This year is the World Cup, and South Africa are expecting fans to travel from across the world to watch their respective teams, as well as the billions that will be watching on television. South Africa are hoping that this will be their chance to convince prospective tourists and investors that it is a safe place to travel and live in, and as a result have been working hard to improve the infrastructure, having developed a new bus transit system, a ‘gautrain’, a new stretch of track that will connect Johannesburg, Pretoria and the Oliver Tambo International airport, as well as building several new stadiums and improving security arrangements.
Nonetheless there have been concerns regarding the approximately 500’000 unsold tickets, with analysts citing factors such as the weak global economy, fear of crime and the limited access of many South Africans to purchase tickets online all contributing to lower than expected sales of tickets.
Regardless of the World Cup South Africa has a strong economy, with abundant natural resources including platinum, gold, coal and diamonds, amongst others in addition to a strong agricultural sector. Africa’s largest economy also has a strong industrial base, with a variety of car companies including Toyota, Volkswagen and Renault manufacturing cars in South Africa. It can also boast a growing call centre business, with companies such as Asda, Virgin Mobile UK, Samsung and AOL all hosting call centres, apparently because many English-speaking countries find a South African accent easy to understand and enjoyable to listen to.
The World cup offers a great opportunity for South Africa to attract investors and build on its diversified economy, as well as reassure tourists that it is a safe location to visit. This is why the country will be hoping the World Cup will be its opportunity to emphasise to the world how much it has changed since the days of apartheid and show what potential the country has to be a economic powerhouse to rival the likes of Brazil or Germany.
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