Hosting the Commonwealth or Olympic Games would allow South Africa to access a greater share of the global sports tourism market, valued at between R2 trillion and R6 trillion, and also better position the country for tourism and inward investment, according to Grant Thornton. 
Despite the capital outlay to stage the Games, the many positive spin-offs and brand building benefits are simply huge, says Gillian Saunders, Head of Advisory Services at Grant Thornton Johannesburg and Global Leader: Hospitality and Tourism for Grant Thornton International. 
The eThekwini Municipality last week revealed that it was tabling a formal bid for Durban to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Durban’s decision to bid is yet to be ratified by national government, but SASCOC is already behind the bid.
Saunders advises that for SA, KwaZulu Natal and Durban to maximise these benefits, governments must determine their overall objectives in hosting the Games, implement an appropriate plan to attain these and then measure whether it has viably achieved these objectives or not. 
According to Saunders, hosting either the Commonwealth or Olympic Games would significantly boost Durban’s profile as a South African, African and global city which would lead to further large event and sports tourism opportunities for the region down the line. “Durban has a different status to Cape Town or Johannesburg and hosting such a global event would certainly boost its reputation on the world stage.”
However, Saunders cautions against trying to host both events within two years of each other as some senior government officials have suggested. 
“To achieve maximum benefit it is best to have at least an 8 to 10-year gap between such mega events. Besides the cost implications, 10 years is about right time to reap the rewards of the international exposure, local infrastructure development and civic/national pride and cohesion that these events generate,” she said. “Competing bids for a one-city, multiple sports code event in a similar time period also might be viewed unfavourably by the Commonwealth and the IOC.”   
Apart from hosting mega events, however, Saunders said the country, and destinations such as cities, needed a cohesive multi-year sports event plan that factored in not only the mega events but all other levels of events from small local events, to national and regional as well as smaller international events.