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Abstract
A nation's image is an important component of a successful tourism policy and since 1994 South Africa (SA) has embarked on a strategy of hosting major sport events to achieve various national goals, including projecting images of the ‘new SA’. This study investigated the role media coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup played in changing images associated with SA among a sample of US college students. Seventy-nine students participated in a one group pre-test post-test experiment. Two months before the World Cup, images of SA were found to be associated with sport, racial issues, parks and wildlife, Third World, and Nelson Mandela. Perceived risk (crime, disease, instability, etc.) as part of these images was moderately low. Six weeks after the World Cup, the significance of sport to SA's image had increased, images of Nelson Mandela, parks and wildlife, and Third World were stable, and racial images had decreased. Perceptions of SA as modern also increased. The number of matches watched had no effect on these images. Sport-related media (television and Internet coverage of the World Cup) was the most common sources of SA's post FIFA image. The results suggest that SA's strategy to reimage through sport appears to be working for these participants. The findings show that media coverage of major sport events may be quite influential and should be managed to achieve desired outcomes.