World Cup Legacy

26/10/2011 South Africa

FIFA World Cup 2010

South Africa has $222m worth of major conference and events business netted for the next five-year period as it makes its world cup legacy play.

The success of the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a great achievement for South Africa, showing that the country had the capacity, infrastructure, with a variety of tourism offerings and a nation of welcoming people, to stage any major international event, big or small.

South Africa has been successful in attracting events like the UN Climate Change Conference (COP17/CMP7) and the 123rd International Olympic Committee Session in 2011. Hosting the World Cup put South Africa in the event big league. The country recorded the highest levels of satisfaction from FIFA (nine out of 10).

The legacy includes increased accommodation options as well as new and renovated airports. The continent’s first rapid rail link network, the Gautrain, now transports 50,000 passengers a week.

Furthermore, the number of airlines flying to South Africa had doubled over the past five years. Nina Freysen-Pretorius, SAACI National Chairperson, called for a dedicated team to be set up at South African Airways (SAA) to work on business tourism.

The Government’s aim, meanwhile, is to increase foreign tourist arrivals to South Africa from seven million in 2009 to 15 million by 2020 hopes tourism’s total contribution to the economy create 225,000 jobs in the process.

J.Tang

Nelson Mandela and the FIFA World Cup