Sport Industry Group

23 Nov 2009

Alan Melville, founding partner of The Sponsorship Company, explains what the true tourism benefit of the 2010 World Cup will be for South African sport.

"The 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa will serve many purposes for the country, including the heightening of awareness of the tourism potential from international sports events, especially if one acts proactively in this regard.

The Soccer World Cup is one of the biggest sports events, and the tourism factor is well documented. Similarly, the Rugby and Cricket World Cups, both of which have previously been successfully staged in South Africa, draw large amounts of tourists.

However, the reality is that these three big events are unlikely to return to South Africa for a long time. Of course, there is always the Olympics, but in reality this is a pipe-dream at this stage, and in any event would not be probable before the 2020’s.

So where then is the potential for sports tourism in the future?

It is in the smaller sporting codes.

South Africa already hosts several ATP and ITF professional tennis events for example, and the country has also successfully staged international events in Athletics, Netball, Basketball, Swimming, Beach Sports and Motorsports, to name but a few. (The various major cities have also attracted many international music and cultural events.)

Whilst the tourism footfall from these smaller events is significantly less than a major international event, collectively they add up to more than the big events on an annualised basis, and it is here therefore that tourism promotion agencies from the various cities and provinces should be focussing their efforts and, of course, some of their budgets."

Alan Melville is a founding partner and director of The Sponsorship Company, a sports marketing and strategic sponsorship consultancy based in Johannesburg.

The core expertise of the business is the strategic alignment of large corporate sponsorship portfolios with the broader business goals, within the context of an ever-changing environment. The company also sources sponsorships for various major sporting events, and additionally manages and promotes some events of its own.