After the era of apartheid festivals conferences and events such as the hosting of the FIFA
World Cup 2010TM provide exciting opportunities to market South Africa as preferred tourist
destination. The exposure to international media and their audiences will have significant
impact on the country's tourism industry and will generate benefits for the local economy.
These benefits include an increase in economic growth and job creation social and
infrastructural transformation as well as the alleviation of poverty. In order to induce
sustainable contributions to the country's economy from staging this mega event South Africa
needs to show a high level of professionalism and responsibility in their elaboration and
execution of the various planned initiatives and programmes. The country will face challenges
and setbacks but it knows about the necessity to prepare this event diligently and to not only
support the country s but also Africa s overall image and economic objectives. In the following
paper the author presents the current position and future outlook for South Africa s tourism
industry. She will clarify the terms sport tourism and its general impacts on the tourism
industry as well as introduce the reader to the FIFA World CupTM history and characteristics.
The author will conduct a detailed presentment of the predicted short- and long-term impacts of
this hallmark event on South Africa's tourism industry economy and society. Challenges and
opportunities will be identified and the reader will be provided with a summary of the
preparation phase in terms of tourism economy culture and society prior to the FIFA World Cup
2010TM.
