APA-Johannesburg (South Africa) South Africa’s Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the 2010 FIFA World Cup on Thursday described the latest figures pointing to an increase in the number of people visiting South Africa since the beginning of the month as encouraging.
The LOC said this as immigration authorities announced that more than 450,000 foreign visitors have visited South Africa since the beginning of June.
Home Affairs Deputy Minister Malusi Gigaba said 456,423 people who arrived between 1 and 13 June identified themselves as having come for the World Cup tournament.
The organisers believe that more visitors would come as the tournament gets more exciting.
LOC spokesperson Rich Mkhondo said the figures were encouraging, considering that the event was only in its first week.
"It’s very exciting for us considering that the number has passed our expectations and we are hoping that more people will be coming to the country to watch the event," Mkhondo said.
In the build up to the World Cup, organisers estimated the number of people who were likely to visit the country to 500,000.
But as fears that the recession could discourage most people from travelling, the number drastically dropped to just 300,000.
Mkhondo said many people had probably realised that all the "things" that were said about South Africa, including fears about crime, were probably exaggerated.
NM/nm/APA
2010-06-17
