Tourists expected to follow footie fans to South Africa
South Africa says it is confident it will reach its target of 10 million visitors by the end of the year after seeing arrivals swell by almost a third during the World Cup.
Speaking at a post-tournament briefing in London this week, South Africa deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe said 32 million attended the 64 matches, which was fewer than in Germany in 2006 and America in 1994, but more than other World Cup tournaments.
Official figures show that a total of 777,263 foreigners entered South Africa in the three weeks prior to the tournament kick-off, a 32% increase on the same period of 2009.
Countries with die-hard football fans provided the greatest increase in visitors: there was a 24.2% increase from the German market, a 17.4% increase from Portugal and 12.4% increase from Holland.
Interestingly, the government has not yet given figures for the number of UK visitors during the tournament, but it said arrivals from the UK from March 2009 to March 2010 were up 5.5%.
"Considering these uncertain financial times, South African Tourism has been encouraged by the growth in arrivals and remains optimistic that the destination will achieve its target of 10 million arrivals by the end of 2010," said a report by South African Tourism.
"South Africa’s figures are well ahead of predictions by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation that the global industry would increase between just 3% and 4% in 2010."
The South African government believes the tournament contributed 0.4% to the country’s gross domestic product, injecting 38 billion rand into the economy. The government spent 33 billion rand on preparations for the World Cup.
Perhaps more importantly, a YouGovStone revealed that the World Cup had altered people’s perception of the country as a tourist destination. Although only 29% of those questioned prior to the tournament expected it to be a success, 72% felt that it was a positive legacy for the country and 42% felt more positive about visiting as tourists.
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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