Regardless of who raises the trophy at the Soccer City stadium next July, South Africa will benefit from the legacy of the event for years to come. Our status as the host nation is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for South Africa to present itself to a global audience as a vibrant, modern and successful country!
The World Cup will provide a boost to tourism and subsequently to the entire South African economy and infrastructure. As well as building and developing tourism facilities, community programmes and skills development are key areas of focus in the run up to the competition.
Tangible changes that are already taking place include improvements to transport infrastructure, state of the art stadia, new hotels and improvements to the airport.
Billions of Rand will be invested in the country ahead of the tournament, including over R18 billion on transport infrastructure – including roads and rail, R20 billion on hotel developments and resorts and R82 million on the new King Shaka International Airport, north of Durban.
“While visitor numbers to South Africa have been affected by the global recession, we are not suffering as much as some other destinations. It is still early days, but we are cautiously optimistic that we’ll make our target of 10 million visitors during 2010,” says SA Tourism.
The recession is encouraging people to demand greater value for money from their holiday breaks and the weakness of the Rand against Sterling will mean that UK visitors will be pleasantly surprised at how far their Pound stretches.
Not everyone will be coming just for the football of course. Our wonderful beaches, wildlife, adventure options and wellness and spa facilities will keep even the most football-phobic visitors happy!
Our recent successes with the Confederations Cup and the Lion’s Tour gave us the opportunity to prove to the wider world that we can successfully host international sporting events and attract thousands of visitors, keep them safe and show them a good time.
Now it’s up to all of us, those still living in South Africa and those of us in the UK, to start to spread the excitement. The thrill of welcoming the world to our destination, the blast of thousands of vuvuzelas and the wonderful time South Africa and the world will have, come 2010!
It will not be long until we start to be asked about going to SA for the World Cup – whether to go, why people should go… and then where to go and what to do in! SA PROMO have gathered up these enticing websites so potential visitors can see for themselves what’s in store in SA!
www.vizit.co.za – Ideal for home sick days when you need a bit of real life 3D Cape Town and not just the usual photo images of Table Mountain, Kirstenbosch and the winelands. These online video tours, lovingly shot little one minute movies, give you the beaches, mountains and beautiful places to drool over while considering how to spend one’s Pounds!
www.mysouthafrica.tv – People from all over the world, locals too, are invited to log in and submit their own experiences of South Africa – whether it be in written, video or photo format. Visitors can then sift through these ‘experiences’ and be inspired to visit SA!
OTHER GREAT SA SITES
www.southafrica.info
www.sagoodnews.co.za
www.places.co.za
www.southafricatourismonline.com
