Imperial Holdings predicted on Wednesday that the 2010 FIFA World Cup, speeding to its end on the weekend, would have “good, long-term effects” on the country’s tourism business. “The World Cup has been a major promotional event for the country, putting South Africa on the map,” said Imperial car rental and tourism division chairperson Osman Arbee. Europcar is a car rental operator within the tourism division of the JSE-listed Imperial Holdings. “I feel confident that visitors will return home with the perception that South Africa is friendly, efficient and affordable,” said Europcar CEO Dawn Nathan-Jones. “We want them to revisit South Africa. That’s where we see the value in this major event – in repeat business.”

Europcar reported that it had experienced “huge demand” from foreign visitors for the World Cup. “We were sold out in Gauteng for most of the event period and on match days in the coastal regions,” said Nathan-Jones. The company also experienced a record number of GPS unit rentals. “We could not purchase units fast enough – the demand outweighed the supply,” noted Nathan-Jones. Europcar introduced services especially for World Cup renters. Multilingual staff were posted at all major airport branches, while stocks of navigation devices were increased and manpower was doubled at its 24-hour operated call centre.

Imperial tour operator, Springbok Atlas, was also kept busy during the global sports event. Springbok Atlas would have covered about two-million kilometres over the World Cup period by all the vehicles in the fleet, clocking more than 80 000 hours. In total, 250 000 passenger days would have been achieved – using 240 vehicles with an average 37 seat capacity over 28 days. Springbok Atlas was supplying and managing the transport arrangements for all 32 official teams in the World Cup. The Springbok Atlas team had been transporting soccer teams to and from matches, airports, hotels and soccer practices throughout South Africa, within its pool of 240 vehicles made available for the event.

Further, it had secured contracts to transport team support staff, families of the team members, VIP guests, supporters following teams, and official television broadcasters. Sixty-four coaches were brought into the country by Hyundai Automotive South Africa – an Imperial company – specifically for this project. An additional 24 coaches transported the host broadcasting services that broadcast matches, while 28 coaches were used for team supporters, catering for their transport and tourism needs, including airport transfers and day tours. Seventy additional drivers were sourced to operate the coaches during the World Cup period. “The World Cup has been extremely positive for the future of our business. Many tour operators had been quiet through the economic downturn in 2009, but we now foresee a new interest in South Africa from international tour operators following the World Cup,” said Springbok Atlas CEO Paddy Vella.