Township tourism is hot! That’s what South African tour operators want the Dutch to understand during the Netherlands’ biggest holiday fair which is taking place this week. But for some township entrepreneurs, business is lukewarm at its best. 

Alina Thonjeni is making potato mash in her kitchen in Alexandra township, Johannesburg. “I want this guesthouse to be smart. I want to fix the toilet, put tiles in the bathroom and install a hot water tank,” she says, as water drips trough the roof, right into her potatoes. “There was too much rain yesterday. Now the house is getting water where it usually doesn’t leak. I must fix the roof, too.”
 
Last year, with the 2010 soccer World Cup coming up, the retired widow and mother of four, decided to turn her modest home into a guesthouse. The room looks the part: a big bed, matching curtains and a bowl of potpourri are awaiting tourists. During the World Cup, two Dutch guests stayed with her. After that, nothing.
 
Tipping point
She is not the only one. In her block alone, Mrs. Thonjeni knows of six people who thought the World Cup would be the tipping point for tourists coming to Alexandra. Some took out loans to build an extra room to their house. “But nobody came,” Mrs. Thonjeni says, as she empties a bowl of rainwater into the sink. “And now they owe the bank a lot of money. How are they going to pay that back?”
 
SWOT-analysis

Lebo Malepa, the owner of Soweto’s Backpackers, thinks it’s unfortunate that people were taken up by the World Cup storm. “They had dollar signs in their eyes. People didn’t stop to really think whether those four weeks of football were going to be worth all the investments.”
 
Mr Malepa has been running his business since 2003. What started with offering the occasional tourist his own room in his grandparents’ Sowetan house, is now a 24-bed backpackers hostel, with dorms and double rooms.
 
Shortcut to success
He too anticipated an increase of tourists during the World Cup. But instead of adding new rooms, he decided to rent caravans and turned the playground across from the his hostel into a camping site. “It was such a buzz. We had 60 people staying here every night of the tournament.”
 
“There’s no shortcut to success,” reflects the seasoned township entrepreneur. “The Backpackers benefitted from the World Cup because we had already made a name for ourselves prior to the event. Even so, we didn’t make any drastic changes. Only now that we’ve got the money from the World cup guests, we can start thinking about building new rooms.”
 
Text book change
It looks like the ‘boom’ in township tourism depends very much on the township. In Soweto, Lebo Malepa has seen a change: “Guide books would only mention Soweto in combination with ‘crime’ or ‘danger’. Since the World Cup though, they write about places to stay in Soweto and possibilities of volunteering here.” 
 
Unfortunately, that isn’t of any great help to Alina Thonjeni over in Alexandra, who prays every day for God to bring her some tourists. In addition, she’s contemplating starting a website to promote her guesthouse. “I’ve never used a computer before. But I’ve got 14 grandchildren, I’m sure they can help. This guesthouse is my dream. It must work.”