The 2010 FIFA World Cup contributed significantly to the more than 1.4 million tourists that came to the country between 1st June and mid-July 2010. Most of the tourists were first time visitors to South Africa.
According to the Department of Home Affairs, this was a 25 percent increase in the number of international visitors from the same time last year.
Records show that international visitors had come mainly from Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Malawi and Zambia followed by the USA, UK, Germany, Australia, Brazil and Mexico, to witness their teams battle it out for World Cup glory.
Some of the initiatives implemented by Home Affairs to facilitate the smooth movement of people in and out of the country will remain in place.
The department had implemented measures to lend support to the World Cup. Some of these included its Movement Control System (MCS) in 34 air and land ports of entry, the Advance Passenger Processing (APP) system and the deployment of Airline Liaison Officers (ALOs) at eight strategic hubs abroad, namely Nairobi, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Dubai, Frankfurt, Lagos, London and Mumbai to monitor the movement of travellers into South Africa.
Furthermore, 34 air and land ports of entry were prioritised including OR Tambo, Cape Town and King Shaka International Airports for daily monitoring, provision of early warning signals and the implementation of contingency planning for the world cup.
The success of the MCS was widely applauded and is now expected to be rolled out elsewhere.
"The Movement Control System will be extended to the rest of the ports of entry so in the end all the ports of the country will have the same system," Minister Dlamini Zuma said.
The APP System saw 43 "undesirables" being prohibited from boarding flights to get to South Africa.
The airline liaison officers deployed at international airports also had a hand in preventing 188 people from entering the country.
Those denied entry were either in possession of fraudulent visas, travel documents and stamps or had failed to meet immigration requirements.
SA – The Good News & BuaNews
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