Optimistic estimation

South Africa is the engine of African economy, rich in natural resources, with 9% of platinum deposits, 8% of manganese, 73% of chromium and 41% of gold in the world. South Africa's agricultural exports account for 8% of its total exports, providing rich supplies for Africa and other parts of the world. South Africa's land area is about twice that of Texas in the United States. It has a world-class highway system, a world-class banking system and a world-class telecommunications system. In addition, its stock market is also quite large, attracting 41 billion US dollars of investment from the United States alone.

The Cape of Good Hope at the southernmost tip of the African continent, the world's largest wildlife park, and many natural and ecological reserves, as well as rough and unrestrained food and famous wines, all show the tourist charm of South Africa. Tourism is one of the important pillar industries in South Africa, with an annual income of $27 billion. The World Cup will provide a new development opportunity for South Africa's tourism industry. The World Cup made South Africa's tourism industry perform well last year. The number of overseas tourists in South Africa was nearly 1 million, up 3.6% year-on-year, and the consumption of overseas tourists reached 7.94 billion rand, about 1.9 billion US dollars, up 7% year-on-year. 21 is destined to be a year full of expectations for South Africa's tourism industry. According to foreign reports, it is estimated that the World Cup will bring more than $13 billion to South Africa. It is estimated that the number of foreign tourists visiting South Africa will increase by 2 million in the next three years, making tourism a new growth point of South Africa's economy.

According to the British Economist, a report by GrantThornton, a well-known accounting firm, shows that the football World Cup may surprisingly boost South Africa's economic growth by an additional .5%. This is a considerable amount for South Africa's economic growth forecast of 3% this year. During the World Cup, it is estimated that 373, foreigners will go to South Africa to watch the games. Each of them will stay in South Africa for an average of 18 days and watch five games, which will cost nearly $4,. These statistics are convincing and drive the fans crazy.

Cautious estimation

However, the South African government is quite cautious about such predictions, because GrantThornton made a similar report on the impact of the World Cup on South Africa on the eve of the global financial crisis two years ago. People can't help worrying that the economic recession may shrink the economic benefits brought by sports events to South Africa. In fact, if GrantThornton's expectations are correct, South Africa will have nothing to worry about. In 27, the company predicted that 483, foreign tourists would come during the World Cup, but now the number is expected to drop sharply. In addition, only 11,3 ticket holders came from African countries outside South Africa, which undoubtedly disappointed the organizers. However, it is estimated that each tourist will arrange more trips, stay a little longer and spend 1/3 more in South Africa.

The reporter learned from the website of the Commercial Office of the Embassy in South Africa that, according to South African media reports, South Africa's two largest tourism organizations, the South African Reception Alliance Association and the Southern African Tourism Service Association, recently issued a joint statement, pointing out that the grim situation of the global economic downturn has greatly reduced the number of tourists coming to South Africa to watch the World Cup, and the original situation that South Africa hotels were full during the World Cup did not appear. In addition, the high price of air tickets and the poor marketing of the hotel industry are also important reasons why tourists are not enthusiastic about visiting. At first, it was expected that 45, to 5, tourists would come to South Africa to watch the match during the World Cup, but according to the present situation, only about 3, tourists visited. According to a recent survey conducted by Reuters, the upcoming World Cup in South Africa will promote the economic growth of South Africa, but it is difficult to achieve the expected results when South Africa successfully applied for the bid. Reuters reached a compromise conclusion after a survey of 22 well-known economists. The World Cup will only boost the South African economy by .3 percentage points.

Business opportunities around

The World Cup is not only promoting South Africa's economy, but also stirring the economies of other countries in the world. For example, Brazil is the fourth largest consumer of beer in the world, and beer is the favorite of Brazilians when watching football. The World Cup is just around the corner, which has triggered a beer consumption frenzy. For this reason, Brazil has cut import tariffs urgently, and recently announced that the import tariff on canned beer will be sharply reduced from 16% to 2%. According to South Africa's "Daily Business Daily" reported in early June, Starbucks will sell coffee and tea drinks in South Africa through designated hotels and casinos during the World Cup, which is the first time Starbucks has entered the South African market.

However, South Africans are dissatisfied and even complain that most of the money has been earned by FIFA, the sole organizer of the World Cup, while South Africa has to bear almost all the expenses. FIFA only bears the bonus paid to the participating teams, as well as the travel and competition preparation expenses. These expenses were $279 million in the 26 World Cup in Germany. In mid-May this year, FIFA indicated that it would pay an additional $1 million to South Africa to ensure that all competition facilities were completed on time. The main direct benefits of the World Cup, such as TV broadcast and marketing, will be owned by FIFA. According to the report of Citi, a research institute of Citibank, the income of FIFA during the World Cup in Germany reached 1.8 billion US dollars, equivalent to .7% of South Africa's GDP. FIFA will recycle most of these revenues for the development of football around the world. Nevertheless, even a small part of it will help South Africa clean up some deteriorating shanty towns.