With just 32 days to go until the World Cup kicks off in South Africa, it seems few Maltese football fans will be joining the party in the Rainbow Nation when it gets underway.
Despite the popularity of the tournament among fans, expensive flights, hefty accommodation prices, problems getting tickets, crime fears and the long distances involved in reaching and getting around South Africa are the main reasons cited by supporters for staying home.
The Sunday Times contacted the local supporters' clubs of Juventus, Manchester United, AC Milan, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Arsenal and Chelsea to see if any members were planning to go, but none gave a positive response.
Only around 30 locals have booked Emirates Airlines' official World Cup travel packages through official agent EC Travel Services Ltd (FCM Travel Solutions - Malta) in Birkirkara, although managing director Edward Papps said they were still receiving enquiries.
The packages include return flights between Malta and South Africa, accommodation as required, transfer from airport to hotel to stadiums and return (by air if necessary), and match ticket.
However, although the packages cater for the logistical problems faced by fans, the prices are beyond the reach of most supporters.
Flights, transfers, a ticket to watch a selected group game, and five nights' accommodation in a single economy room at the two-star Stay Easy Century City hotel in Cape Town costs €3,135.
Meanwhile, a package that includes a ticket to watch the final in Johannesburg and three nights' accommodation in a single economy room at the three-star Sunsquare Montecasino hotel rises to €5,179.
Elsewhere, Hamilton Travel chose not to organise tours to South Africa for the World Cup. Managing director Norman Hamilton said: "There won't be any interest from people wanting to travel during the preliminaries. Interest will increase as the tournament reaches the final stages, but by then prices for match tickets will be astronomical."
Most branches of Mondial Holidays said they had not received any World Cup enquiries, "probably because fans prefer watching games on TV at home or on a big screen, munching peanuts and drinking beer," surmised Christopher Farrugia from the Paola branch.
The Sliema branch received two enquiries at the beginning of February but found nearly all hotel rooms were already taken and the few hotels still available were prohibitively expensive.
For adventurous fans, hostels and campsites are available, and some entrepreneurial South Africans are renting out bedrooms or allowing fans to camp in their gardens. But even fans willing to take on a back-packing-style World Cup trip could still have problems getting hold of tickets.
Steve Hili is volunteering in neighbouring Namibia and planned to travel to South Africa and camp for a few weeks with his wife during the World Cup. He tried to get tickets online for months but each time he applied he had to wait two-to-three weeks, only to be informed he had been unsuccessful.
He visited Cape Town last month and tried to purchase tickets there, as Fifa had made tickets available over-the-counter to South Africans. Although Fifa reported that locals bought 180,000 tickets in the first week of over-the-counter sales, Mr Hili could not persuade anyone to purchase tickets on his behalf, and he returned to Namibia empty-handed.
After a friend in South Africa tried unsuccessfully last week to get Mr Hili tickets to watch Holland vs Cameroon in Cape Town on June 24, he concluded that tickets for the big matches are now impossible to get hold of.
Consequently, Mr Hili is resigned to watching the tournament from Namibia, but as a recent visitor to South Africa, he dismisses fears that the tournament will fail because of crime and poor organisation.
"Organisation-wise the tournament will be challenging but it will be a success. Cape Town is beautiful, safe and cosmopolitan, and the stadium is gorgeous. People in South Africa are looking forward to it as an opportunity to show off to the world."
Another Maltese reluctantly missing out on going to South Africa is Sunday Times sports columnist James Calvert. Hoping to take a four-week family holiday, he applied for tickets for all of England's games, but was only allocated two tickets to a group game in the Fifa ticket lottery and is not willing to travel to South Africa for just one game.
Are you planning to travel to South Africa for the World Cup this summer? If so, we would like to hear how you are doing it. E-mail pcooke@timesofmalta.com.