World Cup 2010: South African airports prepared for fans
In the run up to the World Cup in South Africa, the country went through several changes and up gradation work in their transport facilities to bear the load of the many hundreds and thousands of tourists’ that will be coming in for the 30 day celebration of football. And now that the World Cup is only a few days away, here’s an analysis of what fans can expect as they approach the landing strips of South Africa.
At the Wonderboom airport in Tshwane/Pretoria, South African Minister of Transport, Sibusiso Ndebele reflected on the importance of transport during the tournament. Although not normally used as a commercial airport, Wonderboom will provide a service to fans in Tshwane during the World Cup. Some of the improvements include refurbished arrival and departure lounges as well as work on the parking facilities. Wonderboom is not the only airport that underwent improvements. All of South Africa's major airports having been upgraded in the last one year in anticipation of the largest number of people ever to step into South Africa.
OR Tambo International Airport (Johannesburg) serves as the main International airport in South Africa. Commonly known as the Tambo International Airport, it works like a transport hub for the country with around 16 million passengers (and growing) passing through the Johannesburg airport on a yearly basis. The addition of the second multi-story parking bay will go a long way in accommodating the increase in passengers. The introduction of bay detection technology has also vastly improved the ease with which passengers can find parking, with green or red lights indicating whether a bay is open or not. The new central terminal buildings completion cost the South African government with a bill of Rand 2.2 billion.
Cape Town International Airport (Cape Town), with over six million passengers passing through each year and with this figure set to double by 2015, is certainly preparing itself for the growth in tourism, both during and after the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The refurbishments involved the construction of a new central terminal building at a cost of Rand 1.5 million. The Bloemfontein Airport serves as one of South Africa's smaller airports. Bloemfontein Airport handles around 250,000 passengers per year. The runway received attention with a Rand 121 million upgrade to the tarmac, which should see a significant increase in usage during the World Cup. Work on the refurbishment and expansion of the terminal building to the value of Rand 46 million also took place.
Port Elizabeth Airport (Port Elizabeth) will be working as a host city airport for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, with a number of group games as well as one of the quarter-finals will be played at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium. The Eastern Cape coastal city can expect a large increase in visitors during the World Cup as tourism will receive a huge boost and more people will begin to visit the beautiful coastal city. To accommodate the expected increase in traffic, ACSA completed the refurbishment of the runway to the tune of Rand 68 million. Other airports include La Mercy in Durban, where work went quite well on the brand new Rand 7.5 billion airport which has taken on the services of the existing Durban Airport. And with a new terminal, Polokwane International Airport will also be able to handle around 400 passengers per hour.
The South African government has clearly spent very large amounts of money in anticipation of the 2010 World Cup. The boost in tourism for the country as a result of this influx of people from all around the world will develop a softer and cleaner image of the country. This of course explains why so much money has been spent to accommodate the fans who will be flying in. Thus, it is leaving a good impression on the people of the world which is the key to South Africa improving their tourism for many years after the World Cup. South Africa is using this as a chance to attract people to not only come and watch the beautiful game, but stay in their beautiful hotels and resorts and eat their wonderful food. So hats off to South Africa, for taking strides to make the lives of the fans much easier.
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