Hosting the World Cup Final Draw is a boon for the Mother City {writer: Fanie Heyns}

A major coup for Cape Town, with more than 100 broadcasters from around the world attending, the creation of two extra weeks of high season trade, an injection of R35 million by international visitors in tourism, and the substantial improvement in the Mother City’s profile as a world class-business and leisure destination – these are the perceived benefits of hosting the highly anticipated December Final Draw for the 2018 and/or 2022 Fifa Soccer World Cups.

These are the views of major role-players who have been pressed about the anticipated influence of the draw on Cape Town’s economy.

Zeenat Parker, corporate communications manager of the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), said the Final Draw was a major coup for Cape Town.

More than 100 broadcasters from around the world will cover the event live and it will be watched by billions of people across the globe.

It would substantially raise Cape Town’s profile as a world-class business and leisure destination.

Thousands of people will visit South Africa during this period, and the matches will have an estimated cumulative worldwide audience of approximately six billion people.

Enormous financial benefits in terms of tourism, marketing and other services are expected across the country, as well as a massive boost in infrastructure investment ahead of the event.

By harnessing the funds made available nationally for 2010-related facilities – including a new stadium, transport and other upgrades – post-2010, Cape Town’s reputation as a world-class leisure and business destination for travellers and investors is expected to be enhanced significantly.

It is estimated that during the week of 4 to 11 December, more than R35 million will be generated as a result of tourism spend.

A brief breakdown of the programme

On 2 December, the organising committee for the Fifa World Cup will meet at the CTICC, and that will be followed by a media conference.

The executive committee of Fifa will meet on Robben Island on 3 December.

The Fifa World Cup bidding country media expo will take place in the CTICC on 4 December.

Within the context of the Final Draw, Fifa has organised a media event in which the 11 bidders for the 2018 and/or 2022 Fifa World Cup (Australia, Belgium-Netherlands, England, Indonesia, Japan, Korea Republic, Mexico, Qatar, Spain-Portugal, Russia and America) will be able to present their bids to the international media.

This event will take place at Workshop 17 (Victoria & Alfred Waterfront) from 09h00 to 12h00 on 4 December 2009 and will include interview opportunities with representatives of the bidders.

That will be followed by the worldwide broadcast of the Final Draw, watched by an estimated audience of 135 million viewers.

The first Football for Hope Centre in Khayelitsha will be opened on 5 December at the CTICC.

This will be followed by the first world press day at the CTICC to provide the media with first-hand information on the preparations for the 2010 Fifa World Cup and the host country.

The unique flavour of Cape Town

Calvyn Gilfellan, chief executive officer of Cape Town Routes Unlimited, says up to 2 000 international media representatives from around the world are expected to fly into Cape Town during the first weeks of December to cover the Final Draw, the Long Street Festival, Football for Hope Kick-Off in Khayelitsha and the World Broadcasters Meeting at the CTICC.

The reporting done on these events is sure to result in massive exposure for Cape Town.

The media, as well as the Fifa executive and delegates attending these events, will experience firsthand the diverse travel offering of Cape Town Routes Unlimited.

“As the official tourism destination marketing organisation for Cape Town and the Western Cape, Cape Town Routes Unlimited will expose them to the array of tourism attractions and activities that soccer fans will be able to enjoy beyond the 90 minutes of the football match,”
says Gilfellan.

“It is a perfect time for us to further roll out our ‘Beyond the 90 Minutes’ 2010 tourism campaign, which encourages visitors to experience our exquisite destination which consists of six regions: Cape Town, Cape Winelands, Cape Garden Route & Klein Karoo, Cape Overberg, Cape West Coast and Cape Karoo.

“Cape Town and the Western Cape has their doors wide open and look forward to welcoming the tens of thousands of soccer fans and visitors to our destination,” says Gilfellan.

Cape Town as a photogenic city

Albert Schuitmaker, executive director of Cape Chamber, says because Cape Town is possibly the most photogenic city in the world, the Table Mountain backdrop will be on virtually every television set.

Scenes from the draw will be repeated on news bulletins in virtually every country in the world. We can expect TV reporters to find spots on city roofs for their stand-up reports to ensure they have a clear picture of our iconic mountain in the background.

The long-term marketing value as South Africa’s destination of choice is almost impossible to overestimate.

Footage and material of the city will go into TV archives all over the world and will be hauled out again and again as a backdrop to South African stories – whether good or bad.

The actual draw will bring about 8 000 people to the city, most of whom will be expense account travellers. They will hire cars, stay in the best hotels and lodges, eat in our restaurants and will do some of their Christmas shopping in our stores.

Because of the time of the year, it is likely that many will extend their stays to visit attractions in the Winelands and along the Garden Route.

Many will bring partners along for the ride, which will increase spending.

Cape Town’s peak tourist season generally extends from Christmas to the autumn months, and the draw will ensure an early start to this season. It will probably bring the city an extra two weeks of high-season trade.

Immediately after the draw, when teams know where they will be playing their games, their managements will begin making arrangements for team accommodation and practice facilities.

Cape Town will be the base from where they will explore possibilities.

Opting for Cape Town as a players base

“Athletes generally prefer to stay at sea level and to travel to altitude venues just before the games. That will give the City an added advantage and could ensure that we have more than our fair share of teams based here for the main event,” added Schuitmaker.

“After all, we are just a two-hour flight away from all the other venues. The draw is an opportunity for Cape Town to market itself and its facilities to team managements.

“It is also an opportunity to market the new stadium and ensure return visits for exhibition matches,” he added.

Unpacking the immediate financial impact

The economic impact could be divided in two, said Guy Lundy, managing director of Accelerate Cape Town.

A short-term cash injection from the 8 000 international visitors to the Final Draw could result in approximately R1 500 per person or even significant more being injected into the local economy.

The longer term economic influence would be centred on the marketing and positioning of Cape Town as a global city.

One of the upsides of the TV viewership of the Final Draw is that the draw itself may not be gripping or riveting enough to warrant full-time TV focus on the event.

There will be images of Cape Town throughout the event, which means that the beauty of the city would be shown in 135 million living rooms internationally.

Reflecting on the spending power of the 8 000 people visiting the Final Draw, Lundy said that the profile and spending power of these people would be considerably higher than the estimated R1 500 per person per day attributed to the average soccer fan visiting South Africa during the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

That is because many members among the 8 000 coming to the Final Draw would be VIPs, or guests of the sponsors or players or administrators who are likely to spend significant amounts of cash during the seven days of the draw.

The example of Barcelona

The fact that the draw takes place at the CTICC and close to the V&A Waterfront would raise the image of Cape Town as an urban tourism destination that rivals cities such as Barcelona and Florence.

Cape Town as a city destination would benefit significantly from business tourism.

That is a positive impact for Cape Town to create the awareness of the offering to take it beyond leisure tourism.

Nicole Moody, public relations and communications manager of Cape Town Tourism, says the fact that the final draw is televised to 135 million viewers in over 130 different countries, makes her confident that the curiosity of viewers will increase, which will generate more enquires and firm bookings.

“We feel that this increase in activity will also build on the growing excitement surrounding the 2010 Fifa World Cup as well as refuelling optimism, which is something we all need after a tough economic year.

“The Final Draw, as it is being held in the Cape Town International Convention Centre, will also showcase Cape Town as an ideal business tourism destination and we are certain that the effects of the coverage will spill into not just the leisure but also the business tourism arena,” she says.

“Television is our greatest marketing asset because it offers a three-dimensional view of the city, which creates lasting impressions in viewers’ minds. The Final Draw coverage will highlight not only the results of the draw but also Cape Town’s breathtaking landscape, enterprising human interest stories and business tourism offering,” Moody adds.

Developing a common message

Lundy says people have a strong association about Cape Town as a leisure tourism destination, particularly around the mountain, the Waterfront, the Winelands, Cape Town and the two oceans. There is a sense that Cape Point is the first thing people think of when the name of Cape Town comes up.

“But you cannot limit Cape Town to the beach and lifestyle. You cannot allow that to continue in people’s minds as the complete reason for Cape Town’s existence, otherwise your economy will be determined by the high and low of tourism.

“We do need to develop a common message that spans across business activities, tourism activities, the universities, academic sector and recruitment. We do need to also focus around how we can recruit the best people to come and live in Cape Town,” says Lundy.

“We need to co-ordinate the messaging around what Cape Town has to offer, in a way that has been missing in the past,” he adds.

Accelerate Cape Town has co-ordinated a process with Cape Town Tourism and a number of other players, including the City of Cape Town, to develop a common message around what Cape Town has to offer.

The next step is to activate that message and share it with the rest of the world. The Final Draw presents an opportunity to share that message with the world. “But we have to be clear on the message, otherwise we just feed them bits and pieces.”

If the common message is developed and communicated accurately, it could benefit Cape Town greatly, in much the same way Barcelona benefited after the 1992 Olympic Games.

“That Olympics brought them into the global environment, and made people aware of their existence and made people take them more seriously than before”, says Lundy.

“Their number of bed nights, hotel rooms and tour bus passengers has grown significantly, and Cape Town has the ability to do the same.

“But we do need to do this correctly so that people associate Cape Town as a global African city that is linked to the rest of the world and that drives significant economic activity in the area of innovation, high skills, connectivity to the rest of Africa and significant level of creativity,” he adds.

Kick-starting a cruise liner strategy

If Cape Town is positioned correctly, it has the ability to kick-start and develop new industries such as the cruise line industry.

Cape Town could become a significant player in building a cruise liner strategy.

Part of that would be to link the Mother City to the rest of the South African and African ports, and to use Cape Town as a launch port.

Also, highlighting the four universities in a radius of 50km could be beneficial to the image of Cape Town. The Cape Higher Education Consortium is in a process of developing marketing material for the four universities to work together in 2010 to promote the broader academic nature of Cape Town.

In addition, one should proactively decide on what is next after 2010, instead of suffering post-2010 depression.

The Mother City after 2010, and the New Seven Wonders

One of the suggestions of a campaign after 2010 is to drive a sustained effort to promote Table Mountain as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

There is a New Seven Wonders campaign in Switzerland, endeavouring to get input from the rest of the world.

On the list of 28 candidates there are two mountains in Africa – Table Mountain and Kilimanjaro.

Just imagine what it would do for tourism and the image of Cape Town if Table Mountain were elected as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, said Lundy.