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2010 World Cup Soccer - A Property Marketing Opportunity For
South Africa |
By:
Jannie Botha |
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After the euphoria of winning the bid to host the 2010 Soccer
World Cup, South Africans in all sectors must now work
together to ensure that this opportunity is fully utilized for
the long-term benefit of the entire country.
Hosting this major sporting event will be a massive boost to
our economy and it is expected that almost R 30 billion will
flow into South Africa, spurring economic growth to between 5
and 6 percent, while creating an estimated 150 000 jobs. The
impact on the property market will be enormous.
South Africa is currently enjoying a strong position and
consumer confidence is buoyant. International buyers, locals and
expatriates are major buyers of South African properties.
The property market will do well to use the 2010
Soccer World Cup as a platform to aggressively market property in South Africa, which is still undervalued in global
terms and offer exceptional value for money.
South
African property is likely to receive a major boost from
2010 - if the World Cup is a success. Paris "France"
property prices escalated by as much as 55% over a one
year period before and after the 2002 Word Cup and
property across the city made astronomical gains with the
prices of apartments close to some of the stadiums rocketing by
over 100% over the same period.
Some neglected neighborhoods in Paris were completely
rejuvenated. The same will happen in South Africa, because
although we have had a good run, in global terms our
property is still undervalued and the macroeconomic
outlook is very favorable.
Hosting an Olympic Games or World Cup encourages urban
regeneration and is usually accompanied by an improvement in
facilities, transport links and overall infrastructure. Yet, a
closer look at the lessons of the Olympic Games hosted in Athens
means a lot of work needs to be done - especially in marketing
South Africa as a destination.
There is a lot to be learned from the Greek Olympic experience
on how best to sell South Africa as a desirable country and etch
ourselves into the minds of tourists and investors for a long
time to come. Greece did not fully capitalize on the Olympics to
promote itself and its property
market to the extent that former Olympic host cities
Barcelona and Sydney did - and lost out on some of the benefits
of hosting a major international event.
Perhaps they were a bit complacent and thought just because
they´d secure an event like the Olympics people would come
running. The key learning is that Barcelona and Sydney went out
of there way to make themselves outsider and investor friendly
and strongly promote themselves through a fantastic marketing
effort as a great place to buy a second home. And the Spanish in
particular are probably the best in the world at selling their
own property and the sensual and relaxed Spanish
lifestyle. This has translated into massive job creation and
social upliftment through increased tourism and a very favorable
country perception. Around 60 000 UK citizens bought a home in
Spain in 2003.
Just think if South Africa could increase its visitors by tens
of millions a year to get close to the number of people who
visit Span each year. We would have an incredible success story
for job and wealth creation. When Sydney hosted the Olympic
Games in 2000, they pushed not just Sydney as a city but the
howl of Australia as a desirable place to tour, live and own
property. There was a unified strategy between the
government, the tourist board and the property industry.
In South Africa we can´t afford to just promote the cities that
will host World Cup Soccer games. We also need to promote the
true spirit of South Africa as a highly desirable investment
friendly and stable country. Well planned government expenditure
aimed at local regeneration will give impetus to host cities in
creating a more suitable and attractive inner-city environment -
that´s because public infrastructure that would otherwise have
taken years to complete due to red tape will now be
fast-tracked.
For example, the R 20-billion Gautrain high-speed service
between Johannesburg and Pretoria will certainly be completed in
time for the 2010 World Cup, creating a wealth corridor
and increased property values across both cities.
Other projects that stand to benefit from the event include
Coega´s giant "signature bridge", the Statue of freedom in Port
Elizabeth and Durban´s new international airport at La Mercy,
North of Durban. All of these will be fast-tracked into reality
by 2010. In Cape Town , the N2 Gateway Project has been launched
by the Housing Minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, in an attempt to
replace the tin and cardboard shacks along the highway to
improve the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of locals
and remove an embarrassing eyesore before the influx of millions
of tourists into the Mother City for the World Cup Soccer
finals in 2010.
2010 is also having an effect on building costs. Many building
contractors are holding out for money spinning 2010 World Cup
contracts, creating a shortage of builders. Stadiums must be
build, renovated and expanded in time for this major event. Many
stadiums are also being build especially for the event like
Nelspruit´s Mbombela stadium scheduled for completion in 2007,
at a cost of R 350 million.
However, most of the benefits from hosting this event come in
the form of multiplier effects of each rand spent on all goods
and services in the economy leading up to, during and after the
event. The increased health of the economy will have the biggest
overall effect on property prices.
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Article Source: http://www.PopularArticles.com/article2131.html |
Article: 2010 World cup soccer - A property marketing opportunity for
South Africa
Author: Jannie Botha
Total Views: 43
Word Count: 885
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