2010: A marketing opportunity

Barak Geffen, Executive Director of Sotheby's International Realty in South Africa, says: "There is a lot to be learned from the Greek Olympic experience on how best to sell South Africa as a desirable country and etch ourselves into the minds of tourists and investors for a long time to come."

Geffen says that Greece did not fully capitalise on the Olympics to promote itself and its property market to the extent that former Olympic host cities Barcelona and Sydney did - and lost out on some the benefits of hosting a major international event: "The key learning is that Barcelona and Sydney went out of their way to make themselves outsider and investor friendly and strongly promote themselves through a fantastic marketing effort as a great place to buy a second home.

"And the Spanish in particular are probably the best in the world at selling their own property and the sensual and relaxed Spanish lifestyle.

"This has translated into a massive job creation and social upliftment through increased tourism and a very favourable country perception. Just think if South Africa could increase its visitors by tens of millions a year to get close to the number of people who visit Spain each year; we would have an incredible success story for job and wealth creation. Around 60 000 UK citizens bought a home in Spain in 2003."

Geffen says when Sydney hosted the Olympics in 2000, they pushed not just Sydney as a city but the whole of Australia as a desirable place to tour, live and own property: "There was a unified strategy between the government, the tourist board and the property industry. We can't afford to just promote the cities that will host World Cup games. We also need to promote the true spirit of South Africa as a highly desirable investment friendly and stable country."

Geffen says SA property prices are likely to receive a major fillip from 2010 - if the World Cup is a success: "Paris property prices escalated by as much as 55% over a one-year period before and after the 2002 World Cup in France and properties across the city made astronomical gains with apartments close to some of the stadia rocketing by over 100% over the same period.

"And some neglected neighbourhoods were completely rejuvenated. The same sort of boost will happen in SA too because, although we have had a good run, our property is still undervalued in global terms and the macroeconomic outlook is very favourable."

Geffen notes that hosting an Olympic Games or World Cup encourages urban regeneration and is usually accompanied by an improvement in facilities, transport links and overall infrastructure: "For example, the R7-billion Gautrain high-speed service between Johannesburg and Pretoria will certainly be completed in time for the 2010 World Cup, creating a wealth corridor and increased property values across both cities.

"However most of the benefits come in the form of multiplier effects of each rand spent on all goods and services in the economy leading up to, during and after the event. The increased health of the economy will have the biggest overall effect on property prices."