Pelé's Africa warning draws sound advice from SA football boss

The little saga this week involving comments by Brazilian football god Pelé about issues with security in Africa ahead of the 2010 World Cup is worth noting not only for the obvious parallels with Brazil’s own issues for the 2014 Cup but also for the response by South African Football Association (SAFA) President Kirsten Nematandani (for a marginally less diplomatic response check out this). The comments related to the serious incident involving an attack on the Togo national team in Angola during the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations tournament, with Pelé’s quite simple assertion that the episode would have repercussions for South Africa 2010 security drawing a rapid reply from Nemetandani that “Angola is a far way from South Africa” and that “people must remember that Africa has 52 countries.”

Brazilian Football Confederation bosses take note, as a similar concept applies to the 2014 Cup: just as South Africa has distanced itself from troubled nations in the same neighbourhood to avoid being caught up in negative incidents and stereotypess, so too should Brazilian host cities distance themselves from the country’s chief source of negative images: drugs and violence in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Despite Rio’s obvious position as the centrepiece of 2014, which will include a second World Cup final on the hallowed turf of Maracanã, the other 11 host cities and hundreds of tourist destinations far away from the infamous slums will, combined, play a far greater role than Rio alone. Indeed, with 90% of the matches to be played in cities other than Rio, a good portion of visitors and certainly many locals will not go anywhere near the city during the event.

That’s certainly not to say that the other host cities do not have problems of their own, however there is nothing really rivalling Rio’s dilemmas in terms of open violence, and the likes of Curitiba, Natal, Belo Horizonte and Porto Alegre boast some of the highest standards of living in Latin America. As such, convincing worried potential visitors that Rio's problems are a long way from their tranquil, tourist-friendly settings should certainly be on the agendas of host city and state governments as the 2014 Cup approaches.

Events driving big improvements for tourists

Beyond the construction delays, political disputes and miscellaneous problems currently affecting many World Cup 2014 infrastructure projects, there is at least one aspect of the hosting equation that looks well on track: tourism. It is no secret that Brazil has all the makings of a global superpower in this area and the key decision makers seem to be well aware of the need and opportunity to use the Cup and Olympics to harness this often raw potential and improve the country’s ability to cater for all shapes, sizes and budgets.

There have been plenty of smart moves made already, such as the ‘Olá, Turista!’ program offering English and Spanish language courses for hospitality workers in host cities (145,000 pre-enrolments to this point significantly exceeding initial expectations), the launch of various information portals and online resources focused on Cup tourism, the ‘Aquarela 2020’ federal government study to define international marketing aims, objectives and strategies over the next decade, and the freeing up of BNDES (National Bank of Economic Development) credit specifically for tourism and hotel developments.

All in all, Brazil looks well placed to turn itself into a much more tourist friendly destination over the coming years, great for the Cup and Olympics but, more importantly, priceless in terms of the country’s international standing long after the two events have moved on.

Electoral politics force cuts to Cup budget

R$1.8 billion earmarked for spending on the 2014 World Cup has been stripped from Brazil's 2010 Budget in line with demands by the Democrat party, which maintains that only projects with political interests will be affected by the move. Democrat leader Ronaldo Caiado said that only amendments made by the government at the final hour have been declined, mainly because they involved political point-scoring, and that all other spending previously laid out will be maintained, such that the 2014 Cup will not suffer any delays.

Federal Deputy Geraldo Magela, instigator of the rejected amendments, said the decision will affect non-core projects that should already be underway, such as training centre developments and security upgrades, but will not have an impact on the realisation of the event.