PhD researcher invited to speak at South African Parliament

Page published: 8 March 2011

PhD researcher Brendon Knott speaking to the South African Parliament

A PhD student from Bournemouth University (BU) has been invited to present his ongoing research into sports tourism events to the South African Parliament.

Brendon Knott presented his work at the Tourism Summit for the Tourism Portfolio Committee of the South African Parliament in March.

The presentation was based on the current MPhil/PhD study that Brendon is undertaking through the School of Tourism with Professor Alan Fyall and Dr Ian Jones.

The presentation, entitled 'The nation-branding legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and implications for future sport tourism events', highlighted the importance of sport and mega-events as a nation branding platform and he presented selected findings from surveys conducted among international sport tourists to South Africa during the World Cup in June/July 2010.

Brendon's presentation also gave the committee recommendations on the use of future mega-events, other smaller and home-grown events, as well as other sport platforms (such as teams and venues) that could be used to leverage the nation-branding impact of the 2010 event for the country.

The session chair noted that it was a 'powerful' presentation and it led to a lively discussion on the importance of nation-branding within tourism. The discussion group highlighted the need for greater collaboration and co-ordination between government departments as the responsibility for nation-branding is a shared one.

Brendon said: "It was a privilege to be invited to speak at the Summit, especially to policy and decision-makers within the tourism industry, and they made me feel very welcome. I really appreciated the lively and intelligent discussion that followed my presentation. The chairman indicated that the nation-branding imperative would be placed on the agenda for further discussion by the Department of Tourism and a recommendation would be made for this discussion to include other departments that are also key brand stakeholders.

"Following my presentation, the Minister of Tourism made a public release of tourism figures for the past year. The highly positive figures further emphasised the tourism impact and legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup for South Africa."