One of the key attractions for tourists visiting South Africa is the small local craft markets where one can truly feel the creative sense of this diverse country. All sorts of traditional souvenirs and gifts can be found in these markets, from bead necklaces to jewellery, pottery, colourful fabrics, leather, home items, tableware, arts, sculpture, masks, paintings and much more. According to the local authorities there are more than 340,000 small local markets in the different cities of South Africa.
The 2010 World Cup will attract thousands of tourists, and especially for this occasion new vendor stalls are flourishing all around World Cup stadiums to commercially benefit from the biggest sporting event of the nation. Just outside the Durban Stadium area alone, new markets with 500 stalls are being installed along the beachfront to welcome the 70,000 people arriving for one of the World Cup semi-finals. These stalls must be located outside the FIFA area though, only World Cup sponsors such as Coca Cola will be allowed to sell their products inside.
South African vendors want to make sure they will be able to interact better with tourists, and to maximize their selling abilities a lot of them are learning and practising new languages even months before the World Cup finals. Even though English is one the 11 official languages of South Africa not all locals speak it, but with the tourist afflux just around the corner, vendors are taking advantage of the opportunity to learn. The government has set up classrooms all over the country where these people can attend to learn new languages. Except from English, some other targeted languages are French, Portuguese and Spanish.
World Cup 2010 - Related posts:
- South African National Anthem The 2010 World Cup is right around the corner and on June 11 the whole South African nation will sing...
- South African airline ad banned by FIFA South African budget airline Kulula had to withdraw its advertisements for the 2010 World Cup after being contacted by FIFA...
- Gunshots fired at South African bus Gunshots were fired this week on one of the new South African buses in the city of Johannesburg. Fortunately nobody...
- 90 days before South Africa With just 90 days separating us from the opening ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, preparations...
- South Africa information The host of the Fifa 2010 World Cup South Africa is a country of 50 million people located in the...