Considering the positive economic impact on the host countries during the Sydney Olympics and Germany’s football World Cup, South Africa is likely to experience a great boom as a result of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Already, construction and tourism are benefiting from the build-up to the event, with infrastructure development projects and new accommodation establishments constantly springing up.

During the event itself, at least 400 000 additional visitors are expected to visit the country. But the question of the number of visitors is something we will only know once the event has happened. Gary Bailey, former Manchester United goal keeper, who will be a speaker at the next Biznetwork event on 21 November, explains that the mystery of the numbers relates to fan parks visitors, rather than ticket-holders. “In Germany, it was anticipated that 800 000 people would attend but, in fact, over two million were actually there.â€