The next two years will mark a very busy time for South Africa. For starters, the country is hosting ASTA’s 2009 International Destination Expo in Sun City in March 2009, an event that is expected to bring 700 agents to the country—the largest number of agents in the destination at one time. In an earlier interview with Sthu Zungu, president of South Africa Tourism, North America, she stated that those who attend IDE will take part in a Fundi, or specialist, program. About 600 to 700 agents are expected to complete the program in a three-day span.

An even larger number of visitors are expected to visit the destination when it hosts the FIFA World Cup in Cape Town in 2010. To mark this event, a delegation from Cape Town and the Western Cape represented the destination at Soccerex, a business convention for world football, which was held in late November in Johannesburg. Nine matches are scheduled to take place in Cape Town, as well as the Final Draw in December 2009—where the final teams taking part in the tournament will be announced.

It appears the destination is well on its way to being able to accommodate this influx of visitors, as eight new hotels are being built leading up to the event and the city currently has 1,134 lodging establishments offering 21,094 beds.