World Cup 2010 - let's take another look

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LancelotSA

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The benefits of the world cup are showing....

Tourists attracted by the World Cup in June and July helped cut the deficit on South Africa's service account from R103.2 billion in the first quarter to R80.1bn in the second, according to the Reserve Bank quarterly bulletin released yesterday.

As a ratio to the country's gross domestic product, the deficit fell from 4.6 percent to 2.5 percent - the lowest since the first quarter of 2004 when the deficit was 1.6 percent.
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What really clinched it for the current account, though, was the World Cup. Not only did it boost tourism revenue into SA, in a season when we get hardly any foreign visitors, but it curbed tourism revenue out, presumably because no one here wanted to miss it.

The Bank estimates total spending by foreign tourists at about R15bn during the second quarter, up about 19% compared with last year. And that takes us just to the end of June: the next bulletin will capture the inflows during the second half of the tournament. Of course it won’t last the year, but the World Cup should at least help to mute the current account deficit for the year as a whole.
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And there was plenty talk about the money being better spent elsewhere. One of our esteemed forumites repeatedly mentioned that the money could be better spent on hospitals and schools, even when some of us pointed out that underspending on budget was something the government has in fact been guilty of for a long time. Here we have some new numbers confirming this yet again! The problem is not that the government spends too much but rather that they are spending too little!

But the real shocker of the past few quarters has been the sharp fall in government investment. The government says it is on a big infrastructure investment drive. The bulletin’s figures show nothing of the sort . General government investment spending declined last year and has been declining ever faster, by 7%-8%, in the first half of this year. That is negative not only for growth prospects but also for government’s efforts to improve service delivery. There’s no time like the present to turn that around.
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http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=122047

And what about tourist perceptions of the country?

The Democratic Alliance today publishes its own research on tourist perceptions during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This research indicates that impressions gained by the estimated 383 000 World Cup tourists who visited our shores are better even that what has been reported in the past.

International perceptions of our country sometimes indicate a relatively dangerous and costly long-haul destination with poor service levels and limited tourism experiences. This is confirmed by SA Tourism Brand Tracker which identifies perceptions of safety and security and value-for-money as the biggest barriers to travel in South Africa.

The tourism survey conducted by the Democratic Alliance during the World Cup period indicates that actual experiences of tourists during the World Cup were completely different to pre-existing perceptions. In fact, the established trend of tourists having a far more positive impression of South Africa after visiting the country compared to their perceptions before arrival, was deepened by the World Cup phenomenon.
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We always have people being sceptical of the results released by the ANC, so what do we think of these from the DA?
 
Supposedly also it is the reason why our currency is so strong at the moment.
 
It feels like a million years ago that the SWC happened.

South Africa has gone back to the way it was before then.
 
Anyway back to reality.

I think Soccer City has just passed the 400,000 mark in terms of spectators since the WC.
 
I get depressed knowing June/July 2010 isn't coming back again. :'(
 
capetownguy said:
Anyway back to reality.

I think Soccer City has just passed the 400,000 mark in terms of spectators since the WC.
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Was there for the Boks vs NZ!!! What an awesome experience!!!! That stadium is something to behold!! Spectacular doesn't come close to describing it!!!
 
blunomore said:
Does it feel the same to you as it did back then?
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I would hardly expect it to feel the same for anyone. Any party must come to an end but it is the long lasting effects of the party that are important. I would not go as far as to say "South Africa has gone back to the way it was before then". As shown by the numbers coming through, we have benefited greatly from the event and hopefully this will bode well for the future.
 
What really clinched it for the current account, though, was the World Cup. Not only did it boost tourism revenue into SA, in a season when we get hardly any foreign visitors, but it curbed tourism revenue out, presumably because no one here wanted to miss it.
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I don't know how they drew that conclusion, outbound planes were booked solid prior to the world cup.

It's not all rosy though:

But delve into the current account figures and you find SA isn’t doing nearly as well as it should on the export front, given that global demand has been rising. The volume of exports was up only 1% in the second quarter, after falling 3,3% in the first. While fruit exports seem to be doing quite well, manufactured exports are not going anywhere fast.
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That means this is a really good time to invest, to stock up on the imported capital goods that SA’s public and private sectors need if they are to expand the capacity of the economy to produce goods and services in the longer term. This is exactly the time to raise the economy’s potential to grow, by raising the investment rate.

But, as the quarterly bulletin shows, we’re not doing it. Investment spending was growing at only 0,8% in the second quarter, better than the first quarter’s 0,2%, but still not much. Investment by private business did at least turn slightly positive, after several negative quarters, but business is still holding back from investment projects because it has excess capacity and is uncertain about the future. Parastatals kept spending at a fair clip, growing investment at 6,5%.

But the real shocker of the past few quarters has been the sharp fall in government investment. The government says it is on a big infrastructure investment drive. The bulletin’s figures show nothing of the sort . General government investment spending declined last year and has been declining ever faster, by 7%-8%, in the first half of this year. That is negative not only for growth prospects but also for government’s efforts to improve service delivery. There’s no time like the present to turn that around.
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LancelotSA said:
I'll add an eish and a :rolleyes:

In saying that, I am fully aware of many people who (deliberately) chose not to enjoy the world cup even while it was on, so comments like that really don't surprise me.
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Sorry dude, i was 100% behind the WC.

I just got back from a month in the UK and you can see how SA has gone back to how it was before. Ppl don't give a **** again :(
 
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