Sport event brings up South Africa infrastructure issues

29 June 2009

When the final whistle blew at the Confederations Cup in South Africa, not only did it result with sporting champions, it also brought up issues about the country's infrastructure and ability to cope as an international host.

The country's air capacity was stretched to the limit with around 35,000 fans visiting. British travel agent Tom Corcoran told the BBC around a third of customers lost their luggage.

He noted the tour companies are used to dealing with business travellers with hand luggage, but the tourists at the sporting event were coming with 20 kg suitcases each.

"The airlines seemed to think there was too much luggage for the planes so they had to leave bags behind," Mr Corcoran said to the British news provider.

Even though there was only around a tenth of the number of passengers that are expected at next year's world cup, it was still "chaos", he concluded.

Furthermore, there were problems with the park and ride service, as well as getting fans into the stadium.

Category: Transport