Assessment of the socio-economic contributions of sport tourism events to the business entities around Mandela National Stadium
Abstract
The study was conducted to assess‟ socio economic contributions of sports tourism events to the business entities around Mandela National Stadium. It was guided by the following objectives; profiling and documenting the sports tourism events and business entities; examining the contributions of sports tourism events to the developments of business entities and assessing the challenges faced by the business entities while exploiting the socioeconomic opportunities of sports tourism events around Mandela National Stadium. Data was collected using a questionnaire, interview guide and analyzed using SPSS version 16 to obtain frequencies and tables for interpretation.
The established business entities around Mandela National Stadium included Hotels/Bars and Lounges, Super markets, Art and craft Shop, Transport Service Providers, Restaurants. The socio economic contributions of sports tourist events included increased income levels connections/interaction, increased customer base, Increased product market, image building, and idea sharing. The study further established that congestion/high traffic jam, price fluctuation, seasonality, high taxes, insecurity, high competition and limited market, affected the increased socio economic contribution to business entities around the stadium.
In light of these challenges, the study recommended the following to enhance the socio economic contributions. These include reduced taxes, increased number of sports activities, reducing the cost of parking and diversifying the transport network such as train service to increase stadium access.