The World Cup is set to be a major financial disappointment for the host nation South Africa, after it became clear that international fans have decided to stay away and their tickets are being sold cheaply to South Africans.
Less than three weeks before kick-off on 11 June, South Africa’s revamped airports and spruced-up cities are staging an impressive show of readiness for the arrival of international fans – although now it seems there may be half a million fewer than expected.
Organisers have revised visitor estimates – and thus tourism income – down from an initial 750,000 to 200,000. Airlines, hotels and guesthouses are slashing their prices. On 15 April, hundreds of thousands of cut-price match tickets went on sale in South Africa, in a bid to fill 3.2m seats at 64 matches. At the taxpayers’ expense, municipalities and state-owned companies such as Telkom have bought thousands of tickets to give away to employees or offer as prizes.
Full story: World Cup blow for South Africa as foreign fans stay at home | Football | The Observer