INLSA
DURBAN 23012013SA vs Angola, Moses Madhiba Stadium, AFCON.PICTURE: Jacques Naude
Despite Bafana Bafana’s exit from the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) 2013 tournament on Saturday, Durban city officials maintain that the R60 million the municipality, province and national government invested for Durban to host the event has had major spin-offs for the city.
Durban was the base camp for Group A in the tournament that included South Africa, but did not get to host the Afcon opening ceremony and game.
All Bafana Bafana’s games at Moses Mabhida Stadium were sold out and Afcon organisers have confirmed that the semi-final in Durban tonight between Nigeria and Mali has been sold out.
Philip Sithole, the head of Durban Tourism, told The Mercury: “The fact that all Bafana matches were sold out resulted in major economic and publicity benefits for our city, which was way beyond the money we invested in being one of the main host cities for Afcon 2013.”
Vusi Mazibuko, the head of the Afcon project office in KwaZulu-Natal, said Durban had delivered on its promise to Afcon organisers that all Bafana matches would be sold out and would see benefits beyond the tournament.
“Now, despite the disappointment of Bafana not making it into the semi-final in Durban, the game is sold out. This is a loud statement to football administrators in South Africa that Durban is ready and capable of also being given the right to host opening or closing ceremonies of major sport events of this scale in the country. The investment we made in Durban being a major Afcon host city was certainly worth it,” he said.
“We (Durban) will go down as being arguably the best Afcon 2013 host city having hosted six games over five match days, the majority of which were sold out. While the semi-final between Nigeria and Mali is sold out, we urge Durbanites to continue the unbelievable spirit they have shown in supporting the tournament in the city and at public view areas in KZN. This atmosphere and the soccer action has been shown to millions of television viewers of the Afcon tournament, particularly in Africa, publicising Durban as a leading sports and tourism destination,” Mazibuko said.
Sithole said that after the tournament, Durban Tourism and the province would finalise a report on the economic impact and benefits of the city being an Afcon host.
“Based on all the sold-out matches in Durban, including the semi-final, we estimate that the economic impact will be more than R100m. We must remember that Afcon was not on the scale of the World Cup, and did not see thousands of foreign soccer fans fill our hotels to capacity. There were many fans that did come to Durban, mainly South African supporters from other parts of the country,” he said.
“However, several teams played here in addition to Bafana Bafana. The teams with their support staff and international media covering the event meant that the hospitality industry benefited. Other sectors such as transport and small business also benefited. We had about 70 small businesses with permits to sell merchandise and food inside and outside Moses Mabhida stadium on match days,” said Sithole.
He said hosting Afcon was a strategic decision by the city despite naysayers. The idea was to build on the World Cup momentum and all the major events that Durban has hosted over the years to keep the city in the international spotlight as a leading sports, events and tourism destination.
In line with this, Sithole said the city had also decided to extend its global marketing campaign and signed a deal worth R4.4m with international sport television channel Eurosport to leverage the hosting of Afcon 2013. This is in addition to the campaign with the Discovery channel.
“Besides their normal coverage of the games, they shot several sights of Durban and interviewed several local sports personalities and ambassadors of Durban such as Chad le Clos, Sharks rugby players and members of the AmaZulu Football Club. This partnership goes beyond Afcon, and Eurosport will be back covering other major sport events in Durban such as the Comrades and the Durban July,” he said.
