Johannesburg — Fan parks will ensure more than a million people come to South Africa, despite the limited tickets available for matches at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Speaking at the Soccerex seminar, Football Academic at Liverpool University, Dr Rogan Taylor highlighted the importance of public viewing spaces and fan parks during the world cup.

"Less than 10 years ago, the host country would have advised people not to travel if they did not have tickets. But now everybody comes, ticket or no tickets," he said.

He said up to a million visitors were expected in South Africa and many would stay longer.

"The focus will be in South Africa in the months leading both up to and after the world cup and people will stay much longer in South Africa," he said.

Mr Taylor further noted the value of hosting the world cup was beyond monetary value.

The Soccerex seminar, which was held at the Sandton Convention centre over the last two days, was aimed at discussing what business opportunities will be presented by the football Soccerex expo to be held in November.

Soccerex is the largest international business to business football exhibition, giving small and big enterprises business opportunities.

The event will take place in Sandton for the next three years starting from November after previously being held in Dubai for five years.

The British High Commissioner, Paul Boateng, expressed his belief that South Africa would host a successful world cup.

"I have no doubt this is going to be an incredible world cup," he said, adding that the country should understand bad press was simply one of the drawbacks of being the host country.

The 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) Director of Communications, Tim Modise consolidated South Africa's readiness to host the biggest sporting event on earth.

"We are doing extremely well in terms of the construction of the infrastructure required to deliver a world class world cup," he said.

Mr Modise said government had invested R9 billion to ensure the stadia infrastructure was in place, excluding additional budget for other areas such as the transport and ICT sectors, volunteerism and community mobilising.

He said government's budget plus the LOCs investments added up to R21 billion, excluding FIFA's grant to the host country.

Mr Modise said while the world cup in South Africa sought to unite the country and provide social cohesion, it would also leave a lasting economic impact.

He said recent research by independent research company, Grant Thornton, set the economic impact of the world cup at about R51 billion.

Another high profile figure, Chief Executive Officer, of the German Chamber of Commerce, Matthia Boddenberg gave the thumbs up to South Africa.

He said South Africa's world cup would be marked by friendliness and effectiveness.

Mr Boddenberg said he was committed to forging relationships between South African and German companies to ensure they learnt from each other on the hosting of the world cup.