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Abstract
Africa is generally perceived by those living outside the continent as a risky destination for tourism. Many factors influence this perception, some real and some imagined. South Africa is the continent's leading international tourism destination and to maintain this industry it must manage perceptions of travel-related risk which can negatively influence destination choice. Towards this end, South Africa has pursued and hosted a variety of sporting mega events including the Rugby and Cricket World Cups and the 2010 FIFA World Cup with the aim of “reimaging through sport”. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of the FIFA World Cup on the perception of risk associated with travel to South Africa, knowledge of South Africa, perceived level of development, interest in traveling to South Africa, and related travel motivations and constraints. A repeated measures design was used whereby a paired sample of US college students was surveyed before and after the FIFA World Cup. The post-test also measured level of involvement with the World Cup as fans. Results suggest the World Cup did influence perceptions of South Africa. The discussion furthers our understanding of tourism development and promotion in areas of the world perceived as risky.