- Title
- Sustainable competitive tourism in South Africa
- Creator
- Ferreira, Daniel Petrus
- Subject
- Tourism -- South Africa
- Subject
- Sustainable development Competition -- South Africa
- Date Issued
- 2018
- Date
- 2018
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Doctoral
- Type
- DPhil
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/22464
- Identifier
- vital:29972
- Description
- Tourism is one of the major economic industries in the world and is one of the main income sources for many developing countries such as South Africa (SA). The South African tourism industry contributes approximately R309 billion to the country‘s Gross Domestic Product, and is considered the country‘s fastest growing industry. Although, in comparison to 2016 SA experienced a 2% growth rate of international tourist arrivals in 2014, the increase is considerably lower than the global average of 7%. In 2018, SA also dropped five rankings to number 61, as compared to the previous year according to the Global Competitiveness 2017 to 2018 report. Consequently, SA is not considered a competitive global tourism economy. To increase the country‘s position in the global ranking, it must develop policies and marketing strategies that include both competitive and sustainable aspects. The primary objective of this study is to develop a sustainable- and competitive tourism model for SA. The study investigated and analysed how the independent variables (tourism driving forces) influence sustainable- and competitive tourism (dependent variables). From a comprehensive literature review, a hypothetical model was developed to determine tourism driving forces that might influence sustainable- and competitive tourism. Twenty-two hypotheses were formulated to test the relationships between the eleven tourism driving forces and two dependent variables, namely sustainable- and competitive tourism. This quantitative research approach study sought the perceptions of various tourism stakeholders in SA. A survey was conducted with the aid of a structured web-based questionnaire, distributed via e-mail, and posted on various tourism-specific Facebook pages. A combination of convenience- and snowball sampling was utilised. A final sample of 512 respondents was obtained. The items in the questionnaire were validated by conducting exploratory factor analysis, thereafter the Cronbach‘s alpha values were calculated for each of the valid constructs to confirm inter-item reliability. The results of the Pearson product-moment correlation tests between the various independent and dependent variables revealed mostly moderate to strong correlations. For this reason, multi-collinearity diagnostics testing was conducted prior to multiple regression analysis to confirm that there is no evidence of collinearity between the tourism driving forces, as well as between the dependent variables. The multiple regression analysis reveals three statistically significant relationships between the enabling country conditions (market conditions, technological conditions and tourism policy development) and sustainable tourism. In addition, four statistically significant relationships were found between the destination appeal forces (enablers, enhancers, infrastructure and political conditions) and competitive tourism. The empirical findings further confirmed natural attraction promotional tactics as a destination appeal driving force had a statistically significant relationship with both competitive tourism and sustainability tourism. The inter-relationship between sustainable- and competitive tourism was also confirmed, however, competitive tourism was shown to influence sustainable tourism to a larger extent. Multivariate analysis of variance calculations was used to identify whether the demographic profiles of respondents (classification data) occupy a role in how they view the tourism forces (destination appeal and enabling country conditions) important to create tourism demand in South Africa. A total of 69 statistically significant relationships were found between the classification data and the tourism forces. Post-hoc Tukey tests identified numerous significant means differences within the different classification data categories. The Cohen‘s D analysis revealed 135 practically significant relationships, of which twenty had large practical significance. The five key aspects relevant to increase tourism demand were to have a discrimination-free country regarding race, religion and sexual preference, as well as a safe and stable tourism environment without xenophobic violence. For this reason, the SA government must work actively towards providing a peaceful, safe and discrimination-free tourism environment to attract tourists. Based on the multiple regression results, the marketing of SA‘s natural attractions as a destination appeal factor is essential for competitive tourism to enhance the tourism experience, while it is also imperative for sustainable tourism to increase tourism demand. It is thus suggested that SA Tourism update relevant information regarding the country‘s wildlife and national parks monthly to remain competitive in its quest to towards sustainability. As the destination appeal factors (enablers, enhancers, infrastructure and political conditions) had statistically significant relationships with competitive tourism, these destination appeal factors require consideration. It is therefore recommended that SA should ensure its visa regulations are easily understood, and consider introducing a Tourist Visa On Arrival system to increase the country‘s global tourism competitiveness. In addition, SA should consider creating business- and paleo-tourism niche markets for tourism sustainability. Furthermore, the marketing material must outline the favourable infrastructure available and contain visuals to capture the tourists‘ experiences when selecting SA as a travel destination. The SA government should act responsibly in addressing politically-related unrest through public condemnation of xenophobic violence and showing the severe consequences to those involved in it. Based on the empirical results, enabling country condition factors such as market- and technological conditions, as well as paying attention to the development of the tourism policy, are essential in striving towards sustainable tourism in SA. It is thus suggested that tourism companies promote SA‘s current (2018) favourable exchange rate to potential foreign tourists originating from developed countries. Furthermore, the SA government should adopt globally acceptable online travel application technology to provide travellers with access to reliable and accurate information and enable easy and swift online bookings. This study can be considered one of the first in SA to compile a comprehensive model to confirm empirically which tourism driving forces bring about sustainable- and competitive tourism in the country. This model can now be used by other researchers as a framework for further testing within their respective countries. The study is also the first to identify the major role the demographic profiles of tourists can play in how they view the tourism forces by clearly indicating the differences in thinking of the different demographic groups. The recommendations are tailored for different stakeholder groups such as the government, SA Tourism and travel companies to market SA aptly in their quest towards increasing the country‘s tourism competitiveness and striving towards sustainable tourism.
- Format
- xxi, 455 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Business and Economics Sciences
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
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