A recent Travel News poll showed that only 5% of readers had received enquiries about next year’s FIFA World Cup, jointly hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico between June 11 and July 19, 2026.
The slow uptake may be partly due to the event’s roll-out. Illana Pereira, COO of Tourvest Destination Management Sports and Events, operators of Pure-Travel and SA Rugby Travel, told Travel News that the 2026 FIFA World Cup had not been extensively marketed yet, and official distributors of the travel programme in each source market had not been appointed.
Qualifiers are also still being played, so which teams will be playing and where is not set in stone.
Pereira said South Africans generally tended to book closer to their intended travel time.
“South Africa is a travel market with a shorter lead time to booking, whilst not ‘lastminute.com’. Generally, once the qualifiers are complete, the official travel and hospitality programme is launched in each source market, the overall marketing of the tournament ramps up, which will potentially bring with it a commensurate ramp-up in demand,” Pereira said.
First half-time show
For the first time in the tournament's history, next year’s global sporting spectacle will stage a Super Bowl-style half-time show, with Coldplay helping to select the artists to perform.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin and band manager Phil Harvey would help to establish a set of artists to perform in the 15-minute break at next year's final, reports the BBC.
The final will be played at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
