South Africa: Time to Strategise for 2010 World Cup
East African Business Week (Kampala)
January 22, 2007Posted to the web January 22, 2007
In 2010, all roads lead to South Africa for the world's most popular sport, the soccer World Cup, which is probably the world's biggest sporting event after the Olympics.
This will be on African soil, with some venues only four hours away by air, the closest in our region's history.
Let's play some politics to influence some economics. All the five countries of the East African Community (EAC) voted for the World Cup to come to South Africa in 2004.
For four weeks in 2010, and the 19th tournament in the cup's history, South Africa will be the centre of the world. The 2006 World Cup stands as the most watched event in television history garnering an estimated 30 billion viewers, compiled over the course of the tournament.
The world will be watching Africa. In his State of the Nation address, last year, President Thabo Mbeki said the World Cup would make a huge contribution, not only to South Africa's socio-economic growth, but to "The development of the continent as a whole."
What did this mean? This meant that for the first time in a long while, there will be a sustained over a billion viewers watching football in Africa.
The three million visitors will want to sample other African countries tourism offers before and after. Remember these are big spenders. We need to take Mbeki's 'tip'.
Our countries as a bloc should initially come up with a regional strategy on how to tap into the teams that will participate.
For starters we need to get some countries to come and train here before proceeding down South and after to relax after the games. We have the best that there is to offer in the whole world, all the flora, fauna, the diversity of culture, great hotels, hospitality and much more.
One month before the 2006 World Cup, the Brazilian squad camped in the small Swiss town of Weggis. During that time the team was watched everyday by millions on TV rights at home and many others in Europe. The Swiss economy enjoyed a boom as they team played friendly matches in different towns.
For this period in Switzerland, the Brazilian Football Confederation sold the rights to explore the presence of the national team to a Swiss events enterprise.
In return millions of dollars came into the economy from selling tickets for the practice sessions and TV rights. Hotels were packed to capacity as Brazilian nationals, journalists and tourists followed the team to catch a glimpse of the players.We can plan as a bloc or as individual countries. But we need to follow up on Mbeki's offer seriously and the time is now!
Article from http://allafrica.com/
Cars for a soccer team? www.southafrica-carhire.com
January 22, 2007Posted to the web January 22, 2007
In 2010, all roads lead to South Africa for the world's most popular sport, the soccer World Cup, which is probably the world's biggest sporting event after the Olympics.
This will be on African soil, with some venues only four hours away by air, the closest in our region's history.
Let's play some politics to influence some economics. All the five countries of the East African Community (EAC) voted for the World Cup to come to South Africa in 2004.
For four weeks in 2010, and the 19th tournament in the cup's history, South Africa will be the centre of the world. The 2006 World Cup stands as the most watched event in television history garnering an estimated 30 billion viewers, compiled over the course of the tournament.
The world will be watching Africa. In his State of the Nation address, last year, President Thabo Mbeki said the World Cup would make a huge contribution, not only to South Africa's socio-economic growth, but to "The development of the continent as a whole."
What did this mean? This meant that for the first time in a long while, there will be a sustained over a billion viewers watching football in Africa.
The three million visitors will want to sample other African countries tourism offers before and after. Remember these are big spenders. We need to take Mbeki's 'tip'.
Our countries as a bloc should initially come up with a regional strategy on how to tap into the teams that will participate.
For starters we need to get some countries to come and train here before proceeding down South and after to relax after the games. We have the best that there is to offer in the whole world, all the flora, fauna, the diversity of culture, great hotels, hospitality and much more.
One month before the 2006 World Cup, the Brazilian squad camped in the small Swiss town of Weggis. During that time the team was watched everyday by millions on TV rights at home and many others in Europe. The Swiss economy enjoyed a boom as they team played friendly matches in different towns.
For this period in Switzerland, the Brazilian Football Confederation sold the rights to explore the presence of the national team to a Swiss events enterprise.
In return millions of dollars came into the economy from selling tickets for the practice sessions and TV rights. Hotels were packed to capacity as Brazilian nationals, journalists and tourists followed the team to catch a glimpse of the players.We can plan as a bloc or as individual countries. But we need to follow up on Mbeki's offer seriously and the time is now!
Article from http://allafrica.com/
Cars for a soccer team? www.southafrica-carhire.com
Labels: South Africa - 2010 soccer
