Durban and Cape Town are two of the Host Cities preparing themselves for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup.
I have just read two articles in bizcommunity.com about the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup. Both interesting and important, but they made me smile because the stories so reflect the general attitudes of the two cities involved - Cape Town and Durban.
Cape Town Tourism Survey
Well, the Cape Town story is about the success of the FIFA Confederations Cup. Cape Town Tourism commissioned a survey. According to Dr Nikolaus Eberl, of the 323 international visitors canvassed, only one said he would not recommend South Africa as a holiday destination. 3.68% of respondents answered ‘maybe’, resulting into an aggregate brand advocacy score of 96% for destination SA.
In terms of destination branding, this is the highest brand advocacy score achieved by a FIFA World Cup host yet, beating the benchmark set by Germany in 2006 by almost eight percentage points, he says.
Now Durban, on the other hand has gone a bit lower on Maslow’s pyramid and put safety and security centre stage with less than a year to go before kick-off to the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup.
Safety and Security in Durban for 2010 World Cup
In Durban, a joint initiative has been established to boost safety and security during the football tournament. Safety and security planning is being co-ordinated between the South African Police Force, Durban Metro Police, Durban Beach Law Enforcement and independent security companies with deployment as a joint initiative.
Julie-May Ellingson, head of Durban’s Strategic Projects Unit and 2010 Programme, says, “Durban already has an enviable record for hosting large international events including the Cricket and Rugby World Cups, IPL 20/20 cricket, the FIFA preliminary draw, A1 motorsport and the Comrades Marathon and will be calling on that experience to ensure the same level of safety and security prevails during next year’s tournament.”
Ellingson says, “a joint operations centre will mobilize and reallocate resources and the overall safety and security planning will be collated by the Provincial Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (JOINTS). This structure will report directly to a national structure to allow for consistent and unified safety across South Africa.”
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