When playing sport makes economic sense

I have a confession to make. I don't particularly follow football. I haven't anything against the game. Like others, I take a pleasant interest from the side and I can certainly make light conversation about major games when needed, but I can't get all riled up about it.

Perhaps I should be whispering this, because I am in South Africa, which is due to host a variety of top sporting events including the Fifa World Cup in 2010. It is the first time these tournaments have been held on African soil. Here, sport is very much on the agenda.

I've been attending Africa's largest tourism conference INDABA where the region's governments and companies come together to exchange notes and sell tours and trips to each other. Next year South Africa hopes the number of visitors here will break 10 million tourists for the first time.

As to the question will South Africa be ready in time, I add another burning issue: will all this football help South Africa stave off the worst effects of the great recession and recover quicker than most? And to both questions the answer seems to be yes.

As Africa's local economic superpower, what happens here is of crucial importance.

Thankfully, South Africa's economy is strong, although when official numbers come out later this month the country will technically be in recession. Unlike the northern hemispheric countries playing deep in recession, South Africa has balls in the air that will help it through the next 12 months. From the Indian Cricket Premier League to the British and Irish Lions Tour and of course two major soccer tournaments, high-spending sports fans will be drawn to the country to support their teams and help stave off the worst effects of a recession.

In the meantime, the government continues to spend billions of dollars across the country on the infrastructure needed to support these tournaments. There are deadlines to be met and if officials are to be believed the country is on target to ensure all will be in place for next June's World Cup.

Throughout this year and into the next, the government will continue pump-priming the economy to ensure world-class sporting tournaments will bring in extra business. The spending will continue.

- Tune in to CNN International each weekday at 9pm, UAE time, to catch Richard's show, Quest Means Business.