Football World Cup 2010 in South Africa

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

List of Figures

List of Tables

List of Abbreviations

1 Introduction

2 Introduction to Sporting Events
2.1 Definition of Event
2.2 The Significance of Sporting Events
2.3 The Football World Cup
2.3.1 The FIFA and the Role of Football in Germany
2.3.2 The Tournament as a Mega Event

3 Approach to Tourism and Sport
3.1 Definition of Tourism
3.2 The Tourism Market
3.2.1 The Supply Side
3.2.2 The Demand Side
3.3 The Phenomenon Sport Event Tourism
3.3.1 Definition of Sport Event Tourism
3.3.2 International Football World Cup Tourists in 2006
3.4 Tourism in South Africa
3.4.1 German Tourists in South Africa
3.4.2 International Tourism in Port Elizabeth

4 Destination Marketing of the venue Port Elizabeth
4.1 Definition of Tourism Marketing
4.2 Complexity of Destination Marketing
4.3 Important Organisations of the Destination Port Elizabeth
4.3.1 Destination Marketing Organisations
4.3.2 Supporting Organisations
4.4 The Product Port Elizabeth
4.4.1 Attractions
4.4.2 Accessibility
4.4.3 Ambience
4.4.4 Amenities
4.5 Promotion of the Product
4.6 Distribution of the Product

5 Survey among German Football Tourists
5.1 The Need of Marketing Research
5.2 The seven Steps of the Research Process
5.3 Formulation of the Problem
5.4 Determination of the Research Design
5.5 Determination of the Data Collection Method
5.6 Design of the Data Collection Forms
5.6.1 Content of individual Questions
5.6.2 Types of Questions
5.7 Design of the Sample and Collection of the Data
5.8 Critical Comments
5.9 Analysis and Interpretation of the Data
5.9.1 Demographic Data
5.9.2 Previous Travel Experience
5.9.3 Travel Motivations and Demotivations
5.9.3.1 Travel Willingness in terms of the World Cup 2010
5.9.3.2 Reasons against Travelling to South Africa
5.9.4 Preferences in Travel
5.9.4.1 Preferences in Information Sources
5.9.4.2 Interests concerning the World Cup
5.9.4.3 Interests towards Culture
5.9.4.4 Interests towards Leisure Activities
5.9.4.5 Preferences regarding Travel Companion
5.9.4.6 Transport Preferences
5.9.4.7 Accommodation Preferences
5.9.5 Expectations towards the venue South Africa
5.9.5.1 Expectations towards the Football World Cup 2010
5.9.5.2 Expectations towards the Tourism Situation
5.9.5.3 Expectations towards the Infrastructure / Health System
5.9.6 Brand Awareness of Port Elizabeth

6 Comparison / Summary

7 Appendices

References

Honour Statement

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I wish to express my deepest appreciation to Prof. Dr. Iris Ramme, who provided me a precious opportunity to work on an international topic that I am interested in. You supported me through your inspiration, knowledge and criticism. Your enthusiasm and patience on the research has really impressed me. All the time you were willing to help and your kindness paired with your professionalism makes you very special. Without you, I had never met Paul Hoffman. Thank you so much!

I am also indebted to Mr. Paul Hoffman, the second supervisor of my thesis, for his inspiration and patience throughout the last five months. You gave me the feeling that my thesis could be of interest for South Africans. It was a pleasure to experience your kindness and hospitality during our meeting in your office in George. The contacts you gave me were so helpful to me. Thank you, Paul!

Furthermore I would like to thank Mrs. Carleen Arends, Mr. Shane Brown, Mr. Erenei Louw, Mr. Keith Mitchell, Mr. Phakamile Daca, Dr. Richard Stretch and Mr. Peter Myles for providing me all the information and spending time on responding to the questions of my interviews. I really appreciate your help and I know that it can not be taken for granted to find business people that are willing to support students.

All of you have shown me what it means to stay in the "Friendly City"! Thank you!

I also want to give proper respect to the respondents of my survey. Without their help,

I could not have accomplished this thesis.

A very special thank you goes to my fellow student Christoph Sedlmayr, who accompanied me to South Africa to conduct another research project in PE. During the stay we became real good friends and it was such a pleasure for me to experience the South African way of life with you by my side. Thanks mate!

I want to jump at the chance to thank my whole family, especially my parents and my sister, who have supported me all my life. I love you all!

Last but not least, I want to dedicate this thesis to my departed grandpa and to my godchild Hanna. One comes, the other goes…

List of Figures

Figure 1: Circle of Tourism

Figure 2: Maslow's hierarchy of individual needs

Figure 3: International Visitors' Reasons for travelling to Germany in 2006

Figure 4: Top 20 Overseas Markets

Figure 5: Geographic Location of Port Elizabeth

Figure 6: Accommodation Type used vs. Visitor From

Figure 7: Visitors from Abroad/Africa or South Africa

Figure 8: Steps of the Marketing Research Process

Figure 9: Gender and Age

Figure 10: Age Groups

Figure 11: Travel Experience concerning South Africa

Figure 12: Travel Willingness towards South Africa

Figure 13: Travel Willingness in Relation to the Favourite Team's Success

Figure 14: Reasons vs. No Reasons not to travel to SA

Figure 15: Reasons against Travelling to SA

Figure 16: Preferred Information Sources

Figure 17: Interests concerning the Football World Cup

Figure 18: Interests towards Culture

Figure 19: Interests towards other Leisure Activities 1

Figure 20: Interests towards other Leisure Activities 2

Figure 21: Preferred Travel Companion

Figure 22: Transport Preferences

Figure 23: Accommodation Preferences

Figure 24: Expectations towards the FWC 2010

Figure 25: Expectations towards the Tourism Situation

Figure 26: Expectations towards Infrastructure / Health System

Figure 27: Brand Awareness of Port Elizabeth

Figure 28: Knowledge about Port Elizabeth

List of Tables

Table 1: Top 10 International Tourist Arrivals

Table 2: International Tourism's Top Spenders

Table 3: Top 10 Decline Markets

List of Abbreviations

illustration not visible in this excerpt

1 Introduction

"The government will leave no stone unturned to ensure that everything is done to host a tournament that meets the expectations of billions of football fans across the world…. Together we will ensure the resounding success of the first FIFA African World Cup." ^[1]

With these words, the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, promised football fans all around the world an amazing sporting event after his country was chosen to be the host of the Football World Cup (FWC) 2010. In its almost 80-year history, it is the first time this enormous sporting event will be held on African soil.

Because of the big media interest and the increasing requirements of infrastructure, the FWC is a big challenge for the whole host country and especially the venues. But on the other hand the tournament offers great opportunities for the cities and municipalities to gain more international prestige and to become popular travel destinations. Such a huge event attracts millions of people from all over the globe, who come to support their team or just to enjoy the entire atmosphere around the event.

Currently, nine South African host cities are busy at work to demonstrate to the whole world that their country is able to arrange an outstanding tournament. They have taken on a heavy burden, in order to bear comparison with the former host country Germany. The president of the FIFA, Sepp Blatter called the very successful football event in 2006 "the best World Cup of all time." ^[2]

Actually, the well organised "German Football Party of 2006" is not South Africa's main problem at the moment. The workers that are building the stadiums were on strikes a few months ago. The Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth was even dropped as a site for the Confederations Cup in 2009 because construction has fallen behind schedule. The crime rate in the country is extremely high and the poverty in certain areas is still a big problem. If that were not enough, a former professional football player from Austria was killed on a golf course in Durban, during the FIFA draw and a few weeks ago, the media report on xenophobic attacks in local townships. Unfortunately, all this bad news overshadowed the anticipation concerning the big event. In any case, South Africa is a country that has much to offer tourists from all around the world. The vast majority of the South Africans are friendly people that live in a country with beautiful landscapes, beaches, mountains and vibrant cities. Since the end of Apartheid, the country has developed to a premier tourism destination. But is the country really ready for hosting one of the biggest events on earth? This paper is not able to provide a general answer to that question, but it seeks to investigate topics concerning the tourism marketing.

The first three main chapters of this thesis provide an insight into the closely linked relationship between events, sport and tourism.

Based on the acquired knowledge, the marketing of tourism, especially the destination marketing, will be contemplated in the fourth chapter of this paper. Located in the southern part of the republic, Port Elizabeth is one of the venues of the FWC. By the example of this host city, the thesis presents planned and current marketing activities concerning the huge football event. For this purpose, written interviews with responsible experts in South Africa were conducted.

The fact that the FWC will take place in the African country provokes many discussions among the supporters of one of the world's most popular sports. Because of that, it is important for a sport event destination to know about the expectations, travel motivations and preferences of the fans. Further to this, a survey was conducted to gain this important information from the German football tourists. Chapter 5 discusses the analysis and the interpretation of this survey.

The aim of this thesis is to find out if Port Elizabeth meets the expectations of the German football tourists. To understand the possible gaps between their expectations and the performance of the host city, it is necessary to compare the planned activities and the results of the survey. Chapter 6 covers this topic and its aim is to deliver recommendations for the future.

2 Introduction to Sporting Events

In modern life, sporting events play an important role in social and corporate life. It has also developed industry in itself. The following chapters provide insight into the phenomenon "sporting event", especially the Football World Cup.

2.1 Definition of Event

In contemporary life the term "event" is one of those terms that is repeatedly used in everyday language. But what does it really mean? Before getting into the details, it should be mentioned that there is no universally valid definition in literature. Those that are used in this chapter seemed to be useful to introduce to the following chapters.

According to Getz, event is a synonym for occurrence, happening, incident or experience. Furthermore, it is usually used as another word for a sporting competition. But the most general thing concerning all the different types of events is that they are all temporary.^[3]

Holzbaur even goes one step further and explains that an event is an occurrence which is unique in the way it is going on and that is has to be planned, arranged, organised and staged. Another premise is that the event takes place at a given time. An event should also provoke the emotions of the participants so that they keep the happening in mind.^[4] The latter is certainly an important factor if we think about sports events or music festivals. Usually sport or music and emotions are closely connected. In addition, the fact that an event needs planning and organisation is plausible by thinking of either a private birthday party or the Olympics. Both events, no matter how different they are, would not take place without any work in advance of and during the happening.

Based on such planned events, Getz states that the duration of them is typically determined and announced before the event takes place. He also points out the uniqueness as an important indicator of an event whether it is a recurrent happening or a one-time event. The vibes, the participants, the organisation and the schedules of an event are always unique and will never be the same a second time.^[5]

In this connection, a recurrent event as the Football World Cup is an appropriate example to illustrate what Getz refers to. This four-yearly tournament seems to be organised in the same way every time it is arranged. However, the staffs working on it and their environment changes every time. Normally the teams and their supporters also differ from the ones that participated in the last competition. In consequence of that, it is not possible to maintain the ambience of a former event.

In the literature, there are different efforts to categorise events by their form or content. In regard to the topic of this thesis, it is obvious that the FWC is a sporting event and not a cultural or business event.^[6] Getz makes another strong case for that and states that "A ´sport event´ is fixed in time and space by its rules and venue."^[7] Actually, football has its own rules compared to any other sport. It can be said that a usual football match does not take more than ninety minutes and the organisers are able to plan on that time. Therefore, it is not necessary to take a closer look at that classification of events in the following chapters. The following chapters cover the topic of sporting events.

2.2 The Significance of Sporting Events

Due to social developments and changing consumer behaviour, sports gains a level of importance in Germany. The growing demand for experience-driven recreational activities and the growing health consciousness has lead to that development.^[8] However, the sports are not only a contemporary issue, sports have always been an important part of human society. Bowdin, Allen, O'Toole, Harris and McDonnell state that the sporting competition has belonged to the humans' life for a very long time. The antique Olympic Games in Greece were one of the oldest athletic contests humankind knows about today.^[9] One reason for the popularity of sports specifies Masterman, who states that events "are all entertainment. This is true whether the event has spectators or not because participants take part for their own entertainment, even if they sometimes make it look like hard work."^[10]

The enthusiasm among the spectators has increased during recent years with people keen to watch big events such as the Olympic Games, the Football World Cup or a Formula One Grand Prix. As a result of the highly developed media scene broadcasting sporting competitions from all over the world, people are now able to watch their favourite athletes whenever they want.^[11] The development of the media is certainly the main reason for the growing interest in sporting events. On the one hand, the media have a great influence on the consumer behaviour of the societies and on the other hand, people are able to explore new kind of sports now. In the past, it was only a small number of Germans that were concerned American Football and Rugby and there was little opportunity to get in touch with these forms of sport. Nowadays people can use the internet for viewing the various sporting information and even German TV stations now broadcast the various sports events. Besides the three different groups of participants (competitors, spectators and media) already mentioned, other important attendees are responsible for the success of a sport event.

Masterman distinguishes between the competitors, the officials, the entourage, the suppliers, the event management, the staffing, the spectators, the media and the VIPs. The term "officials" signifies referees or judges and all the people supporting them. The entourage can include family members or friends of the competitor as well as his personal staff like physiotherapists or managers. The suppliers play an important role in every sport event. Suppliers can be sponsors, caterers, security staffs or companies that manufacture the equipment of the competitors. The event management has to organise and plan all the additional items around the event whilst being responsible for the smooth operation. Stewards, waiters, ticket seller and ball-boys/girls are members of the staffing team. The last important group are the people, referred to as VIPs. Often these people are sponsors or employees of the companies sponsoring the event or a team. Politicians and other public figures are also referred as VIPs.^[12]

Regarding those different groups of people, it is no wonder a lot of companies and institutions are interested in sponsoring activities in the sporting sector. Every participant of such an event is a potential customer for them.

Bowdin et al. describe the significance of sporting events as follows:

"Their ability to attract tourist visitors and to generate media coverage and economic impacts has placed them at the fore of most government event strategies and destination marketing programmes. Sports events not only bring benefits to their host governments and sports organizations, but also benefit participants such as players, coaches and officials, and bring entertainment and enjoyment to spectators."^[13]

By way of conclusion, it should be pointed out that the sports event industry has the same goals as any other sector of industry. The sports industry wants to realise a profit by satisfying the needs and wants of the customers, with the most important customers being the spectators and the sponsors. Because without spectators, there would be no interested sponsors and without the sponsors, the hosts would not have enough money to fund the event.

2.3 The Football World Cup

The following two subchapters discuss one of the most popular events in the world. Chapter 2.3.1 deals with the world's umbrella organisation of football and the position of the sport. Chapter 2.3.2 describes the role of the FWC.

2.3.1 The FIFA and the Role of Football in Germany

The term "FIFA" is the French abbreviation for "Fédération Internationale de Football Association". The FIFA is the umbrella organisation of the international football associations around the world and is the presenter of the Football World Cup. It works out the rules of the game and it is the organising body of the sport. The FIFA rules over six football associations. Those organisations are called the confederations. They consist of the following ones:

- Asian Football Confederation (AFC)
- Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF)
- Confederation of North, Central Americas and Caribbean Association Football
(CONCACAF)
- Confederation Sudamericana de Football (CONMEBOL)
- Oceania Football Confederation (OCF)
- Union European Football Association (UEFA)

Every confederation is responsible for a defined international region and its national associations.^[14]

The German Football Association is called DFB. This stands for "Deutscher Fussball-Bund". The DFB is a member of the UEFA and the South African Football Association (SAFA) is part of the CAF.

Authority and influence of the FIFA clarify the following facts and data:

Altogether, the governing body has 208 national member associations all around the world.^[15] The results of the survey, called "Big Count", in 2006 showed that there were involved in the sport about 265 million football players, and five million referees and officials. That means four per cent of the whole population in the world is an integrated part of FIFA's body.^[16] In Germany, football is the most popular sport. The DFB has 6.3 million members in 27,000 national clubs. It is the biggest sport association in Europe.^[17]

During the season of 2007/08, 11.9 million visited the games of the first league (Bundesliga) in Germany. On average, 38,975 German football fans went to the stadium to watch a game.^[18] Those were more spectators than in any other European League.^[19]

These figures show the important role that football plays in Germany and that football has become an integral part of German society.

In these days, 22 percent of the spectators in the arenas are female. There has been a decided change in the visitor profile in the past few years. In the past, football was only considered as a male spectator sporting event.^[20]

2.3.2 The Tournament as a Mega Event

The Football World Cup is certainly one of the world's most famous multicultural events of modern times. The media often dub it as "a mega event", but does the FWC have the requirements to qualify as a mega event? This chapter discuss that question.

Opinions on the definition of a mega event may differ in the literature, but the following two seem appropriate to support the thesis that the FWC is a mega event.

Bowdin et al. refer to the expert Hall who provides the following claim:

"Mega-events such as World Fairs and Expositions, the World Soccer Final, or the Olympic Games, are events which are expressly targeted at the international tourism market and may be suitably described as ´mega´ by virtue of their size in terms of attendance, target market, level of public financial involvement, political effects, extent of television coverage, construction of facilities, and impact on economic and social fabric of the host community."^[21]

Getz takes the same line and states that "Mega-events, by way of their size or significance, are those that yield extraordinarily high levels of tourism, media coverage, prestige, or economic impact for the host community, venue, or organization."^[22]

Both definitions emphasise the following three points that qualify an event as a mega event: Firstly, the event extremely boosts the tourism sector. Secondly, the international media have to have an exceptionally high interest in broadcasting the event worldwide

Thirdly, the positive impacts on the venue's economy are outstandingly

The facts of the Football World Cup 2006 in Germany speak for themselves and they leave no doubt that the four-yearly football event actually is a mega event.

According to the German Central Bank, incoming tourism in Germany generated additional revenues of about 2.7 billion euros (see also 3.3.2). The estimated aggregate value added of about three billion euros (distributed over 3 years) was as welcome as the positive results of the retail industry. In June 2006, revenues increased by 1.9 percent compared to the previous month. This was certainly a result of the FWC because the Championship started in June. In the course of the tournament in Germany, national economy created 50,000 new jobs.^[23]

The published figures of the FIFA show that 376 television channels broadcasted the matches to 214 countries. A total cumulative audience of 26.29 billion watched the broadcasts on TV.^[24]

The FWC in Germany met all the important criteria of a mega event and the next championship in South Africa will certainly do so as well.

3 Approach to Tourism and Sport

The following discussion describes the link between the tourism sector and sport. The first two sections introduce to tourism in general and later focus on sport event tourism.

3.1 Definition of Tourism

Tourism has become an important business nowadays. According to the World Economic Forum, tourism industry is one of the world's largest. The Forum provides some interesting figures of the year 2006 to emphasise this thesis:

234 million people worked in tourism business. In other words it means that 8.2 percent of the jobs all over the world were provided by the travel and hospitality industry. Another notable fact is that these economic activities produced 10.3 percent of global gross domestic product.^[25]

Mundt states that the term `Tourism` derives from the Greek term ´tornos´, which describes a tool that is similar in design to a pair of compasses. Based on that knowledge he pictures a tourist as a person that leaves his place of residence for travelling to another location. After a time of staying at the new spot the tourist moves, back to his starting point.^[26]

Mundt's model (see Figure 1) of tourism displays that the journey is also a kind of a circle as the pair of compasses draw it:

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Figure 1: Circle of Tourism

Source: Cf. Mundt, J. W. 2006, p.2 (translated by the author)

Emigrants who have already moved out of their mother country do the same tour once they settle back to their home country. Are they also tourists during their stay in the foreign country?

Kotler, Bowen and Makens invoke the declaration of the British Tourist Authority, which says that tourism is "a stay of one or more nights away from home for holidays, visits to friends or relatives, business conferences or any other purpose except such things as boarding education or semi permanent employment."^[27]

Therefore, he wants to explain that whether being a tourist or not being a tourist depends on the intention of the journey, on the one hand and a minimum duration of a stay on the other hand. However, these two factors of a trip to another spot are not the only parameters of defining tourism. According to the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), the maximum duration of a stay in the ´new´ place acts also as an indicator for tourism. The WTO exemplifies the difference of the intentions between tourists and non-tourists as well. The WTO states that people travelling "for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited"^[28] are tourists. This is a logical explanation because most of the people that stay for more than 12 months at one or more localities do so because they have employment at the particular location. Nevertheless, in times of global businesses the main characteristics of tourism are not only the duration of travel and the intentions of tourists.

Cornelissen goes even further and adds some more important criteria to the discussed term. Following her statement, tourism "is essentially a service activity, and involves the flow of capital, finance, goods, knowledge and humans."^[29] It means that tourists have to pay for their journeys and they bring money to the places they visit. Further to this, this activity creates a branch of industry. Companies and organisations worldwide invest in the tourism sector and provide new jobs and education. Travel agents, tour guides, waiter and flight attendants have all service-oriented jobs. These attributes define why tourism is mainly seen as a service activity and why tourism has become an important business and contributor to national economies.

3.2 The Tourism Market

The following two chapters provide a basic outline of the tourism market.

Cornelissen defines the system of tourism as "an interwoven compound: it consists of a municipality of actors involved in the production and consumption of tourism;"^[30]

That means that there are suppliers and consumers of tourism offerings.

While Chapter 3.2.1 describes the supply side, Chapter 3.2.2 deals with the demand side of the tourism market.

3.2.1 The Supply Side

To classify the supply side it is useful to take a look at the "producers" of the tourism industry.

It can be claimed that the main product of the tourism sector is the journey itself. All companies and organisations that are directly involved, in creating or marketing this product, are part of the tourism industry. This sector consists of three main groups:

Hotels and other accommodations belong to the service providers, as well as the companies that are responsible for the transportation. The latter ones include firms like airlines, railway and rental car companies, but also airports, bus stations and train stations. The business of the tour operators is to arrange special tour packages. That means the customer is able to choose if he wants only an accommodation during his trip or also an arranged program. Travel agents have to place and confirm reservations for lodging, airlines or tour packages, for example.^[31]

Summarising, tour operators and travel agents do the preliminary work and service providers act as the executive part by making available their services to the tourists.

A destination plays all the different roles. Firstly, it might call itself a service provider because many destinations provide their attractions to travellers and tour operators. Secondly, it can be a tour operator who offers tour packages independently. Thirdly, a destination is able to work as a travel agent by dealing with room or tour bookings.^[32]

Especially with the internet era, it is much easier for the companies and destinations to offer their products and services directly to the customer. Nowadays overseas accommodations are not that dependent on the marketing of the travel agents. This is because they are able to provide the opportunity of visiting the accommodation's homepage to get information about it.

The suppliers of tourism products/services that are mentioned in this chapter are not the only ones in the sector but the most interesting concerning this thesis.

3.2.2 The Demand Side

It seems obvious that the tourism market's demand consists of tourists. Holloway fully agrees with that opinion and states "Tourists are consumers who purchase a number of diverse travel and tourism services."^[33]

But what are the reasons for a consumer's interest in tourism offerings? Maslow developed a model that shows the hierarchy of individual needs (see Figure 2). It displays that every human has physiological needs that are basic to survival. Without food, drink, warmth and shelter it is hardly possible for a human being to survive. On the other hand, the needs for safety / protection, social contacts, self-esteem and self-actualisation can differ from person to person.

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Figure 2: Maslow's hierarchy of individual needs

Source: George, R. 2004, p.147

Needs are often confused with wants but there is a difference between these two terms.

Wants are aimed to satisfy the needs of an individual and they are communicated needs.^[34] The following examples shall show this: Assuming that a potential consumer is interested in travelling to South Africa, his need of safety is certainly an important topic. Staying in a secured hotel could satisfy his safety needs and shows the people around him that protection is important for him. To satisfy the need of social contacts, a male traveller can buy a flight ticket for his wife and one for himself. When a person wants to satisfy the need for recognition, he / she could buy a first class ticket. Regarding the need for self-actualisation, booking a camping trip to the Kruger National Park could be a good opportunity for nature loving tourists to satisfy their needs.

For the tourism industry it is important to gain knowledge and an understanding of the consumers' needs and wants to be able to offer appropriate products / services and to create appropriate marketing plans.^[35]

3.3 The Phenomenon Sport Event Tourism

Historically humans have travelled to experience different cultures, races or to just relax. The growing enthusiasm for sport events in the last twenty years created a new kind of tourism industry, the so called sport event tourism. The intention of the following chapters is to get a general idea of this relatively new phenomenon and its influence on destinations.

3.3.1 Definition of Sport Event Tourism

"Specifically, events and sport are two spheres that traditionally have been viewed as quite separate for tourism. Today growing bodies of literature explore the links between tourism and events, on the one hand, and tourism and sport, on the other." ^[36] Cornelissen's statement shows that the increasing importance of sport event tourism has been underestimated for a long time. However, what are the links between sports, events and tourism?

Ritchie and Adair cite Standevan and de Knop, who state that sport tourism contains "all forms of active and passive involvement in sporting activity, participated in casually or in an organised way for non-commercial or business / commercial reasons that necessitate travel away from home and work locality."^[37]

Schroeder describes the event tourism in general as journeys, aimed at the participation in art, music and sporting events.^[38] At this point, it is important to recall the definition of an event as aforementioned in Chapter 2.1. That characterisation in conjunction with Standevan's and Schroeder's explanations can be applied to the sport event tourism. It is obvious that the main reason for a sport event tourist to travel is to join a planned and unique sporting competition, either as a participant or as a spectator.

But Hinch and Higham point out that the sports activity itself may not be a priority for a sport event tourist. Such high profile events can also attract people that are not interested in the sporting event itself. Usually, many of these people visit the world famous tennis tournament in Wimbledon, England. It is an event with a long tradition and the high society meets each other there. Therefore, it is a good place for them to see and be seen. Because of the growing importance of the sponsorships of bigger events, they provide also an opportunity to meet business partners and to carry out business.^[39]

In addition, the party around the mega events become more and more important as the Football World Cup 2006 in Germany has shown. Millions of people celebrated the games on the streets and plenty of them were not sports fans at all. Nevertheless, all the foreign people that travelled to Germany to watch a football match, either in the stadium or at a Fan Fest, can be dubbed as football tourist.

Cornelissen provides the appropriate summary to this chapter:

"It can be said that there is an intuitive link between sport and tourism with, in a socio-anthropological sense, both involving an element of performance or staging that attracts spectatorship. Practically, participation in or observation of sport activities often involve travel and can contribute to further demand for tourism infrastructure."^[40]

3.3.2 International Football World Cup Tourists in 2006

In 2006, Germany was the host of the former Football World Cup. The event took place from 9 June until 9 July. Over two million foreign visitors came to Germany during the four weeks of the event.^[41] Due to that unexpected mass of international tourists, the country climbed up to the 7th position in the ranking of the top ten tourist destinations.^[42]

Table 1 shows the ten countries that welcomed the most international arrivals in 2006:

Table 1: Top 10 International Tourist Arrivals

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Source: WTO, 2007 online, retrieved August 2, 2008, p. 5

As previously mentioned in Chapter 2.3.2, incoming tourism in 2006 brought Germany additional revenues of about 2.7 billion euros. In June 2006, the number of overnight stays by international visitors increased about 33 percent compared with the same month of the previous year. In the year of the FWC, Germany counted a total of 52.9 million overnight stays.^[43]

It should be mentioned that the weather was favourable in Germany during the mega event, as a result drawing the large amount of international tourists. Those from neighbouring countries were able to spontaneously decide when they wanted to visit a venue of the FWC. Some critics could argue that the boom in tourism had nothing to do with the event, but it would be logical to conclude that the tourism boom and the German FWC were interlinked.

During the World Championships 2006, the German National Tourist Board conducted a survey among 1,281 foreign visitors (see Figure 3). The question was the following: "What are the reasons for your current stay in Germany?" The results of that study show that 73 percent of them visited Germany for only reason: The Football World Cup 2006. These people can be dubbed "hardcore football tourists". 16 percent of the international guests combined their vacation trip with the FWC and 10 percent of them used the event to visit their friends / relatives. Only one percent of the respondents had other reasons for their stay.

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Figure 3: International Visitors' Reasons for travelling to Germany in 2006

Source: DZT, online, retrieved August 1, 2008

The overwhelming atmosphere in relation to the popular Fan Fests (in Germany it was called Public Viewing) was one of the most positive aspects of the FWC event 2006 and one which has never happened before in the history of the FWC. People from all over the world partied together peacefully while they were watching the matches on giant public screens. Berlin had the largest Fan Mile with about 900 thousand people watching the semi-final from there (see also Appendix 1). A total of almost 21 million people (Germans and Internationals) visited twelve Fan Fests of the venues in total.^[44]

According to the study of Kurscheidt, Preuß and Schütte, nearly 21 percent of the international tourists that joined the Fan Fests in Germany, visited the country only for the reason of the football tournament. It should also be mentioned that those people had no tickets for the games.^[45]

In summary it can be said that the FWC 2006 was a successful event for the German tourism industry and for international football fans as well.

3.4 Tourism in South Africa

Transportation and communication facilities are well developed and tourists from all around the world travel to foreign countries. Only a few areas of the world are untouched by tourism. The next two chapters provide an overview of the German tourists in South Africa and the international tourism in the World Cup venue Port Elizabeth.

3.4.1 German Tourists in South Africa

"South Africa is a tourist paradise – offering scenic beauty, diverse wildlife, a kaleidoscope of cultures and traditions, and endless opportunities to explore the outdoors through sport and adventure activities."^[46]

These words sound like advertising for a travel destination in a magazine. Nevertheless, South Africa has become a popular tourist destination for travellers from all around the globe. In its annual tourism report, South African Tourism observed about 9.09 million international arrivals in 2007. That means a growth of almost 8.3 percent compared to the previous year.^[47] German tourists have always been known for their enthusiasm for travelling. In 2006 and 2007, German people spent more money on tourism than those from any other country in the world. The following Table 2, published by the World Tourism Organization, demonstrate this fact clearly:

Table 2: International Tourism's Top Spenders

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Source: WTO, 2008 online, retrieved September 25, 2008, p. 9

The figure and the table already mentioned are not significant in relation to the role of German tourists in South Africa. Nevertheless, they are helpful to get a general idea about the role of the African country and the significance of the German tourists in relation to the global tourism market.

Despite holding one of the top positions concerning the international tourism spenders, it could be possible that Germans avoid travelling to SA and that they do not see the country as a holiday destination. Contrary to this, Germans have discovered Nelson Mandela's country for their vacation trips and many of them visit SA year by year. Figure 4 displays that Germany was one of the three most important overseas markets for the South African tourism sector during the years 2006 and 2007 and that there were only more visitors from UK and the USA than from Germany:

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Figure 4: Top 20 Overseas Markets

Source: SAT, 2008 online, retrieved August 5, 2008, p.21

Table 3 shows the top ten of the international markets that declined in 2007 compared with the previous year.

Even though the number of German visitors decreased in 2007 by 1.4 percent, there were still nearly 255,000 Germans, visiting SA (see Table 3).

Table 3: Top 10 Decline Markets

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Source: SAT, 2008 online, retrieved August 5, 2008, p.18

Summarised it can be said that many Germans see SA as a country that is worth travelling to. From the view of the South African tourism industry, the German market is one of the most important ones. The goal has to be to maintain those numbers of German visitors or even to increase them.

3.4.2 International Tourism in Port Elizabeth

This chapter presents the South African city Port Elizabeth (PE) and gives an overview of the tourism environment in the city and its immediate surrounding area. PE is situated in the Eastern Cape. In 2005, over seven million people lived in that province.^[48] The following Figure 5 shows the exact location of PE in the African continent:

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Figure 5: Geographic Location of Port Elizabeth

Source: NMBT, online, retrieved June 1, 2008

Together with the towns of Despatch and Uitenhage, PE forms part of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality. In the course of this thesis, Port Elizabeth and the Nelson Mandela Bay can be seen as one and the same.

Today, about 1.5 million people live in the municipality and in relation to the number of inhabitants, Nelson Mandela Bay is ranked 5th most populated city in South Africa. In terms of size, it is the 2nd largest city of the country.

The municipality was named after the former president of the country, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. He was born and grew up in the Eastern Cape.^[49]

The FIFA has chosen PE as a venue to host matches of the Football World Cup 2010. This means that the coastal city will welcome a mass of football supporters during the event. The new built Nelson Mandela Bay stadium will have a capacity of 50,000 seats. The proximity to the sea, to the world famous Garden Route and to other attractions offers the city some opportunities to brand itself as a tourism destination (For further details see Chapter 4.4). Unfortunately, data concerning overnight stays are not recorded in South Africa.^[50] Hence, it is difficult to estimate the number of international tourists that visited PE in the last years. The city has already developed as a tourism destination but most of the overseas tourists use it only as a short stopover on the route from Cape Town to Durban and vice versa. The most popular attraction, in close proximity to the municipality is the Addo Elephant Park and for many international tourists, PE is just a base to visit the park. At the moment, the city is more a holiday destination for South Africans than it is for people from abroad. There are, however, a significant number of foreign guests living in PE, which is a result of the international students that attend the local Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. Further to this, there are many young internationals, carrying out voluntary work in townships, schools and national parks.^[51]

A study conducted by the Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism office confirms the above mentioned points. On the Easter weekend 2007, 1,726 respondents were asked about their current type of accommodation in PE. Most of the asked international visitors (27.06%) stayed in student accommodations (see Figure 6).

illustration not visible in this excerpt

Figure 6: Accommodation Type used vs. Visitor From

Source: NMBT, 2007 online, retrieved June 1, 2008, p. 26

Figure 7 shows that more domestic tourists than international tourists visited the city during the weekend. Only 5.74 percent came from abroad or other African countries but 25.78 percent were South African tourists.

Figure 7: Visitors from Abroad/Africa or South Africa

Source: NMBT, 2007 online, retrieved June 1, 2008, p. 10

Port Elizabeth must be able to satisfy the accommodation demands as a result of FWC 2010. For many tourist cities it can be a tour de force. For example, it is not enough to provide only camping sites because the needs and wants of the international visitors during such an event are different and for some of them it can never be too luxurious. There must be minimum tourist standard.

According to the Tourism Business Unit of Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, the city is well prepared concerning the amount and the differentiation of the offered accommodations. The municipality expects to be able providing 55,000 beds for the football event. At the moment there are 37,000 beds available in the Nelson Mandela Bay. Theoretically there should be sufficient accommodation during the FWC with the hospitality industry prepared to welcome more visitors than expected. Every type of accommodation is available and the city should be able to satisfy the needs of every kind of tourist. Whether hotels, guesthouses, lodges, backpackers or universities residences, camping sites and private rooms, PE will cover the whole range of accommodation types.^[52]

[...]

^[1] Pahat, E. G., 2008 online, retrieved August 3, 2008

^[2] Eberl, N. 2007, p. 23

^[3] Cf. Getz, D. 2005, p. 15

^[4] Cf. Holzbaur, U. 2005, p. 6

^[5] Cf. Getz, D. 2005, pp.15

^[6] Cf. Bowdin, G.; Allen, J.; O'Toole, W.; Harris, R.; McDonnell, I. 2006, pp. 18

^[7] Getz, D. 2005, p. 15

^[8] Cf. Hermanns, A.; Riedmüller, F. 2001, p. 7

^[9] Cf. Bowdin, G.; Allen, J.; O'Toole, W.; Harris, R.; McDonnell, I. 2006, p. 20

^[10] Masterman, G. 2004, p. 15

^[11] Cf. Hermanns, A.; Riedmüller, F. 2001, p. 6

^[12] Cf. Masterman, G. 2004, pp. 21

^[13] Bowdin, G.; Allen, J.; O'Toole, W.; Harris, R.; McDonnell, I. 2006, p. 20

^[14] Cf. Masterman, G. 2004, pp. 29

^[15] Cf. FIFA, online, retrieved August 12, 2008

^[16] Cf. FIFA, online, retrieved August 12, 2008

^[17] Cf. Schneider, T. 2006, p. 2

^[18] Cf. DFB, 2008 online, retrieved August 13, 2008

^[19] Cf. Jacob, A., 2008 online, retrieved August 13, 2008

^[20] Cf. Schaaf, J., 2006 online, retrieved August 13, 2008

^[21] Bowdin, G.; Allen, J.; O'Toole, W.; Harris, R.; McDonnell, I. 2006 et al, p. 18

^[22] Getz, D. 2005, p. 18

^[23] Cf. DZT, 2007 online, retrieved August 13, 2008

^[24] Cf. FIFA, online, retrieved August 12, 2008

^[25] Cf. Blanke, J; Chiesa T. 2007, p. xi

^[26] Cf. Mundt, J. W. 2006, p. 1

^[27] Kotler, P.; Bowen, J.; Makens, J. 2003, p. 717

^[28] Freyer, W, 2007, p. 5

^[29] Cornelissen, S. 2005, p.4

^[30] Cornelissen, S. 2005, p.2

^[31] Cf. Freyer, W. 2007, p. 18

^[32] Cf. Freyer, W. 2007, p. 19

^[33] Holloway, J. C. 2004, p.101

^[34] Cf. Kotler, P.; Bowen, J.; Makens, J. 2003, p.14

^[35] Cf. Kotler, P.; Bowen, J.; Makens, J. 2003, p. 15

^[36] Cornelissen, S. 2005, p. 137

^[37] Ritchie, B. W.; Adair, D. 2004, pp. 136

^[38] Cf. Schroeder, G., p.104

^[39] Cf. Hinch, T.; Higham, J. 2004, p. 44

^[40] Cornelissen, S. 2005, p. 137

^[41] Cf. German Federal Ministry of the Interior, 2006 online, retrieved July 28, 2008 , p. 6

^[42] Cf. WTO, 2007 online, retrieved August 2, 2008, p. 5

^[43] Cf. DZT, online, retrieved August 13, 2008

^[44] Cf. German Federal Ministry of the Interior, 2006 online, retrieved July 28, 2008, p. 35

^[45] Cf. Kurscheidt, M.; Preuß, H.; Schütte, N. 2008, p. 66

^[46] Burger, D. 2005, p. 570

^[47] Cf. SAT ,2008 online, retrieved August 5, 2008, p. 16

^[48] Cf. Burger, D. 2005, p. 12

^[49] Cf. NMBT, online, retrieved, June 1, 2008

^[50] Cf. ITB Berlin, 2008 online, retrieved September 29, 2008, p. 100

^[51] Experiences of the author during a 2-month stay in PE (from February to April 2008)

^[52] Cf. Interview with Carleen Arends, Assistant Director: Tourism, Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality on 21 April 2008 concerning the accommodation different accommodation-types, For the complete interview see Appendix p. 71