Prof Dr Milena Ivanovic (Emerita) | University of Johannesburg, South Africa (original) (raw)
Papers by Prof Dr Milena Ivanovic (Emerita)
Agritourism: a source for socioeconomic transformation in developing economies Queros Reviewer re... more Agritourism: a source for socioeconomic transformation in developing economies Queros Reviewer report by Prof Dr Milena Ivanovic The topic is important in the context of growing tourist demand for authentic, unique and educational/learning experiences. Agritourism can indeed play an important role in the socioeconomic revitalisation of some rural areas while providing financial security to small farmers after the farming season is over. This correlation is not established in the introduction. In addition, the word 'transformation' in the title is misleading because in most developed and developing countries (except for the wine and cheese routes in South Africa) agritourism is only an auxiliary activity to farming. It can only evolve into a transformative force through the application of specific tourism development strategies, such are theming and clustering. Otherwise, in the context of this article, agritourism should be discussed as Special Interest Tourism.
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2022
Alexandra township in Johannesburg is the most densely populated and one of the poorest in South ... more Alexandra township in Johannesburg is the most densely populated and one of the poorest in South Africa. Women living in the township are economically marginalised, having rare economic opportunities for employment or selfemployment. This study examined the entrepreneurial challenges marginalised women in Alexandra face in making souvenirs for the tourism trade. The study adopted a qualitative approach based on a four-stage sequential design. The data was collected through focus groups, semi-structured in-depth interviews, and non-participant observations with the 24 women actively involved in souvenir-making. It was found that entrepreneurial challenges facing women making souvenirs in Alexandra include lack of access to funding, competition from mass-produced Chinese crafts, lack of availability of essential resources (i.e., electricity, machinery, safe working spaces), lack of access to tourism markets, and crime and corruption. The research findings are expected to assist the South African government, Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs), and various women initiatives to develop more effective ways of supporting marginalised women in townships in overcoming identified business challenges, ultimately leading to their empowerment.
EuroEconomica, Aug 30, 2018
The most visited tourist attractions in South Africa are the political heritage sites of memorisa... more The most visited tourist attractions in South Africa are the political heritage sites of memorisation of the struggle against apartheid and are regarded as the main symbols of the new post-1994 national identity. Building on the rise of African consciousness known as the African Renaissance and Pan-Africanism, the paper explores the possibility that these famous tourist sites are equally representative of the newly emerging Pan-African identity. The study builds on extensive literature on the African Renaissance movement, the concepts of national and Pan-African identity, and on two dimensions of constructive authenticity, cognitive (learning) and affective (feeling). This mixed-method study explores the differences in the way domestic and African tourists construct the authenticity of their experience of the site. The results of data triangulation confirm the main assumption of this paper that the country’s most iconic places of struggle against apartheid are not only represe...
Book chapter, 2016
The aim of this chapter is to present an overview of current strategic and experiential challenge... more The aim of this chapter is to present an overview of current strategic and experiential challenges arising from the development of cultural heritage tourism in South Africa. Despite the recent development of a number of new tourism strategies (National Heritage and Cultural Tourism Strategy, 2011 & 2012; National Tourism Service Strategy, 2011; Rural Tourism Strategy, 2011) that are designed to directly or indirectly facilitate further growth of cultural heritage tourism in South Africa, numerous problems still persist. The chapter begins with an overview of the current state of cultural heritage tourism in South Africa. This is then followed by a discussion on the issues arising from inadequate strategic planning and an Afrocentric developmental focus. The discussion is supported by data from South African Tourism’s annual reports (SAT, 2007–2013), the South African Global Competitiveness study (2004/2005), and selected case studies.
Although the cultural heritage sector continues to attract visitors and generate economic benefits, its overall contribution to South African tourism remains unknown because of poor national statistical record keeping, making any benchmarking of the current National Culture and Heritage Tourism Strategy (NDT, 2012a) difficult. A further concern is that South African cultural heritage tourism products have been recently described as being ‘substandard’ in numerous government reports relating to the visitor experience and management. This chapter concludes by providing a series of recommendations that may stimulate enhanced tourist experiences, and more broadly, the future success of the cultural heritage tourism sector in South Africa.
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2021
Soweto is South Africa’s most iconic tourist destination, providing local street vendors with an ... more Soweto is South Africa’s most iconic tourist destination, providing local street vendors with an opportunity to sell arts and crafts. This paper presents a detailed overview of business challenges faced by a population of 60 arts and crafts street vendors operating at two main tourist attractions in Soweto, the Mandela House/Museum and the Hector Pieterson Memorial. The study employs a mixed methodology based on a four-stage exploratory sequential research design. The profile characteristics of arts and craft street vendors lead to some interesting conclusions whereby the triangulation of qualitative and quantitative results reveals the main challenges in operating their businesses. They are grouped as: a) inadequate infrastructure, especially a lack of dedicated trading space and storage facilities; b) lack of safety due to high levels of congestion and crime affecting daily trade; and c) non-compliance with legislation, lack of government funding and reliance on the cash economy. ...
African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance, 2015
This is a conceptual paper which outlines new integrated, multidisciplinary theoretical framework... more This is a conceptual paper which outlines new integrated, multidisciplinary theoretical framework suitable for an alignment of postmodern authenticity discourse in tourism to the principles of new authentic economy of transmodernism. Firstly, the paper problematises the incompatibility of three seminal social theories of authenticity, objective, constructive and existential, arising from the recent calls to declare the modernist theory of objective authenticity obsolete in the phenomenology of new tourist experience and replace it with the postmodernist theory of existential authenticity. Secondly, the paper reveals that in authentic economy the new economic value is created through rendering five genres of authenticity to its consumers/tourists by every sector of the world's economy, including tourism. Lastly, the paper confirms that transmodernism possesses an intrinsic ability to transcend the two preceding paradigms, modernism and postmodernism, while constructing the new co...
African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance, 2015
The strategic objectives of South Africa's government in getting the most impoverished rural ... more The strategic objectives of South Africa's government in getting the most impoverished rural areas in the country out from underdevelopment are: infrastructure development, poverty alleviation and job creation. In the national policy framework, tourism is singled out as the most effective tool for achieving pro-poor rural development through community-based tourism. A successful implementation of pro-poor tourism development at the local level requires an inclusive approach and developmental governance which depends on effective cooperation between tribal (traditional) authorities and the local government. Likewise, a successful implementation of community-based tourism development depends on active participation of community in all tourism related issues including distribution of benefits. Since the poorest areas in the country are under the rule of tribal authorities, the question this paper attempts to answer is whether community-based rural tourism development can be impleme...
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2020
The study builds a case for future growth of transformative travel in South Africa driven by Cult... more The study builds a case for future growth of transformative travel in South Africa driven by Cultural Creatives, the new silent class of conscious consumers in a quest for personal transformation through authentic and immersive tourist experiences. The main objective of the study was to identify preferred activities and experiences of Cultural Creatives in Soweto which is expected to drive the future growth of transformative tourism in South Africa. This qualitative study was based on 20 semi structured interviews with international tourists visiting Soweto in the period 3 January to 30 March 2018. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematic content analysis was carried out in identifying tourist activities and experiences most closely aligned to emerging themes of transformative tourism as: individual experiential walking through the township; living as the locals do; and dining with the locals. The results validate the need for clear alignment of South African destinations&#...
GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites, 2019
Ge eo oJ Jo ou ur rn na al l o of f T To ou ur ri is sm m a an nd d G Ge eo os si it te es s Year... more Ge eo oJ Jo ou ur rn na al l o of f T To ou ur ri is sm m a an nd d G Ge eo os si it te es s Year X XI II I, vol. 26, no. 3
This volume provides an overview of cultural tourism in southern Africa. It examines the utilisat... more This volume provides an overview of cultural tourism in southern Africa. It examines the utilisation of culture in southern African tourism and the related impacts, possibilities and challenges from wide-ranging perspectives. Concepts explored include authenticity, commodification, the tourist gaze and ‘Otherness’, heritage and sustainability. The aim of this chapter is to present an overview of current strategic and experiential challenges arising from the development of cultural heritage tourism in South Africa. Despite the recent development of a number of new tourism strategies (National Heritage and Cultural Tourism Strategy, 2011 & 2012; National Tourism Service Strategy, 2011; Rural Tourism Strategy, 2011) that are designed to directly or indirectly facilitate further growth of cultural heritage tourism in South Africa, numerous problems still persist. The chapter begins with an overview of the current state of cultural heritage tourism in South Africa. This is then followed by a discussion on the issues arising from inadequate strategic planning and an Afrocentric developmental focus.
Transmodernism (Ateljevic, 2009; Gelter, 2010) represents the new value system towards an integra... more Transmodernism (Ateljevic, 2009; Gelter, 2010) represents the new value system towards an integration into an environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable world (Pritchard, Morgan & Ateljevic, 2011), as well as a new economic order embedded in a mature phase of the post-capitalist experiential economy, the authentic economy (Gilmore & Pine, 2007). This new economy denotes a paradigm shift in production and consumption of the economic value from staging the consumers’ experiences to rendering authenticity which results in personal transformation. Pine and Gilmore’s (1999:166) proposition that transformation value should be added as a fifth economic offering, in addition to commodities, goods, services, and experiences, confirms the repositioning of the post-capitalist economic values to the requirements of a new emerging transmodern world order. Gilmore and Pine (2007) ascertain that transformation value is the ultimate economic value rendered through authentic qualities o...
Notwithstanding tourism in South Africa being declared a priority sector alongside mining and agr... more Notwithstanding tourism in South Africa being declared a priority sector alongside mining and agriculture, the South African government's concern with the sustainability of the domestic tourism market stems from a significant lack of travel culture among the majority of the population. This study takes an initial look at the development of social tourism in South Africa both historically and as an unconventional way of addressing some of South Africa's domestic tourism gaps with particular emphasis on encouraging youth participation in social tourism. Specifically, the report recounts evidence of social tourism development in South Africa along three distinct historical and political periods namely during the independence period of 1910- 1948, in the period of apartheid between 1948 and 1994 and in the post 1994 democratic era. In particular the paper presents the workings of the Star Seaside Fund, a charity organisation that has been developing social tourism in South Afric...
The research question addressed by this dissertation is: How is the tourist experience formed and... more The research question addressed by this dissertation is: How is the tourist experience formed and what constitutes the authenticity of the tourist experience for two market segments (motivated and not motivated by learning) of tourists visiting (political) cultural heritage sites in South Africa. The study explores the correlation between three types of authenticity, namely objective, constructed and existential on two independent tourist samples, motivated and not motivated by learning. This research was initiated for three reasons. The first reason forms part of the research problem; South African cultural experiences received the lowest ratings from the international tourists despite the fact that culture and heritage play a role in reimaging South Africa from Big 5 destination into 'It's possible' and 'Leave ordinary behind'. It was Sleutelwoorde: kultuurerfernis toerisme, outentisiteitsteorieë van toeriste ervaringe, kultuur motivering, Spearman se korrelasiekoëffisiënt, t-toets.
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2021
Soweto is South Africa's most iconic tourist destination, providing local street vendors with an ... more Soweto is South Africa's most iconic tourist destination, providing local street vendors with an opportunity to sell arts and crafts. This paper presents a detailed overview of business challenges faced by a population of 60 arts and crafts street vendors operating at two main tourist attractions in Soweto, the Mandela House/Museum and the Hector Pieterson Memorial. The study employs a mixed methodology based on a four-stage exploratory sequential research design. The profile characteristics of arts and craft street vendors lead to some interesting conclusions whereby the triangulation of qualitative and quantitative results reveals the main challenges in operating their businesses. They are grouped as: a) inadequate infrastructure, especially a lack of dedicated trading space and storage facilities; b) lack of safety due to high levels of congestion and crime affecting daily trade; and c) non-compliance with legislation, lack of government funding and reliance on the cash economy. The study presents a contribution to tourism literature on the little-known challenges of informal businesses trading as arts and crafts street vendors at main tourist attractions in Soweto.
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2020
The study builds a case for future growth of transformative travel in South Africa driven by Cult... more The study builds a case for future growth of transformative travel in South Africa driven by Cultural Creatives, the new silent class of conscious consumers in a quest for personal transformation through authentic and immersive tourist experiences. The main objective of the study was to identify preferred activities and experiences of Cultural Creatives in Soweto which is expected to drive the future growth of transformative tourism in South Africa. This qualitative study was based on 20 semi structured interviews with international tourists visiting Soweto in the period 3 January to 30 March 2018. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematic content analysis was carried out in identifying tourist activities and experiences most closely aligned to emerging themes of transformative tourism as: individual experiential walking through the township; living as the locals do; and dining with the locals. The results validate the need for clear alignment of South African destinations' offerings with Cultural Creatives' transmodern values and worldviews in facilitating the future growth of transformative tourism in South Africa. Introduction Transmodernism signifies a paradigm shift in human consciousness towards a new planetary vision and a new world order not experienced in the past 600 years, since the Renaissance.
GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites, 2019
This article investigates the phenomenon of transmodern tourism in Soweto as it statistically tes... more This article investigates the phenomenon of transmodern tourism in Soweto as it statistically tests the theoretical assumption that Cultural Creatives are a clearly identifiable group of transmodern tourist in general tourists population. The results of ANOVA confirmed a group difference between Cultural Creatives and general tourists, leading to a major finding that Cultural Creatives presence in Soweto (54.8%) is two-times (26.1%) more than the value predicted by the literature. In addition, Walking around the township is identified as Cultural Creatives' most authentic experience which further validates the recommendation for development of an innovative range of immersive and authentic experiences in Soweto that conforms to Cultural Creative's transmodern value system.
EuroEconomica, 2018
The most visited tourist attractions in South Africa are the political heritage sites of memorisa... more The most visited tourist attractions in South Africa are the political heritage sites of memorisation of the struggle against apartheid and are regarded as the main symbols of the new post-1994 national identity. Building on the rise of African consciousness known as the African Renaissance and Pan-Africanism, the paper explores the possibility that these famous tourist sites are equally representative of the newly emerging Pan-African identity. The study builds on extensive literature on the African Renaissance movement, the concepts of national and Pan-African identity, and on two dimensions of constructive authenticity, cognitive (learning) and affective (feeling). This mixed-method study explores the differences in the way domestic and African tourists construct the authenticity of their experience of the site. The results of data triangulation confirm the main assumption of this paper that the country’s most iconic places of struggle against apartheid are not only representative of the new South African national identity but of newly emerging Pan-African identity too. The findings are valuable for site managers, who should include the Pan African narrative into interpretation and presentation of the sites, and government, who should promote the South African political heritage sites as unique Pan African tourist attractions for the African market.
Transmodernity signifies a paradigm shift towards new planetary consciousness lead by an emerging... more Transmodernity signifies a paradigm shift towards new planetary consciousness lead by an emerging subculture known as Cultural Creatives as well as a new trans-capitalist economic order known as authentic economy. The main assumption of authentic economy is that authenticity is what consumers really want and the new economic value can only be created through rendering five genres of authenticity in relation to the main types of economic values/offerings as proposed by Gilmore and Pine (2007). Even though rendering authenticity emerged as a critical component of production and consumption of every economic sector as part of authentic economy, authenticity in tourism is not yet aligned to new transmodern value system. As tourism offerings conform to tourists own self-image which is highly reflective of the perceived state of being the role of authenticity in transmodern tourism is to guide tourists through personal transformation leading to the authentic-self. Given that Cultural Creatives as a new breed of cultural tourists possess an intuitive ability to differentiate between real and fake they actively seek authentic cultural experiences which in turn is a challenge to the current postmodern authentic experiential discourse which comprises of three seminal but contradictory theories of authenticity. Modernist’s objective, and postmodernist’s constructive and existential theories of authenticity remain theoretically deadlocked
Methodologically this is a conceptual paper which reveals that authentic economy is in fact transmodern, not the postmodern phenomenon as routinely assumed and that new transmodern authentic tourist experiences are intertwined with the five genres of economic authenticity.
KEY WORDS: Transmodernism, Cultural Creatives, authentic economy, genres of authenticity, authenticity theories, cultural tourism.
African Journal for Physical Health Education, Recreation and Dance
Although cultural tourism is the most prevalent type of tourism in the world it still remains inv... more Although cultural tourism is the most prevalent type of tourism in the world it still remains invisible in South Africa's tourism landscape. Despite the country's unique cultural heritage resource base and the fact that cultural diversity is the core feature of South African marketing strategy, absence of culture as a purpose for travel in the South African Tourism international exit survey means that the size of cultural tourism market as well as behaviour characteristics of cultural tourists are not known to both government and industry. For this reason the main tourism stakeholders in the country are unable to make informed strategic and developmental decisions which directly affect the performance of South African cultural heritage tourism products. This paper contributes to South African cultural tourism discourse both theoretically and practically. It presents a theoretical overview of the complex nature of cultural tourism demand, specifically cultural motivation and omnivorousness of cultural consumption. These theoretical concepts are applied on the data from South African annual tourism reports, and European and USA tourism reports and research studies, in order to determine the size and behaviour characteristics of the main international cultural tourism markets in South Africa.
Agritourism: a source for socioeconomic transformation in developing economies Queros Reviewer re... more Agritourism: a source for socioeconomic transformation in developing economies Queros Reviewer report by Prof Dr Milena Ivanovic The topic is important in the context of growing tourist demand for authentic, unique and educational/learning experiences. Agritourism can indeed play an important role in the socioeconomic revitalisation of some rural areas while providing financial security to small farmers after the farming season is over. This correlation is not established in the introduction. In addition, the word 'transformation' in the title is misleading because in most developed and developing countries (except for the wine and cheese routes in South Africa) agritourism is only an auxiliary activity to farming. It can only evolve into a transformative force through the application of specific tourism development strategies, such are theming and clustering. Otherwise, in the context of this article, agritourism should be discussed as Special Interest Tourism.
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2022
Alexandra township in Johannesburg is the most densely populated and one of the poorest in South ... more Alexandra township in Johannesburg is the most densely populated and one of the poorest in South Africa. Women living in the township are economically marginalised, having rare economic opportunities for employment or selfemployment. This study examined the entrepreneurial challenges marginalised women in Alexandra face in making souvenirs for the tourism trade. The study adopted a qualitative approach based on a four-stage sequential design. The data was collected through focus groups, semi-structured in-depth interviews, and non-participant observations with the 24 women actively involved in souvenir-making. It was found that entrepreneurial challenges facing women making souvenirs in Alexandra include lack of access to funding, competition from mass-produced Chinese crafts, lack of availability of essential resources (i.e., electricity, machinery, safe working spaces), lack of access to tourism markets, and crime and corruption. The research findings are expected to assist the South African government, Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs), and various women initiatives to develop more effective ways of supporting marginalised women in townships in overcoming identified business challenges, ultimately leading to their empowerment.
EuroEconomica, Aug 30, 2018
The most visited tourist attractions in South Africa are the political heritage sites of memorisa... more The most visited tourist attractions in South Africa are the political heritage sites of memorisation of the struggle against apartheid and are regarded as the main symbols of the new post-1994 national identity. Building on the rise of African consciousness known as the African Renaissance and Pan-Africanism, the paper explores the possibility that these famous tourist sites are equally representative of the newly emerging Pan-African identity. The study builds on extensive literature on the African Renaissance movement, the concepts of national and Pan-African identity, and on two dimensions of constructive authenticity, cognitive (learning) and affective (feeling). This mixed-method study explores the differences in the way domestic and African tourists construct the authenticity of their experience of the site. The results of data triangulation confirm the main assumption of this paper that the country’s most iconic places of struggle against apartheid are not only represe...
Book chapter, 2016
The aim of this chapter is to present an overview of current strategic and experiential challenge... more The aim of this chapter is to present an overview of current strategic and experiential challenges arising from the development of cultural heritage tourism in South Africa. Despite the recent development of a number of new tourism strategies (National Heritage and Cultural Tourism Strategy, 2011 & 2012; National Tourism Service Strategy, 2011; Rural Tourism Strategy, 2011) that are designed to directly or indirectly facilitate further growth of cultural heritage tourism in South Africa, numerous problems still persist. The chapter begins with an overview of the current state of cultural heritage tourism in South Africa. This is then followed by a discussion on the issues arising from inadequate strategic planning and an Afrocentric developmental focus. The discussion is supported by data from South African Tourism’s annual reports (SAT, 2007–2013), the South African Global Competitiveness study (2004/2005), and selected case studies.
Although the cultural heritage sector continues to attract visitors and generate economic benefits, its overall contribution to South African tourism remains unknown because of poor national statistical record keeping, making any benchmarking of the current National Culture and Heritage Tourism Strategy (NDT, 2012a) difficult. A further concern is that South African cultural heritage tourism products have been recently described as being ‘substandard’ in numerous government reports relating to the visitor experience and management. This chapter concludes by providing a series of recommendations that may stimulate enhanced tourist experiences, and more broadly, the future success of the cultural heritage tourism sector in South Africa.
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2021
Soweto is South Africa’s most iconic tourist destination, providing local street vendors with an ... more Soweto is South Africa’s most iconic tourist destination, providing local street vendors with an opportunity to sell arts and crafts. This paper presents a detailed overview of business challenges faced by a population of 60 arts and crafts street vendors operating at two main tourist attractions in Soweto, the Mandela House/Museum and the Hector Pieterson Memorial. The study employs a mixed methodology based on a four-stage exploratory sequential research design. The profile characteristics of arts and craft street vendors lead to some interesting conclusions whereby the triangulation of qualitative and quantitative results reveals the main challenges in operating their businesses. They are grouped as: a) inadequate infrastructure, especially a lack of dedicated trading space and storage facilities; b) lack of safety due to high levels of congestion and crime affecting daily trade; and c) non-compliance with legislation, lack of government funding and reliance on the cash economy. ...
African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance, 2015
This is a conceptual paper which outlines new integrated, multidisciplinary theoretical framework... more This is a conceptual paper which outlines new integrated, multidisciplinary theoretical framework suitable for an alignment of postmodern authenticity discourse in tourism to the principles of new authentic economy of transmodernism. Firstly, the paper problematises the incompatibility of three seminal social theories of authenticity, objective, constructive and existential, arising from the recent calls to declare the modernist theory of objective authenticity obsolete in the phenomenology of new tourist experience and replace it with the postmodernist theory of existential authenticity. Secondly, the paper reveals that in authentic economy the new economic value is created through rendering five genres of authenticity to its consumers/tourists by every sector of the world's economy, including tourism. Lastly, the paper confirms that transmodernism possesses an intrinsic ability to transcend the two preceding paradigms, modernism and postmodernism, while constructing the new co...
African Journal for Physical, Health Education, Recreation and Dance, 2015
The strategic objectives of South Africa's government in getting the most impoverished rural ... more The strategic objectives of South Africa's government in getting the most impoverished rural areas in the country out from underdevelopment are: infrastructure development, poverty alleviation and job creation. In the national policy framework, tourism is singled out as the most effective tool for achieving pro-poor rural development through community-based tourism. A successful implementation of pro-poor tourism development at the local level requires an inclusive approach and developmental governance which depends on effective cooperation between tribal (traditional) authorities and the local government. Likewise, a successful implementation of community-based tourism development depends on active participation of community in all tourism related issues including distribution of benefits. Since the poorest areas in the country are under the rule of tribal authorities, the question this paper attempts to answer is whether community-based rural tourism development can be impleme...
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2020
The study builds a case for future growth of transformative travel in South Africa driven by Cult... more The study builds a case for future growth of transformative travel in South Africa driven by Cultural Creatives, the new silent class of conscious consumers in a quest for personal transformation through authentic and immersive tourist experiences. The main objective of the study was to identify preferred activities and experiences of Cultural Creatives in Soweto which is expected to drive the future growth of transformative tourism in South Africa. This qualitative study was based on 20 semi structured interviews with international tourists visiting Soweto in the period 3 January to 30 March 2018. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematic content analysis was carried out in identifying tourist activities and experiences most closely aligned to emerging themes of transformative tourism as: individual experiential walking through the township; living as the locals do; and dining with the locals. The results validate the need for clear alignment of South African destinations&#...
GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites, 2019
Ge eo oJ Jo ou ur rn na al l o of f T To ou ur ri is sm m a an nd d G Ge eo os si it te es s Year... more Ge eo oJ Jo ou ur rn na al l o of f T To ou ur ri is sm m a an nd d G Ge eo os si it te es s Year X XI II I, vol. 26, no. 3
This volume provides an overview of cultural tourism in southern Africa. It examines the utilisat... more This volume provides an overview of cultural tourism in southern Africa. It examines the utilisation of culture in southern African tourism and the related impacts, possibilities and challenges from wide-ranging perspectives. Concepts explored include authenticity, commodification, the tourist gaze and ‘Otherness’, heritage and sustainability. The aim of this chapter is to present an overview of current strategic and experiential challenges arising from the development of cultural heritage tourism in South Africa. Despite the recent development of a number of new tourism strategies (National Heritage and Cultural Tourism Strategy, 2011 & 2012; National Tourism Service Strategy, 2011; Rural Tourism Strategy, 2011) that are designed to directly or indirectly facilitate further growth of cultural heritage tourism in South Africa, numerous problems still persist. The chapter begins with an overview of the current state of cultural heritage tourism in South Africa. This is then followed by a discussion on the issues arising from inadequate strategic planning and an Afrocentric developmental focus.
Transmodernism (Ateljevic, 2009; Gelter, 2010) represents the new value system towards an integra... more Transmodernism (Ateljevic, 2009; Gelter, 2010) represents the new value system towards an integration into an environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable world (Pritchard, Morgan & Ateljevic, 2011), as well as a new economic order embedded in a mature phase of the post-capitalist experiential economy, the authentic economy (Gilmore & Pine, 2007). This new economy denotes a paradigm shift in production and consumption of the economic value from staging the consumers’ experiences to rendering authenticity which results in personal transformation. Pine and Gilmore’s (1999:166) proposition that transformation value should be added as a fifth economic offering, in addition to commodities, goods, services, and experiences, confirms the repositioning of the post-capitalist economic values to the requirements of a new emerging transmodern world order. Gilmore and Pine (2007) ascertain that transformation value is the ultimate economic value rendered through authentic qualities o...
Notwithstanding tourism in South Africa being declared a priority sector alongside mining and agr... more Notwithstanding tourism in South Africa being declared a priority sector alongside mining and agriculture, the South African government's concern with the sustainability of the domestic tourism market stems from a significant lack of travel culture among the majority of the population. This study takes an initial look at the development of social tourism in South Africa both historically and as an unconventional way of addressing some of South Africa's domestic tourism gaps with particular emphasis on encouraging youth participation in social tourism. Specifically, the report recounts evidence of social tourism development in South Africa along three distinct historical and political periods namely during the independence period of 1910- 1948, in the period of apartheid between 1948 and 1994 and in the post 1994 democratic era. In particular the paper presents the workings of the Star Seaside Fund, a charity organisation that has been developing social tourism in South Afric...
The research question addressed by this dissertation is: How is the tourist experience formed and... more The research question addressed by this dissertation is: How is the tourist experience formed and what constitutes the authenticity of the tourist experience for two market segments (motivated and not motivated by learning) of tourists visiting (political) cultural heritage sites in South Africa. The study explores the correlation between three types of authenticity, namely objective, constructed and existential on two independent tourist samples, motivated and not motivated by learning. This research was initiated for three reasons. The first reason forms part of the research problem; South African cultural experiences received the lowest ratings from the international tourists despite the fact that culture and heritage play a role in reimaging South Africa from Big 5 destination into 'It's possible' and 'Leave ordinary behind'. It was Sleutelwoorde: kultuurerfernis toerisme, outentisiteitsteorieë van toeriste ervaringe, kultuur motivering, Spearman se korrelasiekoëffisiënt, t-toets.
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2021
Soweto is South Africa's most iconic tourist destination, providing local street vendors with an ... more Soweto is South Africa's most iconic tourist destination, providing local street vendors with an opportunity to sell arts and crafts. This paper presents a detailed overview of business challenges faced by a population of 60 arts and crafts street vendors operating at two main tourist attractions in Soweto, the Mandela House/Museum and the Hector Pieterson Memorial. The study employs a mixed methodology based on a four-stage exploratory sequential research design. The profile characteristics of arts and craft street vendors lead to some interesting conclusions whereby the triangulation of qualitative and quantitative results reveals the main challenges in operating their businesses. They are grouped as: a) inadequate infrastructure, especially a lack of dedicated trading space and storage facilities; b) lack of safety due to high levels of congestion and crime affecting daily trade; and c) non-compliance with legislation, lack of government funding and reliance on the cash economy. The study presents a contribution to tourism literature on the little-known challenges of informal businesses trading as arts and crafts street vendors at main tourist attractions in Soweto.
African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 2020
The study builds a case for future growth of transformative travel in South Africa driven by Cult... more The study builds a case for future growth of transformative travel in South Africa driven by Cultural Creatives, the new silent class of conscious consumers in a quest for personal transformation through authentic and immersive tourist experiences. The main objective of the study was to identify preferred activities and experiences of Cultural Creatives in Soweto which is expected to drive the future growth of transformative tourism in South Africa. This qualitative study was based on 20 semi structured interviews with international tourists visiting Soweto in the period 3 January to 30 March 2018. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematic content analysis was carried out in identifying tourist activities and experiences most closely aligned to emerging themes of transformative tourism as: individual experiential walking through the township; living as the locals do; and dining with the locals. The results validate the need for clear alignment of South African destinations' offerings with Cultural Creatives' transmodern values and worldviews in facilitating the future growth of transformative tourism in South Africa. Introduction Transmodernism signifies a paradigm shift in human consciousness towards a new planetary vision and a new world order not experienced in the past 600 years, since the Renaissance.
GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites, 2019
This article investigates the phenomenon of transmodern tourism in Soweto as it statistically tes... more This article investigates the phenomenon of transmodern tourism in Soweto as it statistically tests the theoretical assumption that Cultural Creatives are a clearly identifiable group of transmodern tourist in general tourists population. The results of ANOVA confirmed a group difference between Cultural Creatives and general tourists, leading to a major finding that Cultural Creatives presence in Soweto (54.8%) is two-times (26.1%) more than the value predicted by the literature. In addition, Walking around the township is identified as Cultural Creatives' most authentic experience which further validates the recommendation for development of an innovative range of immersive and authentic experiences in Soweto that conforms to Cultural Creative's transmodern value system.
EuroEconomica, 2018
The most visited tourist attractions in South Africa are the political heritage sites of memorisa... more The most visited tourist attractions in South Africa are the political heritage sites of memorisation of the struggle against apartheid and are regarded as the main symbols of the new post-1994 national identity. Building on the rise of African consciousness known as the African Renaissance and Pan-Africanism, the paper explores the possibility that these famous tourist sites are equally representative of the newly emerging Pan-African identity. The study builds on extensive literature on the African Renaissance movement, the concepts of national and Pan-African identity, and on two dimensions of constructive authenticity, cognitive (learning) and affective (feeling). This mixed-method study explores the differences in the way domestic and African tourists construct the authenticity of their experience of the site. The results of data triangulation confirm the main assumption of this paper that the country’s most iconic places of struggle against apartheid are not only representative of the new South African national identity but of newly emerging Pan-African identity too. The findings are valuable for site managers, who should include the Pan African narrative into interpretation and presentation of the sites, and government, who should promote the South African political heritage sites as unique Pan African tourist attractions for the African market.
Transmodernity signifies a paradigm shift towards new planetary consciousness lead by an emerging... more Transmodernity signifies a paradigm shift towards new planetary consciousness lead by an emerging subculture known as Cultural Creatives as well as a new trans-capitalist economic order known as authentic economy. The main assumption of authentic economy is that authenticity is what consumers really want and the new economic value can only be created through rendering five genres of authenticity in relation to the main types of economic values/offerings as proposed by Gilmore and Pine (2007). Even though rendering authenticity emerged as a critical component of production and consumption of every economic sector as part of authentic economy, authenticity in tourism is not yet aligned to new transmodern value system. As tourism offerings conform to tourists own self-image which is highly reflective of the perceived state of being the role of authenticity in transmodern tourism is to guide tourists through personal transformation leading to the authentic-self. Given that Cultural Creatives as a new breed of cultural tourists possess an intuitive ability to differentiate between real and fake they actively seek authentic cultural experiences which in turn is a challenge to the current postmodern authentic experiential discourse which comprises of three seminal but contradictory theories of authenticity. Modernist’s objective, and postmodernist’s constructive and existential theories of authenticity remain theoretically deadlocked
Methodologically this is a conceptual paper which reveals that authentic economy is in fact transmodern, not the postmodern phenomenon as routinely assumed and that new transmodern authentic tourist experiences are intertwined with the five genres of economic authenticity.
KEY WORDS: Transmodernism, Cultural Creatives, authentic economy, genres of authenticity, authenticity theories, cultural tourism.
African Journal for Physical Health Education, Recreation and Dance
Although cultural tourism is the most prevalent type of tourism in the world it still remains inv... more Although cultural tourism is the most prevalent type of tourism in the world it still remains invisible in South Africa's tourism landscape. Despite the country's unique cultural heritage resource base and the fact that cultural diversity is the core feature of South African marketing strategy, absence of culture as a purpose for travel in the South African Tourism international exit survey means that the size of cultural tourism market as well as behaviour characteristics of cultural tourists are not known to both government and industry. For this reason the main tourism stakeholders in the country are unable to make informed strategic and developmental decisions which directly affect the performance of South African cultural heritage tourism products. This paper contributes to South African cultural tourism discourse both theoretically and practically. It presents a theoretical overview of the complex nature of cultural tourism demand, specifically cultural motivation and omnivorousness of cultural consumption. These theoretical concepts are applied on the data from South African annual tourism reports, and European and USA tourism reports and research studies, in order to determine the size and behaviour characteristics of the main international cultural tourism markets in South Africa.
Book chapter In Manwa, H., Moswete, N.N. & Saarinen, J. 2016. Cultural Tourism in Southern Afric... more Book chapter In
Manwa, H., Moswete, N.N. & Saarinen, J. 2016. Cultural Tourism in Southern Africa, UK: Channell View Publications, pg 58-75.