South Africa calling cultural tourists (original) (raw)
Related papers
Book chapter, 2016
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.
The Nature of Cultural and Heritage Tourism in Greater Polokwane, Limpopo, South Africa
2020
Cultural tourism is a fast growing sector in Africa, with many museums and art galleries offering cultural experiences. South Africa, with a large array of cultural products, is actively promoting cultural tourism due to its ability to foster local economic growth and job creation. One such locality in dire need of economic growth is Limpopo Province. Thereupon, it is argued that Greater Polokwane should leverage its significant cultural landmarks and landscapes to promote this form of tourism. However, currently, the size and shape of the cultural and heritage tourism sector in this geographical area is unknown, as scholarly attention has focussed on the wildlife and hunting tourism sectors in this province of South Africa. Ergo, this study outlines the nature of the cultural and heritage tourism industry in Greater Polokwane. This study firstly created a database of cultural organisations and then gathered data by conducting in-depth, semi-structured interviews with the managers a...
Book: Cultural Tourism in Southern Africa (ISBN 9781845415518), 2016
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.
South African Journal of Business Management, 1996
South Africa is now a democratic state and is being accepted in the community of nations. It has been shown that tourism can make a significant contribution to the development of this country by providing employment, contributing to foreign exchange earnings and by increased economic activity. The aim of this study was to establish the current perceptions of foreign tourist-industry representatives regarding South Africa as a tourist destination. The perceptions of 81 international travel-industry representatives were examined. The results show that South African tourism reflects a multidimentional problem. These factors need to be addressed in order for South Africa to have a vibrant and sustainable tourism industry.
Factors influencing cultural event tourism in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa
Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 2018
Cultural tourism has established a market share of approximately 20% in the tourism sector globally. In addition, it fosters socioeconomic benefits for a destination and its residents. This study explores residents' attitudes towards cultural events in Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB), South Africa, to enhance the destination image and induce stakeholder engagement. In this study, 3659 residents of NMB either completed an online questionnaire or a face-to-face interview. The results indicate that the residents of NMB have a positive attitude to cultural events. Notably, the demographic profile of the respondents is representative of the country and may be transferred to a national level to assist the South African tourism industry. The findings clarify insights to the market needs and cultural differences that may be used to tailor unique selling propositions in culturally diverse destinations.
Tourist guides’ perceptions of cultural heritage tourism in South Africa
Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, 2016
Heritage tourism is a fast growing niche of cultural tourism worldwide. In Africa, several countries, including South Africa, place great emphasis on the growth of heritage tourism because of its potential for local economic development. Cultural and heritage tourism are being advocated as an important niche within the South African economy. This paper explores the perceptions of cultural heritage tourist guides in South Africa towards heritage tourism, it is argued that the country’s National Department of Tourism must improve the poor governance and poor management of South African heritage assets, and enhance the preservation, transformation and segmented marketing of South Africa’s cultural assets (at all levels of government) in order to sustain and grow cultural tourism in the future.
A Cultural Profile of Tourists to a Jazz Festival in South Africa
Encontros Científicos-Tourism & Management …, 2012
Tourism has experiencd growing internationalisation and much closer attention is now paid to the cultural characteristics of tourists and visitors and the influence thereof on the tourism industry. Culture affects travel motivation and behaviour and a better understanding of the cultural composition of tourists will enable the tourism industry to better satisfy tourist expectations. Understanding target markets from a demographic, geographic and psychographic perspective has been done in many research studies. However an attempt to define and understand the cultural characteristics of target markets and the effect of these characteristics is essential for the success and sustainable growth of the tourism industry in South Africa. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to determine a cultural profile of visitors to a jazz festival in South Africa. An exploratory survey of visitors was conducted by means of a structured questionnaire, which was completed by 127 respondents at a Jazz Festival held in Vanderbijlpark. The statistical analysis entailed descriptive statistics and more specifically a factor analysis as well as inferential statistics and more specifically Spearman's correlations, t-tests and one-way ANOVA's. The factor analysis with varimax rotation was performed on values (8 items), rules of behaviour (17 items), and perceptions of tourism service workers (25 items). The results revealed a demographic profile of visitors and identified specific cultural characteristics. Correlations were revealed between the identified factors and age as well as length of stay.
Telling or selling? Experiencing South African cultural heritage tourism products
With the advent of the experience economy the unique experiential value of cultural heritage products comes to the forefront of cultural tourism development and is the main value proposition for emerging destinations, including South Africa. As South Africa’s democracy divedends had paid out by 1998, South African Tourism was left with an array of dormant cultural heritage resources (still) unable to turn them into meaningful tourist experiences. The reason is lack of understanding of tourist experience as opposed to tourist consumption. Consumer segmentation and marketing mantra of telling and selling simply does not work on tourist experience arising from consumption of cultural heritage products. Two propositions underline this type of experience: attractions cannot speak for themselves and we tell the story to sell the experience. The art of telling the story converges on both sides of experiential paradigm (tourist and attraction) thus telling is selling principle is a point of sale for cultural heritage products. Unpacking this principle in creating unique experiential value of cultural heritage products is the main theoretical contribution of this paper to South African cultural tourism discourse. The proposed experiential framework pertinent to cultural heritage sites integrates three paradigms namely product, experience and interpretation and the resultant tourist experience as a gestalt phenomenon. Against this framework the experiential value of South African cultural heritage products is assessed with data from official South African sources.
Consumer perceptions of a perilous product: International tourism to South Africa
South African Journal of Business Management, 1996
Tourism can make a significant contribution to the development of South Africa by providing employment, contributing to foreign exchange earnings and by increasing economic activity. The aim of this study was to establish current perceptions, attitudes and orientations of foreign tourists towards post-apartheid South Africa as a tourist destination. A sample of 250 tourists were interviewed at London's Heathrow Airport. The results show that the South African tourism industry is faced with a multidimensional problem. It is a good example of a perilous or high risk product. However, with sound market segmentation and targeting, and proper planning, South Africa can have a vibrant and sustainable tourism industry. A unique way of segmenting tourist markets is presented. Specific recommendations are discussed in detail, which could aid all those involved in marketing a high risk product.