Since serving as one of 10 host cities to the 2010 FIFA World Cup \u2013 an event that attracted more than 3 million people to South Africa and generated billions of dollars in economic impact \u2013 the City of Mbombela has wanted to develop a sustainable plan to attract tourists. To help with the conceptual infrastructure, the municipality\u2019s executive mayor, Cllr Cathy Dlamini, has enlisted the help of tourism experts from UCF\u2019s Rosen College of Hospitality Management.<\/p>\n
\u201cEver since Mbombela had a taste of tourism with the World Cup, they\u2019ve wanted to figure out how create a sustainable plan for it,\u201d said Dr. Abraham Pizam, dean of Rosen College. \u201cWe wanted to show them how we do that, so we invited Mbombela officials to Orlando.\u201d<\/p>\n
During their September visit to Orlando, Mbombela officials toured theme parks and the Orange County Convention Center, where Pizam explained how similar attractions could help complement Mbombela\u2019s relatively new soccer stadium and Kruger National Park \u2013 one of the largest wildlife parks in the world.<\/p>\n
The visit resulted in an invitation for Rosen College administrators to speak at the 2012 Local Economic Development Summit, held Jan. 26-27 in Mbombela. In addition to Pizam, others who spoke on how to attract tourists were Fevzi Okumus, the department chair, Professor Ron Logan, and Orlando hotelier Harris Rosen, the college\u2019s chief benefactor.<\/p>\n
At the end of the summit, Pizam signed a memorandum of understanding that Rosen College will help with the conceptual planning of a convention center and tourist attraction in Mbombela.<\/p>\n
In addition to helping with the development plan, Rosen College will also work with Tshwane University of Technology to exchange ideas and information that will benefit both schools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since serving as one of 10 host cities to the 2010 FIFA World Cup \u2013 an event that attracted more than 3 million people to South Africa and generated billions of dollars in economic impact \u2013 the City of Mbombela has wanted to develop a sustainable plan to attract tourists. To help with the conceptual infrastructure, the municipality\u2019s executive mayor,…","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":32903,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[1410,6853,2095,4052,4068],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-32875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-colleges","tag-abraham-pizam","tag-fevzi-okumus","tag-harris-rosen","tag-ron-logan","tag-rosen-college-of-hospitality-management"],"yoast_head":"\n