The whole world is in a tight grip of soccer fever these days, or shall we say Vuvuzela fever this time. Even in India, in spite of the fact that the Indian team has never played a game in the football world cup finals, people are singing “just like a wavin’ flag” with great enthusiasm. South Africa, the host nation, is like a huge country on carnival. People, in their colourful attire, are supporting their favorite teams with the zeal of a kid who has just learnt cycling. So what is it about sports like football, or for that matter cricket in some parts of the world, that makes people go round? Is it the adrenaline rush, or the spirit of the game, or pure marketing and media propaganda?

No doubt these events are huge income and foreign exchange generators for the countries that host them. Such events can generate a lot of employment in not only tourism and hospitality sectors but also in the infrastructure sector. A nation which is expecting large number of tourists will have to develop its infrastructure in terms of better roads, rails and transport facilities. They will also need hotels etc. for the guests. This, in turn, generates employments for workers both skilled and unskilled for the development of infrastructure and also employment in the hospitality sector. It also boosts the tourism industry of the nation. The after benefits of such a development will ultimately be passed on to the citizens of the country.

We can very well see the case in the recent past when South Africa hosted IPL last year. The Indian government and media lost a major chunk of revenues due to shifting of IPL to South Africa. And what was one country’s loss, was another’s gain. Similarly, South Africa also benefited from the T20 Cricket World Cup held recently there. All these events have not only added to the economic gains of the nation but have also boosted its image in the organizing of large scale events effectively.

In the recent past we have also seen China flexing its muscle during the Beijing Olympics 2008. This again tells us that organizing world sporting events can also be used by countries as a show of power. China did stun the world by the show of strength, wealth and discipline. Even before the Olympics had started the world could see the effect it would have. Though there was the Tibet controversy which played spoilsport during the whole event but still China was able to make a statement.

India in a similar way is trying to show off its power by organizing the 2010 commonwealth games. Though the scale of these games is much smaller than most of the events mentioned above, yet the Indian government, and most notably the Delhi government, has left no stone unturned to make the event a success.

But then, like everything, even these big shows of power have their own negative side effects. And the most visible is a sudden surge in human trafficking – both for the use of cheap labor as well as prostitution. I read somewhere that brothels in South Africa have hired thousands of prostitutes from all over the world to meet the demand during this football season. This would have also led to illegal trafficking of women and children.

However, apart from these direct industries benefiting from such events there are a lot of indirect industries which also profit such as the television manufacturers, or the Sports channels or for that matter the liquor and food industry.

Wait. Did I forget something? Oh yes! The, oh, so ubiquitous Vuvuzelas. If there is one thing that FIFA World Cup 2010 will be remembered for, it has to be the Vuvezelas. Be it the football ground, Youtube movie spoofs, news channels or the Twitter trending topics, the Vuvuzela is everywhere. So, whether the hotel and tourism industry in South Africa benefit from the FIFA World Cup or not, or whether the Indian Government will be able to show off its muscle during the Common Wealth Games or not, one thing is for sure – the Vuvuzela manufacturers are laughing all the way to the bank.