Pretoria - As South Africans try to figure out how to deal with post euphoria depression, Tourism Minsiter Marthinus van Schalkwyk, says the country should be proud of hosting a successful World Cup tournament.
In an interview on radio 702 this morning, van Schalkwyk said South Africa has pulled off what many said couldn't be done; a soccer World Cup that filled stadiums and gave thousands of fans a party they won't forget.
"South Africans should be really proud today," he said.
The month-long tournament, the world's most-watched sporting event, ended on Sunday with a victory for Spain at Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg - but the real winners are the South Africans from all corners who united, waved their flags and sang Waka Waka.
Foreign visitors to the competition have been numbered to be more than half a million.
Van Schalkwyk says his department will immediately start up follow up campaigns- to keep the momentum going.
He said they will be working on lobbying tourists to stay longer and while a special programme to highlight and market other provinces either than Gauteng and the Western Cape- which attracted more tourists - is also planned.
The department is also looking into how they can accommodate low budget tourists- which he admitted has been neglected in the past.
"The World Cup has shown that people can visit the country and have an affordable holiday and an unforgettable experience," van Schalkwyk said.
According to the minister the country is now exposed to the untraditional tourist market - such as the Latin American and eastern European countries.
"Our work is cut out for us and we are looking forward to record arrival of numbers for this year as well as hopefully the next two years."
Government has spent billions trying to lobby visitors into the country and according to van Schalkwyk they will work even harder to host other major sporting events.
He made reference to the country's intention of bidding for the Olympics and other sporting events such as the Commonwealth games.
Judging by the response from celebrities who visited the country during the tournament - the department of tourism's job should be easy. British Princes William and Harry, hip-hop artist K'Naan, and singer R Kelly -were some of the celebrities that were in the country for the tournament.
On social networking sites - Twitter and Facebook many said they found the country to be a very different place to what they had imagined it would be.
Singer Akon declared his love for the country and the continent by posting video shots of different locations around South Africa.
"South Africa rocks, this is the place to be," he said on Twitter while on his departure R Kelly said "Thank You S. Africa."
South Africa also got the thumbs up from international leaders, such as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Salva, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Jan Peter Balkenende, President of the Gabon and African Union representative Ali Ondimba Bongo, among others, for being good hosts. And FIFA President Sepp Blatter is also expected to share his impressions when he addresses an international media conference this afternoon to wrap up the tournament.
