1 "We can all applaud Africa. The victor is football. The victor is Africa. (CNN 2004).

These words echoed across the globe as Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) President Sepp Blatter announced on 15 May 2004 that South Africa would be the first African Nation to host a mega event in the form of the World Cup 2010. This unique mega event in Africa will be a central theme throughout accompanied by referencing towards strategies in Sydney, Beijing and the London Olympic Games which would have contributed to the improvement of the economic and tourist impact of the World Cup 2010. Mega events are defined as short-term high profile events like Olympics and World Fairs that are usually thought of in terms of their tourism and economic impacts (Hall, 1992; Getz,1997). The latter point will be critically investigated and is the aspect that will be comprehensively explored with constant reflection on its effect on tourism.

Hosting a mega event attracts the undivided attention of the worlds media. This invites extreme pressure on the host nation as the mega event provides an ideal opportunity for the hosts to showcase themselves and accentuate a positive impression on the rest of the world as illustrated with the success of the Olympic games in Barcelona 1992 as the market price of old and new housing rose between 1986 and 1992 by 240 percent and 287 percent respectively (Brunet, 1993 in Wilkinson, 1994:23). In order for a mega event to be successful and create a legacy the economic impacts triggered through a pending mega event must be executed to perfection in order to maximise the prospects for the hosting tourism destination.

Numerous economic factors stimulating an impact on tourism need to be taken into account when preparing for a mega event with key issues including developments in infrastructure as well as investment in venues and related facilities. This will be looked at in great detail with main analysis on the mega event in South Africa initially before looking at other government strategies used in the mega events of Sydney, Beijing and the upcoming Olympics in London 2012 which could have been implemented in South Africa to enhance the positive impacts on tourism. Once this has been assimilated the analysis will move on to study the macro effects on South Africa and this will contribute towards the cost benefit critique before concluding on the overall economic impact of the mega event on tourism in South Africa.

2 A strong infrastructure has evolved as a key part of modern society as it is now a vital tool required to support economic growth. South Africa designed major projects in the build up to their mega event aiming to alleviate the nations hospitality and improve South Africa as a tourism destination. Bua news reported that from 11 June to 11 July South Africa attracted more than 1.4 million tourists to the country, most of whom were first time visitors to the country (Afrique Avenir 2010). In order to accommodate the volumes of tourists visiting South Africa in such a condensed time frame the airports required dramatic improvement which led to the announcement of a capital expenditure budget of R5.2 billion for airport renovations. Features of the budget included the new King Shaka International Airport in Durban, $517 million expanding Cape Town International and over a billion dollars spent renovating South Africas busiest airport O.R Tambo International which is capable of handling 28 million passengers a year (Singh 2010). Long term tourism growth is forecasted on top of the strong tourism presence felt in South Africa in recent years which has brought about optimism on the future tourism industry with quotes stating South Africa is targeting about 10 million visitors annually by 2010, but beyond that we can look f orward to even as much as double this figure (Naidoo 2009) justifying these investments. South Africa now possess international airports capable of handling large influxes of tourism enabling them to support the tourism industry if its to boom post 2010. A post mega event tourism boom happened after the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan which is a relevant comparison to South Africa as it is also a long haul destination for the majority of inbound tourists. The positive tourism effects experienced were so great in 2002 that targets to almost double their intake of tourists in the decade after the mega event have been set. Grant Thornton is expecting similar results in South Africa predicting a rise from 9.2 million foreign arrivals in 2007 to an escalated 19.2 million by 2015. Transport has become vital to the development of mass tourism (Lyth 2010) and for the mega event of 2010 South Africa identified public transport as a key project for the World Cup as the transport milestones developed during the 2010 FIFA World Cup form part of the lasting legacy that will be enjoyed by generations of South Africans for many decades (GCIS 2010). Previous to South Africa hosting the World Cup there were preliminary plans in place although the mega event acted as a catalyst hastening the introduction of both a Bus Rapid Transit System which upgraded the quality and performance level of the public transport system (Arrive Alive 2010) as well as the Gautrain (mass rapid transit railway system) which launched a matter of days before the tournament and is expected to carry around 100,000 passengers daily. However, the effect of the Gautrain was not fully utilised

3 by tourists in 2010 as the Tshwane stations are not expected to be completed until June 2011 to the disappointment of the industry. The importance of trying to achieve a reliable and efficient public transport system for South Africa was highly desired as they wanted to step in the direction of the developed countries that attract large volumes of tourists and have the capability to conveniently move tourists swiftly around their chosen destination due to a sophisticated infrastructure. The introduction of these services in South Africa has rapidly improved the Rainbow nations transport mobility making the country more accessible for current and future tourists and provides alternative routes for internal travel and also aids the estimated 43-million South Africans dependent on public transport (Bathembu 2009).

As a developing country South Africa required substantial investment before the start of the World Cup as the Rainbow Nation wanted to give off a glowing report to the rest of the world. Additional investment was therefore necessary in areas including venues and security. An incredible R11.7 billion was invested into the construction of five new stadia and redevelopment of the other five stadia involved in the World Cup in order to create iconic stadiums that have sparked comments "there is not one single European country which has so many good and high level stadiums" (Peck 2010). However, despite the praise associated with the stadiums they might fail to have an impact on tourists and therefore lack any benefit at all on the tourism destination as their purpose after the World Cup remains unclear. Fears have been raised that the stadiums are turning into white elephants as the fields are too small for cricket, the national soccer league cannot fill the stadiums (York 2010) and the 70,000 capacity Moses Mabhida stadium does not have enough suites to accommodate the local suite holders for the Sharks rugby team. The stadiums link with the Birds Nest Stadium built in Beijing for the 2008 games which sets an example to the most innovative of stadias although it was initially unoccupied following the Olympics and in the short term was successful in acting as a museum for tourists drawing some 20,000 to 30,000 people a day (Reuters 2009) until the Chinese National Stadium recently turned into a winter sports park. Crime has been a prominent issue that has dogged and devalued South Africa in recent years. Investment in the safety of tourists was seen as imperative in an attempt to detag these negative stereotypes in order to enhance South Africas tourism industry which is why R1.3 billion was spent on safety and security for the mega event. Evidence of measures included R665 million spent on improved security equipment as well as an increased police force with 41,000 officers to be deployed throughout World Cup operations. These radical yet crucial changes tackling the crime problem will provide a lasting legacy for South Africa

4 in the future South Africa will never be the same again after the World Cup (Nkosi 2010) which will hugely encourage vast amounts of tourists to now go and visit South Africa who would have previously been put off by South Africas crime reputation from the past. This is backed up with a South African survey of 772 people stating 92% of visitors saying that they would recommend South Africa as a destination (Jacobs 2010). South Africas main negative stereotype was non-existent throughout the mega event the crime rate was the lowest of any World Cup (Mahajan 2010) and the likely effect is that there will be a great increase in tourism because of the stark contrast in the crime situation. Hosting a mega event however does not have solely positive effects and the following strategies used in Olympic Games could have increased the economic impact upon South Africa as well as improved their tourism potential.

The millennium Olympics in Sydney promoted and encouraged the idea of investment in Australia. These steps were designed in order to cement Sydneys and Australias place as a landmark tourist destination whilst simultaneously experiencing economic growth through world class foreign strategies being applied on Australian soil. An agency called Austrade was set up by the government and they ran a now award winning campaign Business Club Australia where in 2000 the aim of BCA was to capitalise on Sydney hosting the 2000 Games and the estimated 20,000 visiting business people at Games through a series of networking events. The campaign experienced overwhelming success generating over $1.2bn worth of export & investment opportunities during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games ([both] Australian Government). These effects increased business tourism in Australia on an unprecedented level and heavily contributed to an increase in tourism receipts by an estimated 23% from the year of the Games to 2003 through the increased development and innovation in Australia post 2000. South Africa should have adopted investment strategies from the Sydney Games because of the vast amounts of development space that they have to offer which has the capability to create major tourist attractions. Had South Africa stressed their support and enthusiasm for foreign investment like Australia did in 2000 they could have embraced a rush of Western concepts which would have not only stimulated major economic impacts but would have also added significant amounts for South Africa to offer as a tourism destination.

The Green Olympics in Beijing has similarities with South Africa because both mega events aimed to construct a powerful legacy for themselves as developing nations

5 attempting to lure inbound tourism. However, South Africa made a fundamental error involving their stadia as stated above due to the poor planning over the long term futures of their venues after the mega event. Beijing meanwhile were far shrewder than South Africa due to intelligent civic planning when building their stadia as they were purposely built next to existing universities where the stadia became integrated into campus facilities shortly after the games wrestling venue will become a 6,000-seat gymnasium for the China Agricultural University, while the 6,900 seat badminton gym was turned over to Beijing University of Technology(Gluckman 2008) the Peking University also inherited a gymnasium. These actions benefit current and future students enormously due to the access of world class facilities but additionally maintain tourist attractions providing a lasting legacy to the Games which contributes to the high visiting growth in the years after the Olympics with figures stating increases of 9% and 8.5% compared to Sydneys 7.3% and 7.1% in the first and second years after the Olympics respectively (Blake and Li 2008). The option for hosting future events remains open which would attract further tourism. In South Africa meanwhile unless the stadium saga takes a dramatic twist the venues will evolve into cumbersome legacy and result in major financial and job losses as even stadiums of the stature of the 91,000 seating Birds Nest in China have faced huge uncertainty despite being one of Chinas main tourist attractions.

The Olympics in London 2012 focused on the regeneration of one of the UKs most deprived areas in East London shaping it into one of the most significant areas of the country with a host of tourist attractions. South Africa meanwhile neglected the poor in the build up to the World Cup despite circumstances as horrific as an unemployment rate of 43.2% by March this year (Bond 2010) and 50 per cent of the population living below the poverty line (Webb 2010). In London the organisers have firmly stated they are aiming for 100% of spectators to get to the Games by public transport, or by walking or cycling (London 2012). Transport in East London has been tremendously improved and these effects have heightened the East London attractions from the Games as they will be easily accessible for the high volumes of tourists anticipated. The government is also expected to make strong economic gains as a result of the high proportion of tourists and local residents utilising public transport. After the games, the Olympic Park will turn into the largest urban park created in Europe for more than 150 years creating thousands of jobs as well as providing East London with another impressive tourism attraction. Despite strong improvements in transport as well as investment in crime prevention in South Africa, the former point has been heavily

6 criticised "the poorest people needed bus networks from the townships to work people get up at the crack of dawn just to get to work (Bloomfield and Hart 2010). Fears have also been raised regarding long term improvements in employment as jobs remain unclear in the construction industries as they only have a short-term impact on job creation and poverty has risen with one in every six adults - are out of work ([both] Keita 2010). These effects deter tourists from visiting South Africa as people will be too worried to come to a nation experiencing such troubled times due to fears for their safety despite the tourist attractions. Measuring the success of the economic impacts on South Africas tourism can be summarised by a cost benefit analysis. After the mega event in 2010 South Africa will sustain an estimated 695 000 jobs and have a gross impact of R93-billion on South Africa's economy (Caprio 2010). However this assumption was based on an estimated 373,000 foreign tourists visiting in 2010 so the economic impacts could be far greater with around four times more tourists arriving in South Africa. This mass tourism presence has given hope to South Africas beleaguered textile industry which lost around 200,000 jobs in recent years and the industry will be looking to revive itself as a result of the current tourist surge which is one of the many areas that has led South Africa to hope in five years' time unemployment will fall to 20 per cent (Bloomfield and Hart 2010). The potential resurrection and expansion of industries such as tourism have been key factors in the Local Organising Committees prediction that the mega event will contribute more than 20 billion rand (about $3.6 billion) to the country's gross domestic product(Country Section 2010). The rush of tourists for the mega event has helped alleviate poverty with the building of the stadiums generating R7.4bn in wages, with R2.2bn going to low-income households (GCIS 2010). In addition, the negative crowding-out effect on tourism during mega events was less likely because the World Cup was not during South Africas peak tourism season. There are also phenomenal costs involved in South Africas mega event which should be taken into account. Hosting the World Cup has cost South Africa a staggering $12 billion due to the factors including contracts signed for 2010 are higher than the contracts for 2006 in Germany by about 25% (BBC News 2006). These astronomical figures entertain the idea of opportunity cost as the money could have arguably been better utilised in numerous projects whether they be poverty or tourism related. A final cost for tourists involves the currency appreciation in South Africa has strengthened more than 32 percent versus the dollar since the start of last year [Jan 09 Sep 10] (Cohen and Wild 2010). These effects

7 clearly act as a major drawback for tourists due to the large increase in costs for tourists visiting South Africa. South Africas economic impacts stemming from the mega event have affected tourism in tremendous fashion. The World Cup has provided South Africa with an economic platform to build upon due to the undeniable macroeconomic benefits from inbound tourism. This was further capitalised on throughout the month long tournament as South Africa radiated a feel-good factor which was captured by the worlds media. Glowing exposure of this magnitude has the effect of seducing tourists which would not have been possible through alternative measures with the use of opportunity cost due to the sheer lack of global attention. The positive vibes flowing out of the country during 2010 will undoubtedly contribute to economic growth due to the lasting legacy created. Even though strategies above were put forward to improve the impacts, a World Cup focuses on a whole nation unlike an Olympics which always makes the more refined policies harder to tailor towards. As a developing country South Africa has given the rest of the worlds developing economies great belief as they begin to show interest in bidding for and holding mega-events (Li 2010) highlighted with Brazil hosting the next World Cup. South Africa has set the example to developing nations, and proven a point to the world. "We can all applaud Africa. The victor is football. The victor is Africa. (CNN 2004).

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9 Gluckman (2008) After the Olympics Ron Gluckman. Downloaded from http://www.gluckman.com/Beijing%20Olympics%20Legacy.html as at 22 November. Government Communications (GCIS) 14/07/10 GOVERNMENT ASSESSMENT OF THE 2010 FIFA WORLD CUP (2010) Downloaded from http://www.sa2010.gov.za/en/node/3353 as at 20 November. Jacobs 16/07/2010 2010 World Cup Visitor Survey: 92% would recommend South Africa Downloaded from http://www.truecrimexpo.co.za/ as at 26 November. Keita 30/06/10 South Africa: Employment worries Downloaded from http://allafrica.com/stories/201006300786.html as at 28 November. Li (2010) The evolution of international Tourism Lecture 3, Slide 3. Accessed as at 19 November. London 2012 (2010) Transport Downloaded from http://www.london2012.com/makingit-happen/transport/index.php as at 26 November. Lyth (2010) The evolution of international Tourism Lecture 6, Slide 2. Accessed as at 24 November. Mahajan (2010) 24/08/10 After the World Cup: Policy Dilemmas Tackle South African Government World Bank Chief Economist for Africa Downloaded from http://blogs.worldbank.org/africacan/node/1878 as at 22 November. Naidoo (2009) SA guaranteed post-2010 tourism boom Travel Wires. Downloaded from http://www.travelwires.com/wp/2009/06/sa-guaranteed-of-post-2010-tourism-boom-garybailey/ as at 23 November. Nkosi 18/05/2010 Top safety plan for World Cup (2010) Media Club South Africa. Downloaded from http://www.mediaclubsouthafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17 40:parade-180510&catid=46:2010news&Itemid=118 as at 21 November. Peck 18/08/2010 South Africas World Cup stadiums already proving useless Yahoo Sports. Downloaded from http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/dirty-tackle/post/South-Africas-World-Cup-stadiums-already-provin?urn=sow-263428 as at 21 November. Reuters 22/04/09 Phyllis Xu and Mark Chisolm China tourists twig to Beijings Birds Nest downloaded from http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE53L10L20090422 as at November 27th. Singh (2010) 2010 World Cup Infrastructure - How has it changed South Africa? Mena Infrastructure. Downloaded from http://www.menainfra.com/article/2010-world-cupinfrastructure/ as at 28 November. Slavin (2007) Probable impacts of the Lower Lea Valley Developments (particularly the Olympics phase) on tenants in privately rented accommodation. Page 2. Accessed as at 20 November.

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SouthAfrica.info 01/05/05 Airport upgrades for 2010 Downloaded at http://www.southafrica.info/2010/acsa3108.htm as at 20 November. Sportz Power 19/06/09 2010 Fifa World Cup offers biz opportunities world over Downloaded from http://www.sportzpower.com/?q=content/2010-fifa-world-cup-offers-bizopportunities-world-over as at 24 November. Webb 24/03/10 Selling South Africa: Poverty, Politics and the 2010 FIFA World Cup Global Research. Downloaded from http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=18303 as at 30 November. York 04/07/2010 After World Cup euphoria fades, South Africas poverty will remain The Globe and Mail. Downloaded from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/soccer/theworlds-game/after-world-cup-euphoria-fades-south-africas-poverty-willremain/article1628165/ as at 27 November.