The Telegraph is reporting that South Africa barely recouped 10 percent of the money spent on staging the 2010 World Cup. The country made a return of just £323m (R3,479,930,982) on the £3bn (R32,326,467,812) it spent on building stadiums and infrastructure for this summer's tournament, according to official figures. That's the equivalent of $508,108,135 relative to the $501,187,403,701 that was spent. The country predicted it would receive an initial boost of £570m (R6,141,886,362; $896,414,211) from tourists flocking to attend the international soccer tournament. However, the tournament failed to attract as many foreign visitors as expected. Marthinus van Schalkwyk, South Africa's tourism minister, said that just 309,000 foreign fans attended the tournament, compared with predictions of 450,000.
Sponsors and local businesses didn't fare any better. According to the article, John Saker, chief operating officer of KPMG Africa, said: "The big boost didn't happen. Businesses that directly served the World Cup did relatively well, but those without direct involvement struggled." That's an understatement. However, Saker said South Africa would continue to benefit from "word of mouth and goodwill for years to come." Word of mouth? Brazil, take note.
Read more at the Telegraph.