Tourism KwaZulu-Natal is going to embark on a recruitment campaign to mobilise for non-hotel accommodation owners to make their establishments available for the 2010 World Cup.

Tourism KwaZulu-Natal is going to embark on a recruitment campaign to mobilise for non-hotel accommodation owners to make their establishments available for the 2010 World Cup.

James Seymour, general manager of Tourism Information Services, said the campaign will start early in February.

The workshops will take place between February 11 and 16.

They are targeting the guest houses, bed and breakfast establishments and game reserves to meet the required 2 000 beds needed for World Cup visitors in KwaZulu-Natal.

This is in response to an announcement by Fifa that it will use non-hotel accommodation for the first time at a World Cup, in South Africa.

At this stage, only 700 of the required 2000 rooms have been contracted to Match, who have been appointed accommodation and ticketing agents of Fifa until 2014.

Seymour said workshops will be a joint venture between Tourism KwaZulu-Natal, the Tourism Enterprise Programme, the Grading Council and Match.

The series of workshops will be used to provide advice on the World Cup contracts and benefits available to the owners of the non- hotel accommodation.

That will also include the requirements out by the Grading Council for anyone who wish to benefit from the World Cup.

Non-hotel accommodation will be exempted from tax for the duration of the tournament.

Sepp Blatter, president of the world soccer governing body, said they wanted to see South Africans also benefitting from the World Cup