The economic impact of the 2014 FIFA World Cup

Prof Kamilla Swart from the Tourism and events Management Department and Dr Brendon Knott from the Sport Management Department formed part of a team of researchers studying the economic impact of and spectator behaviour during the 2014 fIfa World Cup tournament. The CPUT researchers, along with the rest of the research team, spent two weeks in rio de Janeiro where they fielded surveys among spectators and conducted interviews with representatives of national and local organisers.

The questionnaires were available in Portuguese, english, french, German, Spanish, Korean, Italian, russian, arabic and farsi, and more than 6000 were completed. The data was collected in match precincts and public viewing areas in five designated host cities, namely rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Porto allegre and Salvador.

“Given that the 2014 World Cup was hosted by another emerging country, Brazil, this research study has important implications for several stakeholder groups, including fIfa and future World Cup host cities and sponsors,” said Prof Swart, who in 2010 led a similar study when South africa hosted this event.