Renown soccer expert and 2010 FIFA World Cup™ Ambassdor, Gary Bailey, who has himself been involved with the last two World Cups, recently addressed a business audience in Gauteng on facts and figures around World Cup expectations. City Views brings you his guidelines and tips.

• It has been legislated that schools will be closed for almost over four weeks during the World Cup – Think about what you’re going do with your kids;
• Air tickets to Cape Town (for example) may cost about R8 000 per seat as some flights will have to leave the same night after a game due to accommodation problems in some places around the country. Flights will operate 24 hours. Expect NOISE. Expect TRAFFIC around airports at all hours;
• Fresh veggies and fruit will be scarce, if not even unavailable, during this time. For the World Cup in Germany, these had to be imported;
• Traffic will increase by about 30% at the times of the games as fans go to stadiums, Fan Fests and even Public Viewing Areas (PVAs). The best time to fly will therefore be while matches are on!
• Road areas around stadiums will be closed off;
• It is expected that 550 000 people will be travelling to/from matches and 100 000 per match day… expect considerable delays on match days;
• There will not be parking available at airports – so arrange drop offs;
• Close to 5 000 buses will be operational countrywide and there will be restrictions on truckers/hauliers, etc., so you need to plan with clients – especially regarding containers needing haulage; and
• “Fan Fests” will be a huge attraction and traffic to/from those areas will be congested. At one Fan Park in Germany in 2006, 500 000 people pitched up.

Along with being an ex-Manchester United and England goalkeeper, South African Gary Bailey is a 2010 FIFA World Cup Ambassador, and together with ex-Bafana Bafana goalkeeper, Andrew Arendse, run the informative website Gameplan 2010.

Related posts:

1. Impact of Road Closures During 2010 FIFA World Cup
2. Cape Town’s World Cup ends on high note
3. The FIFA World Cup Fan: understanding who’s coming to town
4. Understanding Commercial Restriction Zones (CRZs) and Exclusion Zones
5. Fan Parks and Fun in Cape Town