What sport is fast becoming a tourism drawcard in Africa?
According to Judy Lain, Wesgro’s Chief Marketing Officer, this sport has definitely gained popularity over the recent years, pulling in large crowds of locals and tourists coming to spectate.
The size of the crowd depends on how well the event is promoted and commercialized, according to the General Manager of the sports African Association. “Typically in Southern Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe have the biggest fan base for sevens.”
Rugby sevens in Southern and East Africa has gained much-deserved momentum over the recent years and, with it, drawing in more and more spectators, many of whom are international tourists.
Coralie van den Berg, General Manager of World Rugby African Association, Rugby Africa, explains that increasingly more tournaments are being developed by unions, especially in Southern and Easy Africa in partnership with sponsors and broadcasters and, in turn, are contributing to the enhanced popularity of the game.
This was reiterated by Glen Clement Sinkamba, Zambia Rugby Union President, in a statement: “Our partnerships with other unions across Africa have started yielding results.”
Van den Berg says the Cape Town Sevens, which is part of the World Series, sells out in a couple of hours, attracting huge crowds, with smaller events across Africa attracting various crowd sizes.
Further proof of this, was with the success of the recent Zambia International Sevens in September at the Polo Club in Lusaka, according to Sinkamba.
“The Safari Sevens tournament in Nairobi, Kenya, used to attract 20 000+ spectators,” says Van den Berg: “Sevens is hugely popular in Kenya.”
As for Uganda, Van den Berg says recently a sevens tournament between the Uganda Cranes and the French Military attracted over 10,000.
Van den Berg says a number of new sevens events have been launched in recent years in Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Lesotho, all of which have been successful.
In December, 2017, the City of Cape Town hosted the South African leg of the HSBC Rugby Sevens World Series, which fed millions of rands into Cape Town’s economy.
Enver Duminy, CEO of Cape Town Tourism spoke about the benefits of hosting events such as the HSBC Rugby Sevens World Series in an article published by Tourism Update in December last year, saying: “Visitors come to the city for major events, spending on flights, accommodation, food, car hire and other transport. In addition, many visitors stay on in the city after the event, often booking tours and purchasing arts and crafts.”
source: eTN
