The project, commissioned by Cathsseta (Culture, Art, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Education and Training Authority), aims to identify the skills development needs to be prioritised within the new National Sports Tourism Strategy. As the debate grows around sustaining government’s investment in the infrastructure and facilities developed to host international events, so too does the need to undertake actions that will enable the country to be globally competitive as a sports tourism destination.

South Africa has been recognised for its friendly people and high levels of service for major events such as the 2010 FIFA World Cup and other international events. However, there is concern about the lack of a long term strategy or approach to retain the skills of people trained for specific major events. From there the need for a skills development strategy that will provide a pool of skilled individuals to be made available for all major events that are hosted in the country. The recommendations emanating from the project was presented to industry stakeholders for discussion at the annual Sport and Events Tourism Exchange in Durban.

Dr Felicité Fairer-Wessels

Ms Elizabeth Kruger