The World Cup is seen by the UN World Tourist Organisation as an opportunity to showcase South Africa under the slogan ‘Win in Africa with Africa’. UNWTO’s Francesco Frangialli said:
“the world cup constitutes an opportunity that the countries of the region can seize in order to obtain the maximum socio-economic, promotional and cultural benefits. It should also contribute to the strengthening of the image of Africa”

UNWTO sees the World Cup as a catalyst for the growth of tourism in Southern Africa. The beauty of this part of the world and the abundant nature of the attractions on offer take it far beyond the normal tourist attractions. With everything from a luxurious steam train running between Cape Town and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, Game Parks, Nature Reserves, Bird Reserves, Air Museums where Lightning’s and Buccaneer’s still fly, Marine Conservation Parks (some of the first in the world are here) and surfing beaches on both Atlantic and Indian Oceans this is a destination that will surely grow from its current million tourists a year to many more if the air transport service can be liberalised.

In this year alone the number of visitors from the UK and the USA has increased drastically (UK Visitors reputedly doubling), and a new agreement has been signed with China to allow more tourists from that country. The inadequacy of the air routing policies, which protect state owned South African Airways from competiton and are stifling growth by comparison with the Ryanairs of Europe will be a major constraint on this growth.

In recent years the Cape Town harbour has been extensively developed and amongst new developments planned for the Waterfront are a new Sol Kerzner ‘One and Only’ hotel and casino, and according to the local tourist office over 5 new five star hotels.

Pressure is on to develop more hotel accommodation as with approximately 100,000 rooms available in the Cape Town area, including bed and breakfast establishments, there are barely enough spaces available to meet the needs of FIFA, never mind the normal holiday and business traffic. Existing hotels are adding bedrooms, as are some of the B&B’s, but major investment is needed to create the additional bedrooms, especially at the budget level, that the World Cup demands.