An assessment of a non-host city on the fringe of the FIFA 2010 World Cup: The planning, benefits and failure of the Drakenstein Municipality

Abstract

A number of local authorities in the country were encouraged by the national government’s 2010 Soccer World Cup Tourism Organisation Plan to establish programmes around the 2010 World Cup theme. Most of these related to creating infrastructure intended to enhance tourist supply, and were to remain in place after the event as tournament legacies. In a context of pre-event predictions in the existing literature, that the event will, or will not, have major impacts on non-host cities, this article documents the process of the Drakenstein Municipality’s efforts to make Paarl a base camp for one of the teams. Secondary sources of information were used in this review. In addition, interviews were conducted with a large sample of accommodation and restaurant establishments to determine their opinions about the event and identify any specific impacts it may have had on their businesses. The findings of the study showed that the local authority invested extensively in overseas travel and marketing efforts but that these were all unsuccessful, due to their misunderstanding of the basic prerequisites of hosting a team in a base camp, such as accommodation and training facilities. The general public and opposition parties were extremely critical of the local authority in view of its failure to host a team. Accommodation establishments and restaurants had high expectations about the event but these were not matched with results, and most have not capitalised on soccer tourists.