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country, and over a half of those who had attended previous World Cups said that South Africa was a better host than the other host nations they had visited. Ninety per cent of interna- tional tourists visiting the country for the World Cup said that they planned to return to South Africa. The 2010 World Cup took place in nine cities with Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town being the most popular with international tourists. For Durban and Cape Town, already major centres of leisure tourism, the event has fur- ther bolstered their market awareness, stimulated investment in major infra- structure projects and encouraged the development of new tourism products including hotels, restaurants, enter- tainment facilities and stadia. The total investment in stadia by the South African government and the pro- vincial governments totalled R8.4bn (£700m), over half of the R17.4bn (£1.4bn) total investment necessary to host the World Cup. Five new stadia were constructed for the event (at Cape Town, eThekwini, Nelson Mandela Bay, Mbombela and Pokowane) while fi ve existing stadia were upgraded (two in Johannesberg, at Tshwane, Rustenberg and at Mangaung).


In the words of Helen Zille, pre- miere of the Western Cape province whose government invested more than R13bn (£1.1bn) in making Cape Town one of the host cities and constructed the new Green Point Stadium: “Africa proved to the world that we can deliver excellence, on time and in budget. Our province did its bit for nation-building and sustaining the vision of what we can be as a country.” Cape Town attracted over 500,000 spectators to the 25 matches at Green Point, 580,000 people under- took the iconic ‘Fans’ Walk’ and 560,000 took part in the various fans fests. The city saw 19,000 volunteers


The World Cup attracted 310,000 international visitors. They spent £300m in the country


recruited and trained for the World Cup, with 1,600 media encamped in the city. There was unprecedented lev- els of cooperation across all aspects of city life and governance.


The legacies behind the headlines In July 2011, the Western Cape provin- cial government hosted the Sports & Events Tourism Exchange Conference in Cape Town with the main theme being an examination of the legacy and the lessons learned from the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The aim of the conference was to look at ways of building on the success of the event in order to attract more global sporting events and grow international sports tourism. The aim was also to ensure that the tangible and intangible bene- fi ts of the World Cup were understood and critically evaluated. For some at the conference, the jury


was still out on whether the World Cup was truly a success for South Africa. FIFA estimates that the event gener- ated more than $4.2bn (£2.65bn) in revenues yet the host country reaped just $520m (£328m); internal reports


"Perhaps we should refl ect on how much can be achieved when skilled and dedicated teams of people are prepared to overcome all obstacles to achieve a goal"


50 Read Leisure Management online leisuremanagement.co.uk/digital


Members of the public in Johannesburg take part in the 'diski dance' – the offi cial dance for the 2010 FIFA World Cup


suggest that middle classes (both white and black) did well from the event yet poorer communities gained little. In addition, the event was city-focused; urban South Africa – specifi cally down- town commercial areas – did well, while the suburbs and rural areas secured little real uplift. Also, while global spon- sors and corporate activity took place around the event, much of the real benefi ts for these organisations was gained outside Africa. For the majority of speakers, how-


ever, there was an overriding sense of collective positive achievements. Marketeers, for example, spoke of the changing perceptions and rela- tionships between tourists and the destinations they visited. World Cup tourists and the media become emo- tionally connected to the country and the host cities. Initial fears associated with fragile security and safety issues


ISSUE 2 2012 © cybertrek 2012


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