Mozambique prepares to milk the World Cup cash cow

South Africa will be the hosting nation of one of the biggest sporting events in the world when it welcomes the FIFA World Cup in 2010. The last host, Germany, set a fine example of how a country can benefit from hosting the tournament, and South Africa isn’t about to let anything slip through unnoticed that could mar expectations.

It’s not only South Africa that’s preparing for the flow of over 300,000 tourists that will swoop into the area for the tournament. Neighbouring Mozambique is taking advantage of the fact that its capital, Maputo is only a few hours drive from one of the venues at Nelspruit and is a mater of a 6 hour drive to Johannesburg, where the all important opening and closing matches will be played.

The country plans to spend $600 million on casinos, hotels and other leisure facilities to squeeze a profit from the visitors. One wouldn’t think a country like Mozambique would have $600 mil to drop on a footy tourney but the small nation has been seeing an economic boom in recent years, and sees this as a worthwhile investment.

The country is seeing 2007 turn out to be its best year in decades for tourism, and the former Portuguese colony hopes that this trend will continue and the guaranteed numbers for the World Cup will surely aid in spreading word of mouth about Mozambique as a tourist destination.