Adventure tourism is currently regarded as one of the fastest growing forms of nature-based tourism within the alternative tourism industry. Historically, adventure was only considered a by-product on journeys of discovery and exploration as travellers sought new land, wealth and knowledge. As the uncertainty surrounding travel diminished and more people began to travel further in search of new and exciting pursuits, the term adventure tourism began to take shape. Those who travelled further to remote and exotic nature-based settings to participate in unique and adventurous activities become known as adventure tourists. These travellers may be thought of as being the first adventure tourists, although modern-day adventure tourism has its origins in numerous historic themes in travel and ways of thinking, including those of explorers and adventurers, pilgrims, travel writer adventurers, merchants and traders, trekking, Outward Bound and World War periods. Although being a much debated topic amongst scholars, adventure tourism is described as travel to a remote, exotic or nature-based destination with the purpose of participating in adventure activities. Adventure activities are usually associated with risk, challenge and danger and are pursued for their ability to provide the participant with unknown outcomes, constricting emotions, educational opportunities, and novel, thrilling, stimulating, exciting and adrenaline rush experiences. Adventure activities also differ in respect of their requirements to competently overcome different levels of challenge. Challenges posed by adventure activities can range from the routine to the extreme and are therefore divided into two categories, namely soft and hard adventure activities. Soft adventure activities require little to no previous experience or skills as they only contain perceived levels of risk, whereas hard adventure activities are regarded as highly challenging activities that require great mental and physical effort to perform. The bulk of the adventure tourism market consists of soft adventure tourists. This is also true of the visitors who participate in adventure activities in national parks, as most adventure offerings in the parks consist of soft adventure activities, such as safaris, game drives, camping, and trail walking, to name but a few. A great number of these adventure activities are centred on family groups and more mature audiences, as they make up the majority of the market of visitors visiting South African National Parks. In other words, from the over 80% of funding that is self-generated by South African National Parks, these markets are considered primary contributors to park income. Unfortunately, it was estimated that by 2022 operational cost would have exceeded tourism profits due to the constant increase in conservation costs and land management costs. A feasible solution to this problem was identified; connecting a broader South African society with national parks to help support and protect the natural heritage of the parks. This included the development of new adventure activities for current and potentially new markets that will respond to both the adventure and wilderness lore of national parks. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to determine tourist needs for adventure activities in South African National Parks. A literature analysis of adventure tourism and adventure tourism product development, which provided the background for the empirical study, was conducted. A quantitative research approach was followed by means of an electronic questionnaire that was posted on the SANParks web site under the sub-link 'Media & News', allowing for convenience sampling. Respondents had access to the questionnaire during the months of April and May 2014, from which 387 usable questionnaires were obtained. Data was analysed using descriptive and exploratory statistics for arriving at the empirical results. The socio-demographic profile of the majority of respondents who completed the questionnaire was found to be as follows: almost an equal number of females (51%) and males (49%) spoke English as a home language, married, obtained some kind of diploma or degree, averaged an age of 49 years, and resided in Gauteng or the Western Cape. Thirty-four percent (34%) of respondents included children in their travel party of which the majority were between the ages of nineteen to twenty-five years. It was also identified that respondents visited national parks an average of 8.54 times over a five-year period and stayed an average of two to seven nights, while most respondents were owners of a Wild Card. Most respondents indicated that they participated in adventure activities but felt that current adventure activities in national parks were sufficient. Respondents were also willing to pay for adventure activities in national parks, ranging from R101-R300 for an activity per person. Respondents were offered the opportunity to identify the level of importance between a list of soft and hard adventure activities for national parks, as well as motives for participating in adventure activities. Three factor analyses were conducted on these lists from which eight factors were identified for the soft adventure activities (water-based, interpretive, wildlife interaction, heritage, consumptive, trail/trekking, self-executing and team-based), three factors for the hard adventure activities (adrenaline rush, wilderness training and survival courses, and adventure sports) and two factors for adventure participation motives (internal and external motives). The most important soft adventure factor with the highest mean value was interpretive (safari/game viewing, night drives, bird watching, stargazing, guided walks and hot air ballooning), with self-executing (guided and unguided 4x4 trails and campsite camping) in second place, heritage (archaeological tours, historical tours, geographical tours and botanical tours) in third place and trail/trekking (backpacking, cycling routes, hiking and horseback safaris) in fourth place. Self-executing was also considered the only factor that had a positive small effect correlation with visits over the past five years, meaning that if visitor visits increase so does the importance of self-executing activities. Wilderness training and survival courses (field-guide training, wilderness camping, survival and wilderness training, and survival games) were considered as the most important hard adventure factor. Regarding adventure participation motives, respondents considered external motives, such as getting in touch with nature, spending time with family and friends, educational reasons, escaping routine and exploring a new destination, to be the most important reasons for participating in adventure activities. The profile of visitors who were most likely to participate in adventure activities was below the age of forty years and not a Wild Card member. It was also identified that males generally had a higher preference rate for adventure activities, including respondents that were either single or living together. In conclusion, this study found that there is a need for a variety of adventure activities in national parks and visitors are motivated by the social and environmental aspects of adventure activities, rather than by the performance thereof. The results in this study can assist South African National Parks in the development of appropriate adventure activities as a strategy to combat future increases in operational costs. / MA (Tourism Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Adventure tourism is currently regarded as one of the fastest growing forms of nature-based tourism within the alternative tourism industry. Historically, adventure was only considered a by-product on journeys of discovery and exploration as travellers sought new land, wealth and knowledge. As the uncertainty surrounding travel diminished and more people began to travel further in search of new and exciting pursuits, the term adventure tourism began to take shape. Those who travelled further to remote and exotic nature-based settings to participate in unique and adventurous activities become known as adventure tourists. These travellers may be thought of as being the first adventure tourists, although modern-day adventure tourism has its origins in numerous historic themes in travel and ways of thinking, including those of explorers and adventurers, pilgrims, travel writer adventurers, merchants and traders, trekking, Outward Bound and World War periods. Although being a much debated topic amongst scholars, adventure tourism is described as travel to a remote, exotic or nature-based destination with the purpose of participating in adventure activities. Adventure activities are usually associated with risk, challenge and danger and are pursued for their ability to provide the participant with unknown outcomes, constricting emotions, educational opportunities, and novel, thrilling, stimulating, exciting and adrenaline rush experiences. Adventure activities also differ in respect of their requirements to competently overcome different levels of challenge. Challenges posed by adventure activities can range from the routine to the extreme and are therefore divided into two categories, namely soft and hard adventure activities. Soft adventure activities require little to no previous experience or skills as they only contain perceived levels of risk, whereas hard adventure activities are regarded as highly challenging activities that require great mental and physical effort to perform. The bulk of the adventure tourism market consists of soft adventure tourists. This is also true of the visitors who participate in adventure activities in national parks, as most adventure offerings in the parks consist of soft adventure activities, such as safaris, game drives, camping, and trail walking, to name but a few. A great number of these adventure activities are centred on family groups and more mature audiences, as they make up the majority of the market of visitors visiting South African National Parks. In other words, from the over 80% of funding that is self-generated by South African National Parks, these markets are considered primary contributors to park income. Unfortunately, it was estimated that by 2022 operational cost would have exceeded tourism profits due to the constant increase in conservation costs and land management costs. A feasible solution to this problem was identified; connecting a broader South African society with national parks to help support and protect the natural heritage of the parks. This included the development of new adventure activities for current and potentially new markets that will respond to both the adventure and wilderness lore of national parks. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to determine tourist needs for adventure activities in South African National Parks. A literature analysis of adventure tourism and adventure tourism product development, which provided the background for the empirical study, was conducted. A quantitative research approach was followed by means of an electronic questionnaire that was posted on the SANParks web site under the sub-link 'Media & News', allowing for convenience sampling. Respondents had access to the questionnaire during the months of April and May 2014, from which 387 usable questionnaires were obtained. Data was analysed using descriptive and exploratory statistics for arriving at the empirical results. The socio-demographic profile of the majority of respondents who completed the questionnaire was found to be as follows: almost an equal number of females (51%) and males (49%) spoke English as a home language, married, obtained some kind of diploma or degree, averaged an age of 49 years, and resided in Gauteng or the Western Cape. Thirty-four percent (34%) of respondents included children in their travel party of which the majority were between the ages of nineteen to twenty-five years. It was also identified that respondents visited national parks an average of 8.54 times over a five-year period and stayed an average of two to seven nights, while most respondents were owners of a Wild Card. Most respondents indicated that they participated in adventure activities but felt that current adventure activities in national parks were sufficient. Respondents were also willing to pay for adventure activities in national parks, ranging from R101-R300 for an activity per person. Respondents were offered the opportunity to identify the level of importance between a list of soft and hard adventure activities for national parks, as well as motives for participating in adventure activities. Three factor analyses were conducted on these lists from which eight factors were identified for the soft adventure activities (water-based, interpretive, wildlife interaction, heritage, consumptive, trail/trekking, self-executing and team-based), three factors for the hard adventure activities (adrenaline rush, wilderness training and survival courses, and adventure sports) and two factors for adventure participation motives (internal and external motives). The most important soft adventure factor with the highest mean value was interpretive (safari/game viewing, night drives, bird watching, stargazing, guided walks and hot air ballooning), with self-executing (guided and unguided 4x4 trails and campsite camping) in second place, heritage (archaeological tours, historical tours, geographical tours and botanical tours) in third place and trail/trekking (backpacking, cycling routes, hiking and horseback safaris) in fourth place. Self-executing was also considered the only factor that had a positive small effect correlation with visits over the past five years, meaning that if visitor visits increase so does the importance of self-executing activities. Wilderness training and survival courses (field-guide training, wilderness camping, survival and wilderness training, and survival games) were considered as the most important hard adventure factor. Regarding adventure participation motives, respondents considered external motives, such as getting in touch with nature, spending time with family and friends, educational reasons, escaping routine and exploring a new destination, to be the most important reasons for participating in adventure activities. The profile of visitors who were most likely to participate in adventure activities was below the age of forty years and not a Wild Card member. It was also identified that males generally had a higher preference rate for adventure activities, including respondents that were either single or living together. In conclusion, this study found that there is a need for a variety of adventure activities in national parks and visitors are motivated by the social and environmental aspects of adventure activities, rather than by the performance thereof. The results in this study can assist South African National Parks in the development of appropriate adventure activities as a strategy to combat future increases in operational costs. / MA (Tourism Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Tourism comprises the world's largest industry, and beaches (marine tourism) are considered as one of the major tourism attractions in the world. Marine tourism includes different aspects such as the ocean, coastal water sports, hotels and restaurants, island and beach resorts, recreation, fishing boat operators, cruise ships and charter yacht companies. One of the main contributors to marine and wildlife tourism in South Africa, is South African National Parks (SANParks), comprising of 21 national parks. Of the 21 National Parks six are marine national parks covering 4004.4 square kilometres namely West Coast, Wilderness, Tsitsikamma, Addo Elephant, Agulhas and Table Mountain National Parks. The two most known Marine National Parks in South Africa are Tsitsikamma and Addo Elephant National Parks: Addo Elephant for the fact that it is the only national park in South Africa hosting the BIG 7, namely elephant, rhino, lion, buffalo, leopard, whales and great white sharks. Tsitsikamma National Park is important as it is the first and oldest Marine National Park in Africa. South African National Parks receive thousands of visitors each year and tourists visiting these parks are a source of revenue for national parks and by determining travel motives, marketing can be undertaken more effectively, and specific factors can be taken into account when the marketing strategies are being planned. The literature review indicated that an understanding of tourist motives is a key aspect in understanding tourist behaviour. If the travel motives of tourists are known to product owners, in the case of South African National Parks, they will assist the product owner with product development as well as its marketing strategy. By understanding tourist behaviour one can understand why tourists buy certain products and why they make certain decisions. Tourist behaviour can be analysed in terms of the purchasing process a tourist goes through when making a decision. Different tourists will have different decision making processes and will have different motives for buying different products and services. To be able to understand how buyers proceed through the decision making process one has to look at the tourist decision–making process which consists of different influences like demographic factors, the marketing mix, internal/ psychological, external/social and situational factors. From the literature review, the following travel motivations theories were identified: Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Murray's classification of needs, Mill and Morrison's needs and wants theory, Push and Pull theories and the Sun lust and Wanderlust theory. It was found in the literature review that there are some travel motives that are found in most of the nature based destinations such as “relaxation and escape”, “learn about nature” and “park attributes” to name but a few. The research, however, also found that travel motives are closely linked to what these destinations offer and it was also found that different marine destinations seem also to have different travel motives. The aim of this study is, therefore, to determine the travel motives of tourists to selected Marine National Parks in South Africa. Secondary data was used to determine the visitor's profile as well as the factor analysis on travel motives. Four hundred and eight questionnaires were administered to the Addo Elephant National Park and 495 to the Tsitsikamma National Park. The data analysis consisted of two parts, the first part was descriptive data and here the profile of the visitors to the two selected marine national parks was discussed. In the second part a factor analysis was conducted. The aim of a factor analysis is to reduce the data and to assist in the interpretation of the data. A factor analysis further describes the variance–covariance relationship among a number of variables in terms of a few underlying but unobservable random quantities, called factors. For this research a principal axis factor analysis with Oblimin with Kaiser Normalisation rotation was performed on the 22 travel motive items. The visitors' profiles for both the parks were quite similar except for the following: The largest percentage of the visitors to Tsitsikamma National Park were Afrikaans speaking and not as in the case of Addo Elephant National Park most tourists were English speaking, The major markets for Addo Elephant National Park, were the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces and for the Tsitsikamma National Park the major markets were Gauteng and the Western Cape Provinces. The factor analysis regarding travel motives revealed the following four factors: Education and knowledge seeking, Relaxation and escape, Park attributes and Family togetherness. A comparison was done regarding the travel motives of tourists to the two national parks to determine if there were any differences. A small to medium effect size was found for “relax and escape” and “education and learning about wildlife”, therefore, a small to medium statistical significant difference were found. This research confirmed that different marine destinations have different travel motives. Therefore, marketers can use this information and focus on individual marketing for each park based on the products they offer. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Tourism comprises the world's largest industry, and beaches (marine tourism) are considered as one of the major tourism attractions in the world. Marine tourism includes different aspects such as the ocean, coastal water sports, hotels and restaurants, island and beach resorts, recreation, fishing boat operators, cruise ships and charter yacht companies. One of the main contributors to marine and wildlife tourism in South Africa, is South African National Parks (SANParks), comprising of 21 national parks. Of the 21 National Parks six are marine national parks covering 4004.4 square kilometres namely West Coast, Wilderness, Tsitsikamma, Addo Elephant, Agulhas and Table Mountain National Parks. The two most known Marine National Parks in South Africa are Tsitsikamma and Addo Elephant National Parks: Addo Elephant for the fact that it is the only national park in South Africa hosting the BIG 7, namely elephant, rhino, lion, buffalo, leopard, whales and great white sharks. Tsitsikamma National Park is important as it is the first and oldest Marine National Park in Africa. South African National Parks receive thousands of visitors each year and tourists visiting these parks are a source of revenue for national parks and by determining travel motives, marketing can be undertaken more effectively, and specific factors can be taken into account when the marketing strategies are being planned. The literature review indicated that an understanding of tourist motives is a key aspect in understanding tourist behaviour. If the travel motives of tourists are known to product owners, in the case of South African National Parks, they will assist the product owner with product development as well as its marketing strategy. By understanding tourist behaviour one can understand why tourists buy certain products and why they make certain decisions. Tourist behaviour can be analysed in terms of the purchasing process a tourist goes through when making a decision. Different tourists will have different decision making processes and will have different motives for buying different products and services. To be able to understand how buyers proceed through the decision making process one has to look at the tourist decision–making process which consists of different influences like demographic factors, the marketing mix, internal/ psychological, external/social and situational factors. From the literature review, the following travel motivations theories were identified: Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Murray's classification of needs, Mill and Morrison's needs and wants theory, Push and Pull theories and the Sun lust and Wanderlust theory. It was found in the literature review that there are some travel motives that are found in most of the nature based destinations such as “relaxation and escape”, “learn about nature” and “park attributes” to name but a few. The research, however, also found that travel motives are closely linked to what these destinations offer and it was also found that different marine destinations seem also to have different travel motives. The aim of this study is, therefore, to determine the travel motives of tourists to selected Marine National Parks in South Africa. Secondary data was used to determine the visitor's profile as well as the factor analysis on travel motives. Four hundred and eight questionnaires were administered to the Addo Elephant National Park and 495 to the Tsitsikamma National Park. The data analysis consisted of two parts, the first part was descriptive data and here the profile of the visitors to the two selected marine national parks was discussed. In the second part a factor analysis was conducted. The aim of a factor analysis is to reduce the data and to assist in the interpretation of the data. A factor analysis further describes the variance–covariance relationship among a number of variables in terms of a few underlying but unobservable random quantities, called factors. For this research a principal axis factor analysis with Oblimin with Kaiser Normalisation rotation was performed on the 22 travel motive items. The visitors' profiles for both the parks were quite similar except for the following: The largest percentage of the visitors to Tsitsikamma National Park were Afrikaans speaking and not as in the case of Addo Elephant National Park most tourists were English speaking, The major markets for Addo Elephant National Park, were the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces and for the Tsitsikamma National Park the major markets were Gauteng and the Western Cape Provinces. The factor analysis regarding travel motives revealed the following four factors: Education and knowledge seeking, Relaxation and escape, Park attributes and Family togetherness. A comparison was done regarding the travel motives of tourists to the two national parks to determine if there were any differences. A small to medium effect size was found for “relax and escape” and “education and learning about wildlife”, therefore, a small to medium statistical significant difference were found. This research confirmed that different marine destinations have different travel motives. Therefore, marketers can use this information and focus on individual marketing for each park based on the products they offer. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Nature–based tourism destinations have shown significant growth over the past decade and, with the ever increasing numbers of tourists travelling to national parks, the right management structures, goals and objectives need to be determined. South African National Parks (SANParks) manages all 22 national parks in South Africa with the Kruger National Park (KNP) being the biggest of them all and generating more than 80% of SANParks income. The KNP is one of the world’s largest parks conserving a staggering 1 962 362 ha of land which is bigger than countries such as Israel and Holland. When taking the KNP into perspective, park management must have the right management styles and factors in place to ensure that the park is managed in a sustainable manner and exceeds the expectations of the tourist to provide a memorable experience whilst visiting the KNP. The goal of this study was therefore to determine the critical management aspects or critical success factors (CSFs) needed to create a memorable visitor experience at the park. This goal was achieved by conducting a questionnaire survey at four rest camps within the KNP from 27 December 2010 to 4 January 2011. The rest camps used for the survey were: Skukuza (152 questionnaires), Berg and Dal (98 questionnaires), Lower Sabie (85 questionnaires) and Satara (101 questionnaires). During this time a total of 436 questionnaires were completed and included in further analysis. In Article 1, the key management aspects that visitors regard as important for a memorable visitor experience at the KNP were identified. These CSFs assist management in providing quality services and products for the tourist, leading to a memorable experience. A factor analysis was performed on the expectations of the tourists to national parks. There were nine CSFs identified that management can implement to ensure a memorable visitor experience. The three factors that have not yet been identified in previous research were wildlife experience, interpretation and luxuries. Other factors that have been identified were General management, Variety activities, Accommodation, Green management, Hospitality management, and Facilities. The results showed that park management needs to become aware of what the visitor sees as important factors for a memorable visitor experience and they can adapt certain aspects to improve the visitor’s experience. In Article 2, gaps within the park management were identified. These gaps were measured by taking the 62 variables and asking the tourist what their expectations were with regard to a memorable experience versus their actual/real experience at the park. A factor analysis on the expectations and the actual/real experiences was done and each of these factors was given a score. The scores of each factor were measured against one another indicating the differences and gaps in management. The twelve factors that were identified were General management, Education activities. Accommodation facilities, Green management, Information provided, Layout of the park, Wildlife, Facilities in the park, Food and Beverage management, Interpretive activities, Bookings and General services, and Outdoor activities. These twelve factors have also been grouped into three sub groups containing four factors each and either the expectations were exceeded, did not meet expectations or were neutral. The main gaps were Education, Accommodation facilities, Interpretations facilities and Wildlife. If management want to ensure a memorable visitor experience at the KNP they must not only focus on these gaps, but also strive to exceed visitors’ expectations on all levels. This research found that there are certain CSFs for managing a national park and gaps within park management that need to be addressed. These gaps or problem areas can be overcome by the implementation of a continuous evaluation process that will ensure effective and efficient management of the park. Park management can therefore improve their services and products as well as the quality thereof by knowing what the tourists see as important when visiting a national park to obtain a memorable experience that will lead to positive word of mouth, loyalty, increased revenue and sustainability of the KNP. Even though it is not a requirement of a masters’ dissertation to make a contribution, this research has made a significant contribution towards the methodology as the method applied determined the gaps in visitor experience and expectations and this has not been used before. Future research can make use of this type of method determining individuals’ expectations and experiences when visiting a national park or any other nature–based destination. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Nature–based tourism destinations have shown significant growth over the past decade and, with the ever increasing numbers of tourists travelling to national parks, the right management structures, goals and objectives need to be determined. South African National Parks (SANParks) manages all 22 national parks in South Africa with the Kruger National Park (KNP) being the biggest of them all and generating more than 80% of SANParks income. The KNP is one of the world’s largest parks conserving a staggering 1 962 362 ha of land which is bigger than countries such as Israel and Holland. When taking the KNP into perspective, park management must have the right management styles and factors in place to ensure that the park is managed in a sustainable manner and exceeds the expectations of the tourist to provide a memorable experience whilst visiting the KNP. The goal of this study was therefore to determine the critical management aspects or critical success factors (CSFs) needed to create a memorable visitor experience at the park. This goal was achieved by conducting a questionnaire survey at four rest camps within the KNP from 27 December 2010 to 4 January 2011. The rest camps used for the survey were: Skukuza (152 questionnaires), Berg and Dal (98 questionnaires), Lower Sabie (85 questionnaires) and Satara (101 questionnaires). During this time a total of 436 questionnaires were completed and included in further analysis. In Article 1, the key management aspects that visitors regard as important for a memorable visitor experience at the KNP were identified. These CSFs assist management in providing quality services and products for the tourist, leading to a memorable experience. A factor analysis was performed on the expectations of the tourists to national parks. There were nine CSFs identified that management can implement to ensure a memorable visitor experience. The three factors that have not yet been identified in previous research were wildlife experience, interpretation and luxuries. Other factors that have been identified were General management, Variety activities, Accommodation, Green management, Hospitality management, and Facilities. The results showed that park management needs to become aware of what the visitor sees as important factors for a memorable visitor experience and they can adapt certain aspects to improve the visitor’s experience. In Article 2, gaps within the park management were identified. These gaps were measured by taking the 62 variables and asking the tourist what their expectations were with regard to a memorable experience versus their actual/real experience at the park. A factor analysis on the expectations and the actual/real experiences was done and each of these factors was given a score. The scores of each factor were measured against one another indicating the differences and gaps in management. The twelve factors that were identified were General management, Education activities. Accommodation facilities, Green management, Information provided, Layout of the park, Wildlife, Facilities in the park, Food and Beverage management, Interpretive activities, Bookings and General services, and Outdoor activities. These twelve factors have also been grouped into three sub groups containing four factors each and either the expectations were exceeded, did not meet expectations or were neutral. The main gaps were Education, Accommodation facilities, Interpretations facilities and Wildlife. If management want to ensure a memorable visitor experience at the KNP they must not only focus on these gaps, but also strive to exceed visitors’ expectations on all levels. This research found that there are certain CSFs for managing a national park and gaps within park management that need to be addressed. These gaps or problem areas can be overcome by the implementation of a continuous evaluation process that will ensure effective and efficient management of the park. Park management can therefore improve their services and products as well as the quality thereof by knowing what the tourists see as important when visiting a national park to obtain a memorable experience that will lead to positive word of mouth, loyalty, increased revenue and sustainability of the KNP. Even though it is not a requirement of a masters’ dissertation to make a contribution, this research has made a significant contribution towards the methodology as the method applied determined the gaps in visitor experience and expectations and this has not been used before. Future research can make use of this type of method determining individuals’ expectations and experiences when visiting a national park or any other nature–based destination. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.