If you have any respect for the beautiful game football, or to you American’s, soccer, you’ll be happy yet sad to know that the ticket sales for this summers events have been less the expected due to the “exaggerated” fear of the crime level in South Africa.
So for someone like me or my family this is great because we love soccer and are from Africa and getting these tickets would be great, and since people are scared of the "supposed" rising crime rate they are selling the tickets left over on a first come first serve basis, which is great. If you want them, they are at a lowered price due to the low sales.
The chief executive of the Johannesburg Development Agency, Lael Bethlehem, admitted that crime was one of her city's biggest problems.
But she insisted that there was an "unrealistic notion" of the level of the threat around the football event.
Ms Bethlehem was speaking four months before the tournament kicks off.
Ticket sales
The opening match between the host nation and Mexico on 11 June is one of 15 games in the city's two stadiums Soccer City and Ellis Park, which includes the World Cup final.
However, tickets for the opening game are still available.
Tickets sales for the tournament have not reached the levels of recent previous events, and about one million of the three million tickets issued are still available. Another round of sales began this week on a "first come first served basis".
"People do worry about safety and security, but there has been a great deal of preparation - we're very determined," said Ms Bethlehem, who was in London at a Chatham House conference on the Future of Cities.
"Crime is one of the big problems for us in Johannesburg and it's a problem we're very engaged with all the time, but particularly for this event.
"But having said that I think people sometimes have a very exaggerated idea of the kind of problems that we have and an unrealistic notion of it."
She added that the world football governing body, Fifa, was monitoring plans it had in place to deal with problems ranging from hooliganism to the potential influx of sex workers.
'More fun'
South Africa's location, which makes it a long and potentially expensive journey for anyone not living in Africa, was another important reason why tickets were still available, Ms Bethlehem said.
Most hotels in the city are fully booked, with would-be visitors now being directed towards accredited home-stay and bed-and-breakfast accommodation.
"In some ways it can be much more fun to be in a home-stay, say in Soweto, than in a fancy hotel," she said.
Ms Bethlehem said that while stadium improvements were welcome, developments in infrastructure would be of long-term benefit to Johannesburg, whose population includes about 100,000 people living in slum-like conditions.
Developments include a new bus transit service and a high-speed rail link around Johannesburg and Pretoria, though this is not expected to be fully completed by the time the tournament begins.
People living near the stadiums would also benefit from improvements to those parts of the city, she added.
"I can say to any country hosting an international event, to try and boost long-term infrastructure.," she said.
"The stadia are great but not really long-term investment whereas public transport and hosting this World Cup has given investment a real boost."
'Developing country'
Like other World Cup nations, South Africa hosted Fifa's Confederations Cup last year, which Ms Bethlehem said had acted as a "trial run for the city".
"We had some transport challenges and that's where we've had to put the most emphasis in the last year in making sure we can get everyone to the stadium," she said.
"We want to be able to share out culture and show our competence. We want to be able to demonstrate that our cities are interesting, modern fun, places to be.
"But we are a developing country - our level of infrastructure is not like that of Germany and the efficiency of our transport is nowhere near what it is in London or Munich.
"However, I believe we will have sufficient transport and other kinds of infrastructure to give people a really exciting visit."
I think security is always on the mind of people traveling to any foreign city for any reason. As for the mentioned hooliganism and influx in sex workers that just goes along with any large event. I saw an article on CNN around the Super Bowl that said Miami was seeing an influx in sex workers too. Soccer hooligans are part of the definition of European soccer in the U.S. American fans get rowdy too. As for economic impact, I like the fact that people who can't get a hotel room are being sent to the home-stays and bed and breakfasts. That will surely help the local economy and possibly lead to further improvements for the city. E, A
ReplyDeleteThis goes along with an article yesterday talking about the economic benefis of world events such as the Olympics and the World Cup. I'm glad that she mentioned the extreme benefits to long term infrastructure and the rise in investments because that is a very important long-term benefit of hosting one of these events.
ReplyDeleteI, personally, know 4 people who have had their tickets for a long time now and are very excited! I don't really think that crime is on their minds anymore than it would be if they were going on any other international trip. One should always be aware of pickpocketers and the like in any very public event or international travel.
A,E
Even though I play American football, I still love to watch the World Cup and to support the U.S. It seems really nice, from a consumer's point of view, that the price of tickets is cheaper. Seems like cheaper ticket prices would leave more money in the pockets of the sports fans and allow them to spend their money else where in South Africa. Overall I think these lower ticket prices will benefit South Africa's local businesses. (A)
ReplyDeleteReading this article my thoughts turned towards other cities in the world and how a bad image has hurt their economies. I think the image of South Africa has in this country been hurt by what we are taught in school about apartheid and AIDs epidemics. Similarly many are hesitant to attend sporting events in the City of Detroit because of a bad reputation. Although Detroit is closer to my home than Chicago, my family is more likely to make the trek to Chicago than Detroit, and I can't help but wonder why exactly. I remember the trips to the DIA we made when I was in middle school and a couple other trips to the theater, but other than that I can't think of a single time that we went to Detroit for the day. I think that part of building or rebuilding economies is really focusing on how to best market the place in a new light.
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I believe that the low ticket prices for the World Cup in South Africa will not only help the country's economy, but it will also give an opportunity to a broader range of people who otherwise would not have have had the chance to go to the great sporting event. I say it will help South Africa's economy because I believe with the extra money people will have as a result of the ticket prices being lower, they will go out to tourist areas and other places and buy things they can't get in the respective country's they are from. I am not saying that natives of South Africa will not go to the World Cup, because they will, but many people from across the world will also be attending, which will lead to the great business for tourist areas and other places in the host country. South Africa will greatly benefit from the lower ticket prices, and for the World Cup being there, just like Vancouver is benefiting from hosting the Olympics this year, as explained yesterday. (A)
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with everyone above that large sporting events such as this can be great for local economies. For example, I remeber Detroit doing quite well in 2005 when the Super Bowl came here. It brought in people from all over the country and really helped out local businesses and the city in general. Its unfortunate that most of these big sporting events such as the Super Bowl, the World Series, and the World cup only happen once a year. A,E
ReplyDeleteWell in the society we live in today, fear is a very important and key thing when it comes to this. With all the terrorist threats and what not, people are becoming afraid of everything- there is a lack of trust within each of us now. I think this is just one of many examples.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there is always some fear surrounding travel to a foreign country but I believe that people are more fearful when traveling to developing countries. If the World Cup was being held in a developed country, I am almost certain that there would not have been a surplus of tickets.
ReplyDeleteWith a developing country such as South Africa hosting World Cup cricket, it can be good for the economy or it can make matters worse. I remember a few years ago, Jamaica was hosting the World Cup Cricket series. It was very exciting. The government build a new state of the art stadium, hurriedly added more sections to the highway and made several other changes. To build this stadium, the government had to borrow a loan from China valuing $30 million.Now, the country is in more debt. The stadium did bring benefits because it can host other events in the future but it also brought consequences.
South Africa can make lots of money further develop their country from the World Cup if everyone would support them.Support them for the love of football and also because they are trying to develop their nation. A, E
For a country like South Africa; hosting the World Cup can bring many benefits and they don’t only have to be short term. I am glad that this type of event can bring an easier accessible environment to get around the city where people live near the stadium. Like many people have said above, tickets to South Africa are not cheap and that might be one of the reasons that tickets haven’t had an increase on demand. As the date gets closer the number might have an increase on demand because there would be people that want to attend at the last minute. E.A
ReplyDeleteI think that South Africa will benefit greatly from the World Cup. However I can understand its problems as well. First off, violence will be an issue in the areas, seeing as though South Africa has the highest crime and murder rates in the world. Furthermore, South Africa, although a soccer and rugby loving country, does not have the amount of average joes as in other countries who can pay for tickets. Moreover, it will not be like it was in Germany because it's neighboring countries, which are more densely populated with more adequate transportation, will not be the same for South Africa. All in all, the World Cup should be great, but these problems need to be addressed by the time of World Cup.
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