Showing papers by "Christian M. Rogerson published in 2021"

COVID-19 and Changing Tourism Demand: Research Review and Policy Implications for South Africa

Abstract: The tourism sector in South Africa has experienced the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and in response national government is charting initiatives for a recovery plan. In common with other countries the promotion of domestic tourism is a core focus. Arguably, the magnitude of the pandemic will reshape existing patterns of tourism demand and supply which need to be understood and researched for designing appropriate policy interventions. Against the backcloth of the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for recovery strategies, and the increasing focus on domestic tourism, the aim in this article is to interrogate COVID-19 impacts on the demand-side of tourism looking at changes in consumer demand and of intentions to travel. A desk top review is conducted of research produced by national governments, international organisations and of academic surveys completed in over 20 countries. The research findings are discussed in four themes, namely, (1) risk perceptions and the new tourism psyche; (2) travel intentions and changing mobilities; (3) travel intentions and changing patterns of demand; and, (4) the contactless economy and ‘untact’ tourism. The paper concludes with eight sets of policy recommendations for South Africa.

Covid-19 and Local Business Responses: Evidence from South Africa’s most Tourism-Dependent Locality

Abstract: In emerging tourism scholarship around COVID-19 one of the major clusters of research surrounds issues of adaptation. Tourism businesses are compelled to adapt to shifts in consumer demand as well as government regulatory changes. The objective in this paper is to investigate the responses and adaptations to the impacts of COVID-19 of tourism businesses in South Africa’s most tourism-dependent locality. The research reports on 20 qualitative interviews undertaken with a cross-section of tourism enterprises in Bela-Bela Local Municipality, Limpopo province, which is overwhelmingly oriented towards the market of domestic tourism. Major results are local businesses are financially negatively impacted by the subdued nature of domestic leisure travel together with the near total collapse of business travel as well as the imperative to conform to new COVID-19 safety and health protocols. Adaptive responses have included downsizing of businesses, including worker retrenchments, pricecutting, limited initiatives towards product diversification, energetic social media marketing and repurposing of properties. Key challenges for Bela-Bela tourism enterprises relate to immediate financial issues and most especially in the context that minimal support has been provided by national government to assist their business survival. Future business prospects are not viewed favourably such that business closures and a hollowing out of the tourism enterprise base accompanying job losses in tourism appear inevitable. © 2020 AJHTL /Author(s)

African tourism in uncertain times: Covid-19 research progress

Abstract: COVID-19 is a trigger event which is changing the complexion of African tourism and the directions of African tourism research. This article offers an overview and commentary on the state of African research produced during the uncertain times of 2020-2021 in specific response to the immediate impacts and changes which have been catalysed by the pandemic. The article is a progress report to capture and profile the body of focussed contributions on COVID-19 and tourism which have appeared for sub-Saharan Africa. Further, it is a contribution towards strengthening our understanding of tourism and change in the Global South. Overall, the discussion serves to highlight an emerging African scholarship which is engaged on a range of issues around three core themes of ramification, adaptation and transformation. © 2021 Editura Universitatii din Oradea. All rights reserved.

The Other Half of Urban Tourism: Research Directions in the Global South

Abstract: In mainstream urban tourism scholarship debates there is only limited attention given to the urban global South. The ‘other half’ of urban tourism is the axis in this review and analysis. Arguably, in light of the changing global patterns of urbanization and of the shifting geography of leading destinations for urban tourism greater attention is justified towards urban settlements in the global South. The analysis discloses the appearance of an increasingly vibrant scholarship about urban tourism in the setting of the global South. In respect of sizes of urban settlement it is unsurprising that the greatest amount of attention has been paid to mega-cities and large urban centres with far less attention so far given to tourism occurring either in intermediate centres or small towns. In a comparative assessment between scholarship on urban tourism in the global North versus South there are identifiable common themes and trends in writings about urban tourism, most especially in relation to the phenomenon of inter-urban competition, questions of sustainability and planning. Nevertheless, certain important differences can be isolated. In the urban global South the environment of low incomes and informality coalesce to provide for the greater significance of certain different forms of tourism to those which are high on the urban global North agenda. Three key issues are highlighted by this ‘state of the art’ overview, namely the significance of an informal sector of tourism, the distinctive characteristics of the discretionary mobilities of the poor, and the controversies surrounding slum tourism.

Looking to the Past: The Geography of Tourism in South Africa During the Pre-COVID-19 Era

Abstract: During 2020 the march of the COVID-19 pandemic created devastation for the tourism industry of South Africa. This chapter uses a spatial perspective to provide an understanding of the tourism space economy of South Africa in the pre-COVID-19 period. Arguing that the pandemic represents a historical turning point for tourism in South Africa the objective is to ‘look to the past’ and reconstruct the geography of tourism for 2018 almost the close of the pre-COVID 19 era. Future research on urban tourism in South Africa in the post-COVID period can utilise this historical benchmark of information in order to evaluate the COVID-19 impacts upon the tourism space economy of South Africa as well as for the resilience of different destinations. Key themes under scrutiny are the dominance of the tourism space economy by city destinations as a whole and metropolitan areas in particular and the mapping of differential urban tourisms in terms of cities and small towns. Location quotient analysis is undertaken to identify the most vulnerable localities to the negative consequences for urban tourism of COVID-19.

Tourism and Local Economic Development in King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality, South Africa: Stakeholder Perspectives

Abstract: Over the past two decades a major burst of scholarship has occurred around tourism and local economic development futures in South Africa. This study addressed the question of key stakeholder perceptions of local economic development through tourism as the economic driver. In addition, it examines the challenges for enhancing the local development role of the tourism sector. Arguably, stakeholders at the coalface of tourism and local development issues, such as tourism business owners and local government officials, can offer useful insights into the everyday problems of maximizing the impact of tourism in local municipalities. The focus is on the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality (KSDM) in Eastern Cape province. The results are presented and dissected from 33 interviews conducted with private sector stakeholders as well as 20 government stakeholders. Stakeholder perceptions were investigated concerning three major themes: (1) the role and prospects for tourism and local economic development, (2) the use of municipal assets for tourism development; and, (3) the challenges facing tourism businesses for local economic development The research findings underscore several factors that explain the decline of the tourism economy of KSDM since 2006 and reduced its contribution to local economic development. Central issues surround crime and safety, infrastructural deficiencies, and shortcomings of the local government itself, including its failure to maintain critical municipal assets essential for tourism development.

Mundane Urban Tourism: The Historical Evolution of Caravan Parks in South Africa 1930–1994

Abstract: Caravanning and the development of caravan parks is one of the most under-researched themes in tourism studies in general and urban tourism scholarship in particular. Existing international literature is dominated by demand-side investigations with supply-side issues little examined. Using a chronological approach the objective is to analyse the historical evolution of caravan parks in South Africa from the 1930s to the period of democratic transition in 1994. The location of the majority of caravan parks is shown as in urban areas of South Africa with a notable share in the country’s small towns. Caravanning was a vital component in the historical growth of coastal tourism in South Africa. The analysis discloses across the sixty-year study period caravanning and caravan parks experienced several changes. In common with the experience of Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom the role of municipal governments was significant in the early supply-side establishment of caravan parks in South Africa. Private sector entrepreneurship, however, grew and eventually surpassed the role of local governments in the development and operation of caravan parks. Arguably, the growing dominance of the private sector was taking place at a time when caravanning itself was in transition away from simply a low budget form of domestic travel. In comparative international perspective the shifts observed in South Africa exhibit certain parallels with those structural changes which occurred in the caravan sectors of Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Urban Tourism Under Apartheid: The Johannesburg Chapter

Abstract: Urban tourism research is characteristically present-minded. Few studies on urban tourism adopt an historical perspective. The aim is to address a knowledge gap concerning urban tourism during the years of apartheid from 1948 to 1991 examining the case of Johannesburg. Using a chronological approach the analysis is structured in two parts. First, the changing visitor economy of Johannesburg is investigated for the period from 1948 to the time of democratic transition. It is shown that for international visitors the city’s core attractions related to gold mining, visits to view game, and to experience ‘Native’ mine dancing; for domestic visitors shopping and the night-time economy were significant. Following successive outbursts of political unrest and the imposition of international sanctions on South Africa in the 1980s city marketing reorients to the domestic traveller and in particular for supporting business tourism. The imprint of apartheid legislation upon the provision of accommodation services in Johannesburg is analysed in terms of the emergence of separate hotels for whites and ‘non-Whites’. The transition to a ‘modernized’ hotel industry in the city is traced including the shift to adopting international norms for the hospitality industry. Arguably, research on urban tourism under apartheid offers fertile territory for exploring the distinctiveness of past urban tourisms as well as of changing hotel geographies in South Africa.

Climate change risks and tourism in south africa: projections and policy

Abstract: The challenge of climate change and tourism is an evolving international knowledge domain. South Africa is one of the most vulnerable countries with respect to projected climate change. For the national tourism economy climate change is a significant topic of concern. The objectives in this article are to present climate change projections and potential impacts for South Africa’s tourism economy and to critically analyse the policy landscape concerning national government’s response to climate change as a whole and more specifically in relation to the tourism sector. It is shown key tourism assets of South Africa are at risk from the advance of climate change. The analysis discloses that the South African government has supported international efforts and obligations to address the challenge of climate change, commitments which have influenced policy development regarding tourism. Nevertheless, policy development towards climate change and tourism has not progressed greatly over the past decade. Arguably, this is an outcome of the overwhelming concentration in recent government tourism policy in South Africa towards issues of inclusivity and transformation.

Creative Networks and the Making of Africa’s First UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy

Abstract: Creative cities and their networks are topics of growing scholarship. The objective is to examine the emergence of an African creative city and of its membership of a creative network, one of the seven subnetworks of the UNESCO Network of Creative Cities which focuses on gastronomy. The paper represents a contribution to scholarship on gastronomic tourism in the global South and is one of the few studies to address this theme in Africa. Attention is upon Overstrand which is situated in South Africa’s Western Cape province. A discussion is presented of the theoretical concept of creative networks, the development of the UNESCO Network of Creative Cities, debates specifically concerning UNESCO Creative Cities of Gastronomy, and of the evolution of gastronomy as one of the tourism products of the Overstrand, Africa’s first UNESCO creative city of gastronomy.

Student-Centred VFR Travel: Evidence from Johannesburg

Abstract: Within urban tourism VFR travel is a leading segment. The aim is to contribute to the limited scholarship on VFR travel and African urban tourism. The focus is on student-centred VFR travel in South Africa where there has been a considerable expansion, radical restructuring and change in the structure of tertiary education since democratic change in 1994. The case study is of student-centred VFR travel in Johannesburg, South Africa’s leading city tourism destination with findings analysed from research conducted with students at the University of Johannesburg. The study is the first to be undertaken in a context of the global South and a specific setting in which financial adversity is a defining characteristic of the student body as a whole. Although certain findings were revealed that are similar to those from research based in the global North certain striking differences were recorded. The most significant was the much lower volumes of student VFR travel than has been recorded elsewhere. The majority of students did not receive any VFR travellers in the previous academic year. The results from student-centred VFR travel at University of Johannesburg point to the major influence of the low incomes of households and of students which limit the nature of activities and of VFR expenditures.

Climate Therapy and The Development of South Africa as a Health Resort, c.1850-1910

Abstract: Historical research is undeveloped concerning tourism in sub-Saharan Africa. This research contributes to scholarship about the history of tourism for climate and health. In South Africa the beginnings of international tourism are associated with its emergence as a health resort and to climate therapy. Using archival sources an analysis is undertaken of the factors that influenced the emergence of South Africa as a health destination during the 19 th century. Climate therapy was of particular interest for the treatment of consumption or tuberculosis. Arguably, the perceived therapeutic regenerative qualities of South Africa’s climate became a driver for the development of a form of international tourism that pre-dated the country’s emergence as a leisure tourism destination.

Municipal assets for tourism and small-town local economic development : Caravan parks in South Africa

Abstract: Local governments often hold or control significant baskets of assets that can leverage opportunities for local economic development including tourism-led development. Tourism promotion is the most widespread form of local economic development intervention in South Africa and is particularly significant in small towns. The chapter investigates the challenges of leveraging one particular form of tourism asset which is in direct municipal ownership in several countries including Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The specific focus is on caravan parks, their role as municipal assets and planning challenges around leveraging for local development. The coastal province of the Western Cape is the major geographical focus for municipal caravan parks, part of the changing drive tourism economy of South Africa. It is shown in this region that administrative responsibility for caravan parks is not usually linked to either tourism or local development planning but instead to parks and recreation or community development. Under consideration for the future management of municipal caravan parks are several options including the privatisation and sale of assets, joint venture arrangements or leasing of parks for a defined time period to the private sector.