by smaller establishments such as bed and breakfast type accommodations was one of the "problems" authorities had identified in the run up to the Fifa 2010 event.

He was speaking at a Free State tourism breakfast on the province's readiness for the Soccer World Cup, starting in June.

A spokesperson for Free State Tourism, Khotso Thole, confirmed the practice of over-inflated accommodation prices and warned that the "quick buck" practice was hurting the Free State's tourism industry.

The meeting heard about accommodation quotes increasing from R700 to R3 000.

It was estimated that Bloemfontein officially had about 12 000 tourism beds and the surrounding areas such as Kimberley, Welkom and Lesotho another 13 000 beds.

Government authorities have launched a campaign inviting Bloemfontein and surrounding homeowners to open their homes to visiting soccer supporters, expecting another 2 000 beds to become available.

Other problems experienced with accommodation establishments were that people changing to cheaper accommodation elsewhere were battling to get their money back, at times fully paid at the original service provider.

The situation, already experienced during the earlier Federation Cup Tournament last year, has in the meantime created headaches for tourism authorities in that soccer entertainment-related events needed to be established at all these "satellite" sites.

Mohlakoana said businesses should also review their business hours during the world cup.

"At 7pm, only restaurants are open at the malls in Bloemfontein. It's a problem for the world cup."

He also urged tourism operators to talk the same language as the national government on safety.

Mohlakoana said the national safety plan was sufficient and that it was one "area where we have no sleepless nights with".

Although Bloemfontein was one of the soccer world cup hosting cities, no teams participating had yet booked the city to be used as a training base camp.

The nearest is Uruguay, that would be in Kimberley.

"Not all was lost for the host city due to this," said Mohlakoana.

He said indications were that teams taking part in the Federation Cup tournament had felt the weather conditions in Bloemfontein was too cold for their preparations.

Earlier, Free State MEC for tourism Mxolisi Dukwana urged a more integrated way for tourism operators to work together in the Free State.

The province also launched a campaign to get all tourism operators to work in a coordinated way in getting as much as possible benefit for the province over the six weeks period of the Fifa 2010 Soccer World Cup. - Sapa