Cultural experiences for soccer fans?

CULTURAL tourism will be one of the key focus areas for South African Tourism (SAT) during the build up to 2010. This was the message from Moeketsi Mosola, ceo of SAT during the Global Media Faceoff at Indaba 2007. “The 2010 World Cup gives South Africa the opportunity to speak for itself, by showing the international community our cultural heritage,” said Mosola. But are football fans looking for cultural experiences during their 2010 visit to South Africa? Gillian Saunders, principal of the hospitality and leisure division at Grant Thornton, says soccer tourists will most likely seek entertainment and if cultural tourism is first within the entertainment ambit, then perhaps there will be some consumption of cultural tourism. But Saunders says cultural tourism may be hampered by proximity issues. She says that during the first round, matches will be geographically spread out, so soccer tourists following their teams will have to travel great distances between matches and therefore may not have time to experience South Africa’s cultural tourism offering. Mosola also said the 2010 World Cup must be “uniquely African”. He gave the example of a soccer tourist waking up on a private game farm in northern Kruger National Park, then flying to a game and returning to the game lodge. Saunders says time constraints may lead to soccer tourists just visiting the closest facility instead of travelling large distances. For example, if they go to Nelspruit for a match, they may visit the Kruger National Park for some wildlife viewing, but if they go to a match in Johannesburg, it appears less likely that they would make the journey all the way to the Kruger. They will probably rather go to the Krugersdorp Nature Reserve or Lion and Rhino Park, she said. Brought to you by TravelHub... Sue Lewitton & Natalia Thomson (suel@nowmedia.co.za)