How do you see both Safari and general tourism to South Africa going? Has there been a great buzz created about the country? I get the feeling most of the football fans won't be going on safari, and having followed England abroad, (Euro 2004 here in Portugal) the majority of fans prefer to frequent local bars and watch other games...

How will those new stadiums benefit local people? Have the transport infrastructures improved? Was it a lot of money invested for just a short term gain, or can South Africa really build upon the wave of enthusiasm? What are your thoughts?

Can other events be held in the stadiums that might draw international attention and attendance?

SA has so many sporting events to offer - Cricket, Rugby ......... a whole new world out there.

I agree with MAC, South Africa has a great sporting history and surely will find other events to host in the years to come. Plenty of inventive minds to come up with interesting uses for the stadia.

Sport! Rugby, Cricket, Wimbledon - and at the same time football world cup.

I must say that as far as Cape Town goes very little has changed over the world cup. Most of the games are in and around Johannesburg.

The good news is that all the political rubbish going on before the world cup, has been put on the back-burner, and the people have really united.

Good reviews I am hearing from fans and visitors is that they think we did a great job. I know the French flew out on the first flight after their defeat, but the Australians have stuck around a bit.

There will be a flood of (robbed ) English supporters looking for something else to do after last night. Oh and a plenty of dissapointed American supporters. I wonder if they will leave or take the opportunity for a holiday.

There are also many families and mixed age groups attending the World Cup as well as the supporters that like to go around drinking in the bars, so there is still more hope for them to take vacation time at the end of their countries World Cup experience.

It would be a shame for people to come over just for the sporting event and miss out on the great culture and excursions that are not available elsewhere apart from in Africa. I really hope hosting such sporting events boost the reputation and the tourism level in Africa on the whole.

Cup a boon or bust for Africa? reports www.smh.com.au.

To read the full article click here.

I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Well organised, good infrastructure, good roads, lots of police, friendly people!

I visited 3 games.
Holland - Japan in Durban, then went to St. Lucia (1 night), Swaziland (2 nights), Nelspruit (1 night) to see Australie - Serbia - Kruger (2 nights, stayed near Croc Bridge) - Nelspruit 1 night again - Durban again 1 night to see Holland - Slovakia - Drakensberg (1 night) and back to Durban to fly out.

Had a fantastic time!

Egilio, that deserves a trip report...

Please share your World Cup experience Egilio!

I forgot to mention, I managed to see a pre-World Cup friendlly of Tanzania vs Brazil in Dar Es Salaam. It was good, but the stadium was only half full - it was really over priced for many locals.

I can report that we saw a huge increase in bookings over the world cup period, more than twice our normal volume. Mostly football fans who wanted to add in a safari on their trip. Also read an article that the vast majority of fans stayed in SA for longer than 2 weeks, and a third of them for longer than a month, which is great!
I think some stadiums might be under-utilized in the future, but the long term spinoff in terms of marketing, exposure for SA, return tourists and referrals will be very positive in the next few years.
Hoping we also get the Olympics in 2016 or 2020!
All we need now is for air fares to come down, it is still very expensive for Americans and Europeans to fly to South Africa.