The contribution of a mega-event to the sustainable development of South African tourism

The objectives of the study were to determine the relevance and the management of the drivers that underlie the hosting of a mega-event aimed at promoting sustainable tourism development, in this case, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World CupTM that was held in South Africa in 2010. A web-based survey was constructed and 217 international academic and industry experts were invited to participate in a survey that was conducted six weeks prior to the commencement of the World Cup and one that was conducted six weeks after the ending of the event. A 24% response rate was received to the first survey and an 18% response rate to the second. Respondents regarded the strategic drivers contained within the constructs of socio-cultural, economic and environmental as relevant for the evaluation of the contribution of a mega-event to sustainable tourism development. In addition, a fourth construct viz. a managerial construct was also deemed valid in this regard. Performance related to this managerial construct indicated significant improvements against anticipated outcomes in the areas of managerial capacity development, learning optimisation, media management and achieved standards of safety and security