Tournament kicks off multi-billion rand events season for CT

The HSBC SVNS captains in Cape Town. Source: SA Rugby

The Blitzboks weren’t the only winners at the past weekend’s HSBC SVNS event when 75 000 people poured into Cape Town’s DHL Stadium over two days.

Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security in Cape Town JP Smith said, while demographic data is not yet available, historically 30% of people attending the event come from outside of Cape Town.

The event, first staged in Cape Town in 2015 (coincidentally the last time the Boks won at home), has grown to become a major sporting and tourism event in the Cape Town calendar. In its first year, the event contributed R539 million (€29m) to Cape Town’s gross domestic product, growing to R765 million (€ 41m) in 2017. This grew to R941 million (€ 50.6m) in 2019.

In 2019, the tournament expanded to include the women’s game but was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID. In 2022, Cape Town also hosted the Rugby World Cup Sevens event.

World Rugby has also announced that Cape Town will be one of the host cities for the HSBC SVNS Challenger tournament in 2025 with back-to-back events in Cape Town on the weekends of March 1-2 and 7-8. All six global rugby regions will be represented by 12 male and 12 female teams playing for promotion into the HSBC SVNS league.

The annual SVNS rugby weekend in December kicks off a series of major sporting events attracting thousands of people into the city each year. Smith said the seven biggest events – some within the next few months – generate R5 billion for the local economy.

The events include the Cape Town MET (February), Cape Town Cycle Tour (March) and Two Oceans Marathon (April).

“Collectively, these events attracted around 65 000 people in 2024 with around 40% of attendees and/or participants coming from outside of Cape Town. The Two Oceans Marathon attracted around 9 000 visitors from 88 countries and the Cycle Tour 2 355 from 46 countries,” Smith said.

“The importance of events to the local economy cannot be overstated. Events have become a great catalyst not only for tourism growth but for sectors in the value chain including retail, transportation, security, logistics, equipment rental and production, among others.”