Restructuring the geography of domestic tourism in South Africa

• Authors: Christian M. Rogerson
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Domestic tourism is relatively under-represented in tourism scholarship. This article attempts to analyse the role of domestic tourism in one of the ‘emerging world regions’ of tourism. In the case of South Africa domestic tourism represents a significant element of the country’s tourism economy. The objectives are to provide (i) an analysis of the growth, contemporary spatial patterns and restructuring of domestic tourism in South Africa; and (ii) an assessment of emerging policy debates issues taking place about domestic tourism. Using a detailed local level data base on tourism flows this paper provides fresh insight into the character and changing geography of domestic tourism in South Africa. The nature and dynamics of domestic tourism are shown to have shifted since democratic transition. The restructured geography of domestic tourism exhibits a number of continuities and changes with earlier times. Government is seeking to use domestic tourism as a basis for addressing spatial unevenness in patterns of tourism development. In terms of recent spatial change it is revealed the most significant developments are the strengthening of Ethekwini as the country’s leading domestic tourism destination and the relative demise of Cape Town as a hub for domestic tourists.

Keywords

EN

domestic tourism; spatial change; VFR travel; South Africa; tourism policy

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 29
• Issue: 29
• Pages: 119-135

Dates

published

2015-09-01

received

2015-01-12

revised

2015-03-20

accepted

2015-04-29

online

2015-07-27

Contributors

author

Christian M. Rogerson

• University of Johannesburg, School of Tourism and Hospitality, Faculty of Management, South Africa; phone [phone]

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/bog-2015-0029