Travel and Tourism contribution to the South African gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011 was ZAR 251.8 billion (8.6% of GDP) and is expected to rise by 4% in 2012, increasing by 3.9% per annum to ZAR 385.3 billion in 2022. In the same vein, the industry currently supports 1,188,000 jobs (9.0% of total employment). Tourism’s contribution to national employment is expected to rise to 1,226,000 jobs (3.2%) in 2012 and increase by 2.0% per annum to 1,498,000 jobs in 2022 (9.4% of total employment) [1].

While this sustained growth in the travel and tourism industry is plausible considering the huge economic relief, it could bring to many poor communities in South Africa, tourism’s sustainable use of environmental, socio-cultural and other capital stock has often been called to question [2]. As a result various forms of tourism activity such as sports, recreation and events have been subjected to intense scrutiny in order to assess their compliance with sustainable tourism guidelines. It is in this light that the present paper sets out to evaluate the perceptions of the residents of Soshanguve community with regards to the FIFA 2010 World cup meeting the sustainability guidelines.

The decision by the Federations Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) in 2004 to award the bid to host the 2010 World Cup to South Africa was greeted with euphoria throughout South Africa and indeed the African continent, primarily because of the continent’s love of the beautiful game but also because of the economic benefits that were expected to accrue from hosting this mega event on African soil. The slogan Ke Nako “Its time” was adopted for the event, symbolizing one important aspect of this World Cup, the need to recognize and celebrate the true legacy of Africa as the cradle of Humankind. These expectations and aspirations were summed up by former president Thabo Mbeki as follows,

“We want, on behalf of our continent, to stage an event that will send ripples of confidence from Cape to Cairo – an event that will create social and economic opportunities throughout Africa. We want to ensure that one day, historians will reflect on the 2010 World Cup as a moment when Africa stood tall and resolutely turned the tide on centuries of poverty and conflict. We want to show that Africa’s time has come”.

Following on this, former president Kgalema Motlanthe outlined the following areas in which the 2010 World Cup was expected to leave its legacy:

• Peace and nation-building

• Football support and development

• Environment and tourism

• Culture and heritage

• Communication

• Information and communications technology (ICT)

• Continental security co-operation.

In order to meet these set objectives, various stakeholders were identified as having crucial roles to play. The national government for-instance had to deliver on the seventeen guarantees made to FIFA during the bidding process. These guarantees included among others: access to South Africa, a supportive financial environment, intellectual property and marketing rights, safety and security, health care services, transport and telecommunications [3]. In order to deliver on the above, the national government put in place various organizing structures such as:

• The 2010 Inter-Ministerial committee

• The Technical Co-ordinating Committee

• The 2010 FIFA World Cup Government Unit within Sports and Recreation South Africa (SRSA); and

• Dedicated 2010 units in departments with World cup responsibilities.

However, the ultimate mandate of delivering a first class World Cup lay with the 2010 FIFA World Cup Local Organising Committee (LOC). The LOC was made up of football administrators, government and business representatives, labour and civil society.

On the economic front, the 2010 World cup was expected to help South Africa meet its millennium development goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations (UN) in 2000. Government intervention units such as the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa ASGISA) were expected to benefit substantially from the World Cup. Under ASGISA government had committed to half poverty and unemployment by 2014. Government contributions to World Cup related projects stood at R28 billion by February 2008 [3].

Nevertheless, research conducted by South African Tourism (SAT) after the 2010 World Cup reveals the following impacts of the event on tourism in the country. The volume of tourists to South Africa primarily because of the 2010 World Cup stood at 309, 554. Of this total, tourists who arrived by land from other African countries constituted 32%, followed by Europeans with 24% and Central and South America with 13%.

Considering the value of the 2010 World Cup to South African tourism, visitors who came to South Africa specifically because of the event spent R3, 64 billion with European visitors spending the most. Most of the spending was on shopping, followed by accommodation and food and drink. The average length of stay for these visitors was 10.3 nights, with tourists from Australia and South America staying the longest.

Another significant impact of the 2010 World Cup on South African tourism was the increase in the brand South Africa as a leisure destination. The increase in the South African brand rose by 9% and the intention to visit South Africa in the short term increased by 35% following the event.

Despite the positive statistics emanating from South Africa hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup, research indicates that the local community’s level of practical involvement and sense of ownership and feeling of responsibility is central to the sustainability of tourism [4-6]. This is why this paper seeks to evaluate the perceptions of the local community of Soshanguve towards South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This necessitates a review of literature on sustainable tourism and mega events.

Sustainable tourism development

The concept of sustainability gained prominence following the publication of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) report “Our Common Future” which defined Sustainable Development as development that “Meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” [7]. Five basic principles of sustainability were also identified in the report, thus:

• The idea of holistic planning and strategy making that links economic, environmental and social concerns;

• The importance of preserving essential ecological processes;

• The need to protect both biodiversity and human heritage;

• The need for development to occur in such a way that productivity can be sustained over the long term for future generations; and

• The goal of achieving a better balance of fairness and opportunity between nations.

Even though tourism was hardly mentioned in the report, discussions of the concept have become a dominant feature in tourism literature, notably because of the close association between tourism and both development and the environment [8].

Despite the general attractiveness and wide international adoption of sustainable development and its subsidiary sustainable tourism, Tao and Wall [9], indicate that the two concepts have attracted much criticism for their lack of precision and the difficulties associated with their implementation. This conceptual frivolity of the sustainability concept is equally shared by Liu, Sharpley and Hunter who add that the concept is now being associated with all scales and types of tourism activity [10-12].

However, Keyser [13] points out that the attainment of sustainable development necessitates a balance between economic efficiency, environmental integrity and social justice. According to Harrison et al. [14], sustainable tourism refers to “Tourism which is developed and maintained in an area (community or environment) in such a manner and at such a scale that it remains viable over an infinite period and does not degrade or alter the environment (human or physical) in which it exists to such a degree that it prohibits the successful development and well being of other activities and processes”. This paper adopts the United Nations World Tourism Organization [15] definition which states that sustainable tourism “meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunity for the future. It is envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, and biological diversity, and life support systems”.

The foregoing definitions of sustainability seem to imply that for an activity to be sustainable, it has to be carried out continuously over time without diminishing its characteristics or effects. This makes its application to tourism even more challenging considering that one of the unique qualities of the tourism business is the simultaneity of production and consumption. The fact that the tourism product can only be consumed at the point of production increases tourism impacts on the host environment [16]. In this regard, the United Nations identifies three types of impacts:

• Impacts on the environment (both natural and man-made); two types of impacts with opposing effects are identified here: on the one hand, tourism activities whose impacts damage or destroy environmental resources on which they depend and on the other, tourism activities that help to preserve the environment either through raising finances or tourists awareness on the importance of conservation.

• Socio-cultural impacts: These emanate from host–guest interactions. Negative impacts would imply that these interactions have altered the indigenous identity either through affecting community structures, family relationships, collective community lifestyles, ceremonies and morality. However, positive socio-cultural impacts may be identified from tourism activity when host–guests interactions serve to foster peace and encourage pride in local traditions.

• Economic impacts: Here again tourism activity could impact negatively or positively on the local economy. The destruction of the natural environment to create tourism infrastructure, inflation due to higher demand for goods and services, the total dependence of the local economy on tourism, leakages and the creation of seasonal jobs are some of the negative economic impacts that could result from tourism development. The positive impacts however would result in foreign exchange earnings, contribution to government revenue, employment creation, infrastructure development and the stimulation of other economic sectors.

Considering the impacts mentioned above, the World Tourism organization recommends the following guidelines for sustainable tourism development:

• That while making optimal use of environmental resources, tourism development should maintain essential ecological processes and help to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity.

• Respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities through the conservation of their cultural heritage, respect for their traditional value system and the enhancement of their inter-cultural tolerance and understanding.

• Ensure all operations are economically profitable in the long term and provide lasting equitable benefits to all stakeholders. Host communities should benefit through reliable employment, income generating opportunities, poverty alleviation and the provision of social services.

The WTO (2004) further states that, “sustainable tourism development requires the informed participation of all relevant stakeholders, as well as strong political leadership to ensure wide participation and consensus building. Achieving sustainable tourism is a continuous process and it requires constant monitoring of impacts, introducing the necessary preventive and/or corrective measures whenever necessary”.

It is within the above context that this paper assesses the 2010 FIFA World cup in order to establish the extent to which this mega event conforms to sustainable tourism guidelines. This is done uniquely from the local residents’ expression of their experience with the event.

Mega events

The classification of events generally follows their scale or size [17]. International sporting events in particular, are commonly described as either Hallmark or mega events. According Ritchie [18], hallmark events are so described because they are major one time recurring events of limited duration such as the FA cup final in the United Kingdom and the Notting Hill Carnival. Mega events on the other hand, attract a large international audience, involve the commitment of huge public funds and have the potential to generate significant impacts [19,20]. Examples of these events include the FIFA World cup, the cricket World cup and the Olympic Games.

In recent years, tourism destinations have given high prominence to mega sporting events such as the Olympic Games and the FIFA World cup in their marketing and strategic planning strategies due to the great number of tourists and audiences that these events attract [21]. Apart from the huge corporate sponsorship that comes with mega event, the host communities capitalize on the great attention these events attract to showcase their tourism prowess. Furthermore, mega events have also been known to boost citizen morale and pride in their country [22]. The economic value of hosting mega events to the local economy usually abound, particularly in the areas of employment, new investment, advertising to global audiences and so on. It is therefore hardly surprising that the economic benefits accruing from hosting mega events is usually the prime factor put forth to galvanize public support and justify the cost of hosting these events [23]. In fact, despite the plethora of literature focusing on the impacts of tourism development, relatively little research has delved into the non-economic impacts of event tourism and mega events such as the FIFA World cup [24]. This is why this study adopts a sustainable tourism approach in assessing the FIFA soccer World cup hosted by South Africa in 2010. In essence, this paper makes use of a holistic approach, examining not only environmental, socio-cultural and economic impacts, but also community participation at the event.

Although hardly mentioned in literature, sports mega events often necessitate the building of new infrastructure and the uplifting of existing facilities. These, coupled with the organisation of parallel social and cultural events helps to influence pre-existing patterns of activity and lifestyle in the host and neighbouring communities. According to Allen et al., Mihalik et al. and Bramwell, well-managed mega events could lead to unity within the host community, opportunities to meet foreign travelers and enjoy sports. Hence the hosting of mega events can result in huge socio-cultural exchanges [25-27]. However, many of these socio-cultural impacts are usually considered as external to the economic assessment of mega events due to the fact that a substantial motivation for the events is based on the economics [28]. Moreover, compared with economic impacts, socio-cultural impacts of mega events are less tangible and consequently more difficult to measure in the short term [29]. Deccio and Baloglu [30] further state that the association of socio-cultural impacts with negative factors such as alcoholism, prostitution, increase social tensions, commodification, congestion and security concerns further obscures the possible positive outcomes of such encounters.

Despite these shortcomings, it necessary to assess both sociocultural and other impacts of hosting mega events and consider the perceptions of local residents to the hosting of such events particularly because local support is essential to the successful organization of events and tourism in general. This is why this study has as its primary objective the evaluation of the 2010 FIFA World as sustainable tourism from the point of view of local residents in the Soshanguve community. This necessitates a review of literature on sustainable tourism development and mega events.

This paper is aimed at achieving the following goal and objectives:

Goals

The goal of this paper is to establish the extent to which the 2010 FIFA World cup conformed to sustainable tourism guidelines as perceived by residents of the Soshanguve community.

Objectives

• To review literature on sustainable tourism and mega events such as the FIFA World Cup.

• To undertake quantitative research on the perceptions of Soshanguve residents regarding the environmental, economic and socio-cultural impacts of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

• To draw conclusions on the perceptions of Soshanguve residents on the FIFA 2010 World Cup.

• To establish the main contributions of the findings of this study to the organisation of mega events such as the FIFA World Cup.

This study employed quantitative research methodology. A pool of forty questions was constructed with twenty percent of these requiring biographical information and eighty percent collecting data on the residents’ perceptions of various impacts of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The items included environmental, economic and socio-cultural impacts of tourism development. On a five point likert scale respondents were required to indicate whether they strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree or strongly disagree to the questions asked. To optimize the chances of including each resident of Soshanguve (the population), the data collection was done at the Soshanguve plaza (shopping complex) and the seventy five respondents randomly selected. The data collected was then captured on the SPSS statistical package.

Demographic profile of respondents

The gender profile of the respondents is almost balanced as 54.7 percent are males and 45.3 percent females. There is however a great contrast with the race profile as the blacks shows a high dominance. This is explained by the fact that the Soshanguve community was designed by the apartheid regime in South Africa to be a settlement area for black people. Hence the name Soshanguve is actually an abbreviation for four black ethnic groups: “SO” for Sothos, “SHA” for Shangans, “NGU” for Ngunis and “VE” for Vendas. Nevertheless, the interesting observation here is that seventeen years into the democratic dispensation in South Africa, the racial divide seems to be truly ebbing away as other race groups can be found almost everywhere (Tables 1 and 2).

Table 1: Gender.

Table 2: Race.

Most of the respondents are between the ages of 20–29 (53.3 percent), with the educational range of grade 8–12 (52 percent). This is rather surprising considering that the data was collected on a week day and one would have expected these learners to be at school (Tables 3 and 4).

Table 3: Age.

Table 4: Educational level.

Perceptions on environmental impacts

Perceptions on tourism impacts: Responses to the different aspects of the possible environmental impacts of the 2010 World cup seemed even across the board. When asked if the 2010 World Cup will result in an increase in traffic congestion, 46 percent of males either strongly disagreed or disagreed while 55 percent of females either strongly disagreed or disagreed. However, 34 percent of males agreed or strongly agreed that hosting the World Cup will increase traffic congestion, while 20 percent of the males took a neutral stance. This expression of near balanced opinion seems to run across all the questions in this section. 41 percent of males either agreed or strongly agreed that hosting the World Cup will result in increased littering in the community while only 29 percent of the females shared the same sentiment, that there would be increased littering in the community. As to whether the hosting the 2010 World cup would cause damage to the environment, 51 percent of males either strongly disagreed or disagreed while 61 percent of females felt the same. This can be interpreted to signify the respondents’ expression of uncertainty as to what to expect (Table 5).

Table 5: Perceptions on Environmental Impacts.

Perceptions on socio-cultural impacts: Unlike the absence of clear direction expressed on issues regarding environment impacts of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, there is a visible indication of direction expressed on the socio-cultural impacts. On issues such as impacts on residents’ pride in their city, prostitution, development of sport, crime rate and the preservation of local culture, most respondents strongly agree or agree that there will be a positive impact. However, many respondents still hang-around-the fence on issues such as understanding of other cultures and dealing with hooliganism (Table 6).

Table 6: Perceptions on Socio-Cultural Impacts.

Perceptions on economic impacts: On economic impacts, again there seems to be an indication that respondents know what to expect from the 2010 FIFA World cup. 66 percent of the males agree or strongly agree that hosting the World is a waste of tax payers’ money by South African authorities. Almost the same percentage of females (61 percent), also agree or strongly agree that hosting the World cup is a waste of tax payers’ money. Even more dramatic is the percentage of respondents who strongly agree that the 2010 FIFA World cup will lead to an increase in prices of products. Most respondents (71% males and 68% females) agree that the ticket prices are too expensive for locals (Table 7).

Table 7: Perceptions on Economic Impacts.

However, the respondents many respondents (64% males and 79% females) either agree or strongly agree that hosting the 2010 World Cup will attract more investment to South Africa. An even higher number of respondents (78% males and 82% females) either agree or strongly agree that South Africa will receive greater promotion as a tourist destination. Ironically, almost the same percentage of respondents agrees that investing in the World cup will divert resources from other projects. Looking into the future, most respondents agree or strongly agree (73% males and 58% females) that South Africa should bid to host the Olympic Games.

Match attendance

When asked if they were going to be present at any of the World cup matches, 66.7 percent of the respondents answered in the affirmative while 33.3 percent said they would not attend. Considering that this is the first time an African country hosts the World cup, it can be argued that a 33.3 percent non-participating rate is high (Table 8).

Table 8: Match attendance.

It can be concluded from this study that residents of the Soshanguve community were not well-informed about the environmental impacts of South Africa hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This is illustrated by the even spread of responses from strongly disagree to strongly agree and across all possible environmental impacts. This further illustrates a lack of direction as far as the residents are concerned.

At the socio-cultural level, it can be credibly concluded that residents of the Soshanguve community are quite proud of their country hosting the 2010 World Cup event. This is demonstrated by the more than 60 percent positive response to questions regarding pride in their city (Pretoria) and the enhanced image of South Africa following the successful hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

However, there is a general course for concern arising from the residents’ perceptions of the negative social impacts of the mega event. With most respondents either strongly agreeing or agreeing that hosting the World Cup will lead to an increase in incidences of crime and prostitution, one can conclude that residents of the Soshanguve community have little faith in the 201 World enhancing their community socially. Given the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa, it is surprising that respondents did not take a clear stance with regards to whether hosting the World cup will help decrease incidences of xenophobia in the country. 32 percent of males and 36 percent of females either strongly disagree or disagree that the World cup will decrease xenophobia. However, 17 percent of males and 15 percent of females remain neutral on the issue.

A more positive attitude is demonstrated on the economic impacts, apart from the uncertainty demonstrated on the ability of the national electricity supplier (ESKOM) to supply enough electricity during the 2010 FIFA World cup. It can therefore be concluded that the residents of Soshanguve community perceive the 2010 FIFA World cup contributing positively to the quality of their lives through job creation. Nonetheless, it is worrying to realize that many respondents perceive the event to be a waste of Tax payers’ money and FIFA as the only beneficiary.

The practical implication of this study is that the FIFA World cup does not fall within the realms of sustainable tourism from the perspective of Soshanguve residents for the following reasons:

• Not enough sensitization is done at the level of local communities on the possible environmental impacts of hosting the mega event.

• Hosting the World cup leads to an increase in various negative socio-cultural impacts such as crime and prostitution.

• Hosting the FIFA World cup does not lead to any convincing enhancement of local culture such as providing extra incentive for its preservation or fostering the understanding of other cultures.

• Economically, hosting the FIFA World cup is a waste of tax payers’ money, diverts public funds from other more worthy projects, leads to inflation and benefits only FIFA.

On the other hand, hosting the 2010 World cup by South Africa was good in boosting community pride, promoting sport, attracting investment and promoting South Africa as a tourist destination.

Finally, it can be recommended from the above implications that the following actions be taken to improve the sustainable tourism credentials of the FIFA World cup:

• FIFA and the host governments provide better education for local communities on the possible impacts (positive and negative) of hosting the tournament. Through this education, local people can capitalize on the opportunities offered by the event to improve their lives and equally work with other stakeholders to mitigate the negative impacts emanating from the event.

• Host governments should take more concrete measures to involve local people in the organization of the FIFA World cup event as only through this will local support are galvanized to into supporting the World cup. This will also help dissipate myths around gains and losses from the event.

• FIFA and the host governments should undertake visible projects within communities after the staging of the World cup. This will encourage future hosts of the event to know that the benefits or legacies of the event live on after the last whistle of the tournament is blown. This will help eradicate the impression FIFA goes with the benefits of the World cup, leaving the local communities to manage the negative impacts.