66 percent of World Cup visitors would return

Returning World Cup visitors questioned in a snap poll in the departures lounge at Cape Town International Airport on Wednesday almost all gave South Africa an overall rating of 9.06 out of 10 as a destination and 66 percent said they would return with their families.

They included one who was robbed of his camera in the street but still rated this country at 9 out of 10.

Before the start of the World Cup negative publicity in the UK and northern European press, mainly about crime, made many visitors apprehensive. But by the time they left 50 percent of those questioned said they felt “much more positively about South Africa”, according to the results of the poll.

A total of 50 travellers took part in the poll. According to their passports they were from 13 countries – the US, UK, Dubai, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Mexico, China, Montenegro, the Cayman Islands. Singapore, Switzerland and Germany. But the majority of those leaving, according to Alan Winde, Minister of Tourism for the Western Cape, were from the UK and US – “probably because their teams were now out of the World Cup”.

Admitting that the responses came from a small sample of the thousands of visitors who came to this country for the event, he said several organisations were conducting polls in which more people would be questioned but their results would be announced and analysed only after it was over, giving a reliable indication of the effect of hosting it on our economy.

Winde said the average age of those questioned was 40 and they were “predominantly male.” Most of them- 60 percent – had stayed in hotels and 32 percent in guest houses.

Most of them – 70 percent – considered restaurant prices to be moderate and 66 percent of them gave this rating to accommodation charges.

The average spend on accommodation was R1 199 a night and most had spent about R900 a day in addition to this.. Most had spent 7.64 days in the Western Cape out of 10.38 nights in South Africa and an average had watched almost three games in a stadium and one in a fan park.

The Winelands was the most popular region to visit in the Western Cape, with 72 percent saying they had gone there and a number had travelled up the West Coast. “The rating shows that just about everyone who came to the Western Cape found it an outstanding experience,” said Winde.

Taxis were the most popular mode of transport in this country, with 56 percent using them and 32 percent using hired cars.
The top 3 most positive experiences apart from soccer were going up Table Mountain, visiting Cape Point and meeting the people of South Africa.

“The perception of the destination was much more positive (on leaving) than on arrival”, Winde said, “with 50 percent saying they felt much more positively about South Africa since coming here. There were no respondents who said they felt more negatively.

“These figures suggest that hosting the World Cup has had a positive influence on the reputation of South Africa as a tourist destination. We may see a boost to the economy around the tourist industry for years to come.”

Source: Business Report (http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=566&fArticleId=5539126)