World Cup website for the Bay
The launch was held at the City Hall where representatives of the event sponsors, the local organising committee, Fifa and other sectors were in attendance.
According to the agreement between the host cities and Fifa, municipalities have to provide and maintain a website aimed at informing the public of their activities regarding the Confederations Cup and the 2010 tournament, as well as display the city as a favourable tourist destination for the future.
The website can be accessed by clicking on the logo on the municipality‘s website, or by logging on to www.nelsonmandelabay.gov.za/fifaworldcup.
It offers plenty of information, such as a map of the city, how long it takes one to reach a specific destination, a list of accredited hospitality businesses in the area and various other important things within the city.
Acting mayor Bicks Ndoni said the website, which took four months to develop, was expected to receive more than 50 million visitors in the run-up to the world cup.
“By winning the rights to host the Concaf tournament, we proved we were capable of delivering on our mandate. The launch is befitting because, of all the host cities, we are the first to launch our website.
“As in professional websites, this one will not remain static but grow over time,” said Ndoni.
He acknowledged the city had been under pressure to convince the soccer body the city could deliver.
He said the Bay had only had a year-and-a-half to plan and carry out the work “convincingly”.
According to Ndoni, the stadium will be complete by March next year, 70 per cent of the roof will be erected by December and “hopefully” be complete by January.
The municipality also made a recommendation to the world soccer body to allow the pride of the city, Bay United, to be the first team to “touch ground and test the field”.
Ndoni said: “We cannot build a multimillion-rand stadium and not have a team to own it. Contractors have been requested to vacate the site in March next year for this purpose.”
Nelson Mandela Bay 2010 director Errol Heyns said the purpose of the website was to stimulate communities and popularise the tournaments and the city as a prime tourist destination.
His team had to look at the business of how vital developing a website was and how easily accessible information on the 2010 competition would be to people globally.
He said marketing formed significant components of the campaign, as most people accessed websites as a their first information point.
Said he: “Today‘s launch is the start of a full-blown marketing campaign which will assist people in looking up the latest with regard to the tournaments.
“Everyone in the city needs to own the website – become its disciples and ensure we all add value to it.”
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