The 2010 FIFA World Cup™ and the Eden District Municipality

Abstract

Research on sport tourism, mega sport events and the impacts thereof, especially in developing countries, have, in the past, tended to have been overlooked. This article investigates 2010 FIFA World Cup initiatives conducted in the Eden District Municipality (EDM), Western Cape, South Africa, which is situated between the host cities of Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. This region was selected as it expected increased through travel during the World Cup as a result of fans travelling to host cities, is one of the Western Cape’s most popular tourism Districts and consists of a number of towns which each showed clear intentions of capitalising on the World Cup. The research focussed on the development of base camps by the accommodation sector for travelling national teams while also considering whether or not planning initiatives being conducted by the District, the individual towns and various establishments were aligned. The research design consisted of self-administered electronic pre- and post- event questionnaires, which were sent to accommodation establishments across the EDM. In addition, pre- and post-event key informant interviews were conducted with representatives from towns in the EDM. The findings of the study reveal that while accommodation establishments anticipated benefits prior to the hosting of the World Cup for most, these were not realised and that planning initiatives in the District were not coordinated amongst the stakeholders involved. For hosting future mega events, it is recommended that regions establish programmes through which interested parties and stakeholders can become involved and they should be communicated more effectively.