Louis Harris exits from Mossel Bay’s 2010 team
09. Nov, 2009
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Louis Harris, who has lead the campaign to secure a team base camp for Mossel Bay during next year’s 2010 FIFA World Cup, has resigned his post as the town’s 2010 coordinator.
He made his last speech in his official capacity at Mossel Bay Tourism’s AGM on November the 4th.
“The Council appointed me with three specific milestones in mind,” he said. “I was instructed to secure a national federation base camp, to oversee the upgrading of the training facilities, and to see to the establishment of a public viewing area (PVA).
“As a result of my work we now have an agreement with the Paraguayan Soccer Federation, and the upgrade of the Extension 23 Fields to FIFA standards will be completed in two weeks time. But, although we were able to secure sponsorship funding for a PVA, the Council could not approve the project as the South African Police Services indicated at a late stage that they would not have the manpower to control the crowds that we could have expected at such a venue.
“So, because I was able to complete my tasks as far as practical ahead of time, the Council and agreed that I would vacate my seat as coordinator, and that the Municipality’s Mr. Joubert Coetzee would take over the position,” he said.
Reflecting on his period in office, Mr. Harris said, “I’m particularly pleased with the progress we’ve made towards the establishment of legacies, particularly with regards to the South-South Strategy and the establishment of a Language Faculty in Mossel Bay.” (The South-South Strategy is a plan to increase tourism, commerce, social welfare and scientific exchanges between Mossel Bay and the Western Cape Province on the one hand, and the Latin American countries on the other. The Language Faculty is a project to teach Spanish to Mossel Bay residents ahead of the 2010 World Cup.)
Mr. Harris said that the ongoing success of these projects would depend on how Mossel Bay Tourism manages them into the future.
“The size of the South American market is such that these strategies will be sustainable long after the final whistle blows next year,” he said.
He said that the media campaign which accompanied his work had been particularly successful. “The stories we’ve put out have been of national and international interest,” he said, “and our media campaign, which was planned from the very earliest stages of our strategy planning, yielded the kind of coverage which money could never buy.”
He said that the BBC, CNN, and the Brazilian Channel Telefuturo has all produced 30-minute documentaries about Mossel Bay during the past few months.
“The CNN programme went out to all the Spanish-speaking countries of the world, which could mean that Mossel Bay had an audience of as many as 400 million people.
“We have also enjoyed extensive coverage in the print media, and on radio and the internet,” he said.
Although he has resigned his post, Mr. Harris will remain involved in 2010 because he remains the Mossel Bay representative of the Paraguayan Federation.
“Our focus during the coming months will be to resolve the remaining challenges and to prepare the town for the arrival of the team,” he said.
My name is Muzi Mohale a full-time travel blogger, your host at Travelwires.com responsible for all editorial on this blog. I blog about the travel and tourism industry in Africa. Apart from blogging about tourism, I also run 
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