World Cup organizers have cut their estimate of foreign visitors to South Africa from the original forecast of 450,000 down to around 200,000.
On a more positive front, they saidFriday that tickets for 29 of 64 matches are no longer available and fans had bought 130,000 tickets in the final phase of ticket sales. Over-the-counter sales touched off World Cup fever and crashedthe FIFA computer ticket system. Original plans were to only sell tickets online, but they were scrapped because many South African fans don’t have the capability of making online transactions.
Organizing chief Danny Jordaan said the South Africa World Cup couldn’t compare to the finals four years ago in Germany, to which fans from other European countries could travel on game day. “South Africais a long-haul destination,” he said, “so we expect fans to come in and stay for a long period and therefore the [economic] impact will be greater.”