Contemporary Issues in Hotel Studies

Impacts of World Cup 2010 to South

African Tourism Industry

Ardy Tristianto

Certificate in International Hotel and Tourism Management

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Table of Contents

Cover Page

Table of Contents......................................................................................................................1

Introduction..............................................................................................................................2

Previous World Cup..................................................................................................................2

Current South African Tourism Sector and Its Development...................................................2

The Benefits of World Cup to the Host Country.......................................................................3

Economic Impacts.....................................................................................................................3

Social and Cultural Impacts......................................................................................................4

Impacts on the Neighbouring Countries...................................................................................5

Prospects and Sustainability.....................................................................................................5

Conclusions...............................................................................................................................6

Reference List...........................................................................................................................7

Introduction
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Sport tourism, which means tourism that involves sport activities either actively or
passively, is one of the important tourism sectors, which are still developing fast as a result
of world’s globalisation (Hinch and Higham 2004). One thing behind it is sport events that
are being held all over the world. One of the most popular sport events, which bring
essential impacts to tourism, is undoubtedly the FIFA World Cup. According to Jamie
Trecker, World Cup can divert almost everyone’s attention, even people who know little
about football, into one country, the host. As a result, World Cup in the past years has
boosted the tourism industry in whichever country where the event was held (2007). In
2010, South Africa will have the chance to taste that atmosphere and this will also be a
perfect time to promote their tourism.

Previous World Cup

In 2006, World Cup was held in Germany. It was a huge success to Germany with
total gross-profit of about € 155 million. Furthermore, the number of tourists coming in FIFA
Fan Fest has approximately reached twenty one million people in just around one month
(GNTB Survey 2006; German Football Association 2007). Not only based on the statistics and
facts, the success was also reflected by the euphoria of World Cup that still could be felt in
many areas throughout Germany. Hence, South Africa, being the first African country to
hold this mega-event, will have great challenges ahead to continue the legacy and also use
this chance to maximize the benefits given.

Current South African Tourism Sector and Its Development

Comparing the objectives and current tourism industry in South Africa, it appears
that there are still a lot of improvements that the government must take care of in order to
meet the demands. Based on the World Cup 2010 Organising Plan Executive Summary by
South African Department of Environmental Affairs & Tourism, there are six main concerns,
which are accessibility to tourism information, accommodation, attractions and activities,
hospitality skills, public transport, and security that still need to be developed (2005). Having
a budget of US$ 825.3 million and few months left to the actual day of the event, the South
African government need to rush the development and fill the gap between the current
condition and actual demands. Besides, there are some obstacles, such as economic crisis
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that have negative impacts to the world’s tourism industry and internal problems regarding
the labour and facility construction that are yet to be deal with (FIFA 2004; Theriault 2009).

The Benefits of World Cup to the Host Country

Despite all the challenges and problems that South Africa has to overcome,
numerous great benefits are awaiting. Evidences from the previous World Cups show that a
massive number of tourists globally would come wherever the World Cup was being held.
Thus, it has been predicted that this will give a huge income that can help South African
economic sector. By being watched by people all over the world, it will influence the image
of South Africa, both in the football and tourism aspect. According to Egbert Oldenboom,
this basically depends on how the preparation, development and marketing will be carried
out. Those will be the main key to the success of the actual events. Shortly, the more
success the actual events is, the more people worldwide will know about South Africa and
the chance of travel back there again in the future will be higher (2006).

The next benefit will be the “leftover” from the event, including the developed
infrastructures that could enhance the progression of tourism sector throughout South
Africa. For example, hotels and accommodations, transportation, and security which are
upgraded or newly-built for this event, can continuously benefits the country onward.

Besides, organizing World Cup can give valuable experiences that not many
countries even have the chance to do it, especially for a developing country like South
Africa. As the host country, South Africa may gain knowledge about organizing and planning
international-scale events. This may also equip the local people with skills and experiences
that eventually increase their competitiveness in the labour market.

Economic Impacts

World Cup may cause economic fluctuation in the host country due to labour and
budget allocation. Robert A. Baade emphasize about the economic impacts of mega-
sporting events that “...the expenditures should properly be treated as investments that
generate positive economic returns, that is to say yields that exceed those generated by the
next-best, alternative use of those funds” (2006, p. 178).
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The statement above suggests that during the preparation of a mega-sporting

event, such as World Cup, the government needs to re-allocate an enormous amount of
money from other sector’s budget, for instance, education and healthcare service. This is
very likely to occur in a developing country like South Africa and it may disrupt the stability
of economic sector.

Nevertheless, those investments will assist to sustain the tourism industry and
therefore, the economic sector can benefit from it too. Furthermore, the revenue obtained
from tickets, merchandise, broadcast rights and from tourism sector, such as
accommodation and attractions, will help to cover up all the expenses incurred. Hence,
there are still substantial amount of profits that can be gained. In addition, this event
provides job vacancies for the locals, as well as opportunities to gain skills and experiences,
specifically in service and hospitality area. However, the government must restrict the
foreign investors to certify that the benefits still end up in the local people’s hand.

Social and Cultural Impacts

“Place is intimately tied to culture. The meanings that are attached to sport spaces
are strongly influenced by the cultural context in which sport and tourism exist” (Hinch and
Higham 2004, p.102). Principally, cultures represent a country’s identity. Since this World
Cup will be held for the first time in African Continent, it is expected to give a new touch of
culture to tourists. Based on that, it will proceed laterally with the marketing and promotion
of the event itself. It may also affect the customers’ behaviour, which will result in changing
the social life of local people subsequently.

Focusing on the social and cultural impacts of World Cup to South Africa, it will be
just like a coin that has two sides, positive and negative aspects. Talking about benefits, it is
essentially about promoting local and traditional culture, which revolves around rural areas
to the tourists. Moreover, by making the local culture more appealing, in line with the
World Cup developing programs, it will attract investors to invest their money and help to
increase the living standards of the locals. These will then generate profits for the
government.
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However, the commercialization of traditional cultures and skills appears to

backfire at those communities themselves. Locals will concentrate more on the traditional
culture and artistry that interest tourists more. This will slowly make the other cultures that
do not interest the tourists simply vanish. Moreover, this also affects the meaning of the
culture itself alongside with the loss of their living system, including historical significance,
traditional ceremony, beliefs and religion (Cooper et al. 2008).

In addition, it appears that the prospect of tourism booming in South Africa have a
consequences of sex exploitation or so-called sex tourism (Cooper et al. 2008). This is due to
the spreading of HIV/AIDS that already scattered throughout Africa and could be even worse
as more people going in and out of the country during this upcoming World Cup. Thus, the
government should be prepared by setting up a preventive measurement to minimize this
problem before it becomes a serious problem in the future.

Impacts on the Neighbouring Countries

All of the impacts mentioned above may also affect South African neighbouring
countries. They can use this event as a rare opportunity to promote themselves alongside
South Africa as part of African Continent. Offering travel packages and providing cheaper
accommodation to cope the massive number of visitors in South Africa are few ways to
attract tourists to spend some of their time there asides from enjoying the event in South
Africa. Apparently, this will bring benefits, particularly in tourism and economic sector. This
event also could improve the politics and cooperation of each country to a certain extent,
for instance, the cooperation in accessibility between each country with purpose to simplify
the tourism flow in and out South Africa.

Prospects and Sustainability

Despite the promising prospects that the World Cup can offer to the tourism
industry in South Africa, there are challenges to ensure its sustainability. Sustainable
tourism itself defines as a tourism that meets present demand and also for future
generation without compromising any aspects from it (Cooper et al. 2008).

First, the environmental issue has become a global concern recently.

Infrastructures construction and development must not sacrifice the natural environments.
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Second is the labour issue. Government have to ensure that the people will not become
unemployed after the event ends. Next is about continuous marketing and promotion.
South African Tourism Association must cooperate with media and tourism companies in
promoting their tourism to attract more tourists. One more thing is to carry on the World
Cup euphoria as part of their tourism and continuously making innovations in order to
survive the competition with another country.

Conclusion

In conclusion, World Cup will bring a massive impact to South Africa, mainly in
tourism, economic and socio-cultural aspects. It also provides numerous benefits to South
African tourism during and after World Cup itself ended. However, it may also bring some
negative effects too. Nevertheless, as the prospect of tourism industry in South Africa is
highly promising, the South African government, the tourism companies and the locals must
be involved in developing the tourism and make it sustainable in the future.

Reference List
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Baade, R.A. 2006. The economic impact of mega-sporting events. In: Andreef, W.,
Szymański, S. ed. Handbook on the Economics of Sport. [online book] Cheltenham: Edward
Elgar Publishing Limited, pp. 177-182. Available from: http://books.google.com/books?
id=PGRkblShhU8C&dq=sport+events+economic+impact&client=firefox-
a&source=gbs_navlinks_s [Accessed December 8th 2009].

Cooper, C., Fletcher, J., Fyall, A, Gilbert, D. and Wanhill, S. 2008. Tourism: Principles and
Practice. 4th ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

Department of Environment Affairs & Tourism Republic of South Africa. 2005. 2010 World
Cup Tourism Organising Plan Executive Summary. [online] Available from:
http://www2.southafrica.net/satourism/research/viewResearchDetail.cfm?
Action=Archive&ReportTypeCategoryID=55 [Accessed December 7 th 2009].

FIFA. 2004. World Cup 2010 South Africa. [online] Available from: http://www.sa-
eshop.com/world-cup-2010.php [Accessed September 23th 2009].

German Football Association. 2007. South African Equity Market Reaction to the 2010 World
Cup Announcement. [online] Available from:
http://www.aabri.com/OC09manuscripts/OC09111.pdf [Accessed September 21 st 2009].

GNTB Survey. 2006. The 2006 FIFA World CupTM and its effects on the image and economy of
Germany. [online] Available from: http://www.germany-
tourism.de/pdf/DZT_WM_Bilanz_Bro2008_Eng.pdf/ [Accessed 23 rd September 2009].
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Hinch, T., Higham, J. 2004. Sport Tourism Development. Aspects of Tourism, 13. [online
book] Great Britain: Channel View Publications. Available from:
http://books.google.ch/books?id=FU1dIQ64yoEC&hl=en&source=gbs_navlinks_s [Accessed
December 5th 2009].

Oldenboom, E.R. 2006. Costs and Benefits of Major Sports Events. [online book] Amsterdam:
MeerWaarde Onderzoeksadvies. Available from: http://books.google.com/books?
id=2R1A1daT0HwC&source=gbs_navlinks_s [Accessed December 8 th 2009].

Theriault, M. 2009. Strike by World Cup Construction Workers in South Africa Turns Violent.
[online] Available from: http://blog.taragana.com/sports/2009/07/09/strike-by-world-cup-
construction-workers-in-south-africa-turns-violent-10375/ [Accessed December 7 th 2009].

Trecker, J. 2007. Love and Blood: At the World Cup with the Footballers, Fans, and Freaks.
[online book] Florida: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Available from:
http://books.google.ch/books?
id=wJE2rYRrbgYC&client=opera&hl=en&source=gbs_navlinks_s [Accessed December 7 th
2009].