How AFCON Helped Promote Côte d’Ivoire, South African Tourism, 2023, By Survey
A survey conducted by Dr. Kweku Adedayo Tandoh, Chief Executive Officer at Sport Connect Consultancy Limited shows that African Cup Of Nations (AFCON) helped promote Côte d’Ivoire as a tourist destination in 2023 according to 97% of surveyed fans.
98% said hosting had a positive effect on the country’s image. Domestic travel mattered and the tourism effect was not limited to international visitors. The tournament created destination exposure that can support future leisure and business travel.
Based on a case study on building a sports-tourism ecosystem in South Africa, the survey says “South Africa reported more than 29,000 people travelling specifically for sport in the first six months of 2023, contributing about R600m.
Cape Town reported more than 1.3 million people attending or participating in its top 40 events in 2023.”
The strategic lesson is that a year-round event portfolio can sustain hotels, restaurants, transport, retail and attractions and sports tourism therefore becomes a destination-management tool, not simply an event-management function.
Lessons from the African evidence are that events that fit your tourism calendar and destination strengths should be targeted.
In building, there should be investment in infrastructure that remains useful to residents, sport and business after the event and in packaging, sport should be sold together with culture, food, entertainment, shopping and attractions.
For marketing, broadcasters, influencers and digital media should be used to tell the destination story before, during and after the event.
To have a legacy, visitor numbers, length of stay, hotel occupancy, spend, jobs, SME revenue, investment, media reach and repeat tourism should be measured.
