During the recession period of 2008/2009, global tourism declined by 8%. This was also evident is South Africa with the domestic travel market shrinking by 8% as well. However, this did not apply to the Kruger National Park (KNP) which experienced a sustained Accommodation Unit Occupancy growth of 1.6% during the same period. Visitors to the KNP thus see it as an attractive holiday destination irrespective of tough economic conditions characterised by less disposable income. To sustain this growth, it is important to be aware of the reasons visitors still visit the KNP during a recession. The aim of this study was to determine the reasons why visitors still travelled to the KNP during the 2008/2009 recession. This can be done by analysing the visitors’ behaviour and the motivational factors (internal feelings of the visitors) and determinants of the demand (income and exchange rates for instance) that influenced visitors’ choice to visit the KNP. To achieve this aim, a survey was conducted at the KNP between 15 and 20 December 2009 (high season). A total of 355 questionnaires were completed, after which a number of analyses were done to determine the effects of the recession on travel behaviour. For the purpose of this study, two articles were written. Article 1 is titled: “Motivations of visitors to the Kruger National Park during the 2008/2009 recession period”. The aim of this article was to determine the motivations of visitors to the KNP during the recession. A factor analysis on the motivations to visit the park was conducted, of which the following factors obtained the highest mean values: Escape, Wildlife experience and Family benefits. Push factors to the KNP were important to such an extent that visitors regarded visiting the park as a primary need or lifestyle. The results furthermore showed that visitors might have adapted their spending behaviour at the park to still afford to visit the park during the recession. This article provides a better understanding of visitors’ feelings towards the KNP, especially amidst recessions which, in turn, will improve niche marketing and a competitive advantage. Article 2 is titled: “Factors that influenced demand to the Kruger National Park during the 2008/2009 economic recession”. The aim of this article was to identify the determinants that influence the demand for visits to the KNP. Due to the homogeneous nature of the park’s market, the results of the stepwise logistic regression analysis revealed a few socio-demographic and behavioural determinants that influenced visitors’ demand to the park. The motives Escape and Souvenirs were the only two behavioural determinants while the provinces Gauteng and Mpumalanga were the only socio-demographic determinants. These two provinces are the two main markets for the KNP. Visitors indicated that visiting the KNP is a great way of escaping their busy metropolitan areas, especially in the Gauteng province. Mpumalanga residents have many tourism attractions in their province thus lowering the chances that they will visit the KNP. The determinant Souvenirs indicates that visitors adapted their spending at the park to still be able to afford visits. It was also found that demand to visit the park was not greatly influenced by the recession, because visitors could adapt their spending at the park. This is the first time the determinants of demand to a national park during a recession period have been conducted. The study indicated that visiting natural areas may have become a primary need or part of a lifestyle, especially during the 2008/2009 recession period. This article gives park management guidelines that will ensure the sustainability of the KNP because this information now allows for well-planned, thorough marketing and management of the park. In the case of KNP, which has a homogeneous market, the number of determinants identified influencing demand for visiting the park is fewer than has been found in other studies done on heterogeneous markets. This study therefore also makes a valuable methodological contribution in relation to analysing demand of homogeneous and heterogeneous markets. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The tourism industry is becoming increasingly more competitive, making it essential for tourism destinations to understand why tourists travel to specific destinations. Travel motives are seen as important factors affecting tourist behaviour. Understanding the travel motives of tourists is essential information for the development of a tourism product and its marketing strategy. Tourists to different destinations have different internal reasons for doing so, and wish to fulfil certain needs. These needs motivate tourists to choose a certain destination and, therefore, identifying the travel motives of tourists to tourism destinations will help the destination to better target their marketing strategies to tourists with common motives. The aim of this study is to determine the travel motives of tourists to selected national parks in South Africa as well as to determine whether there are differences and/or similarities between these motives. The parks concerned are the Addo Elephant-, Augrabies Falls- and Golden Gate Highlands National Parks. This will assist SANParks in their future marketing efforts and help to better understand why the tourists choose to visit the respective parks. A literature review regarding tourist behaviour was carried out to achieve Objective 1, which was to conduct a theoretical analysis of tourist behaviour. The primary reasons for understanding tourist behaviour are to be able to retain your customer for life, to fulfil the tourists’ needs and to develop better target marketing strategies. To understand tourists’ travel motives better, studying tourist behaviour becomes important. The tourist’s decision-making process (that forms part of the tourism behaviour model) is divided into six stages. These are, awareness of a need; seeking information; evaluation of information; decision making; action or buying and postpurchase evaluation. The tourist behaviour model consists of a number of factors that influence this decision-making process, including internal (for example perception, learning and motivation) and external (for example culture, social class and family) influences as well as personal (race, gender and age) and market-related (climate, economy and government) influencers. The most important influence relevant to this study is motivation. To achieve Objective 2, which was to conduct a theoretical analysis of travel motives of tourists to nature based products, a literature review concerning the travel motives of tourists was carried out. This revealed that a number of different travel motives to tourism destinations have been identified. Internal needs motivate tourists to travel to specific destinations, in the hope of fulfilling these needs. Research on travel motives is based on a number of theories, and some of the important motives that arose were: nature, wildlife, escape, relaxation, education, novelty, socialisation, family recreation and destination attractions. In conclusion, there are similarities as well as differences in the travel motives of tourists to different natural areas. Objectives 3 and 4 included determining the profiles as well as the travel motives of tourists to the selected national parks. Secondary data was used to determine the profiles and travel motives of the tourists. The first section focused on the profiles of the tourists, which proved to be quite similar in all three parks, with minor differences regarding province of residence and the languages spoken. The second section focused on the travel motives of these tourists, and a factor analysis was used to extract six factors from the data. These factors were: relax and socialise, park attractions, nature and wildlife, knowledge-seeking, photography and park activities. The factors of tourists to each park were compared by means of a practical significance test (ANOVA) to determine the differences in travel motives to each park. The results revealed that certain travel motives were more important to certain of the three selected national parks, for example: knowledge-seeking is more important to tourists visiting the Addo Elephant National Park, relax and socialise is more important to tourists visiting the Augrabies Falls National Park, and park activities are more important to tourists visiting the Golden Gate Highlands National Park. By determining the differences and similarities in travel motives to the three selected national parks, the aim of this study was achieved. The results are in agreement with other researchers’ findings that there are a number of travel motives motivating tourists to visit certain destinations, and this study determined that these motives differ from destination to destination. / 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.

During the recession period of 2008/2009, global tourism declined by 8%. This was also evident is South Africa with the domestic travel market shrinking by 8% as well. However, this did not apply to the Kruger National Park (KNP) which experienced a sustained Accommodation Unit Occupancy growth of 1.6% during the same period. Visitors to the KNP thus see it as an attractive holiday destination irrespective of tough economic conditions characterised by less disposable income. To sustain this growth, it is important to be aware of the reasons visitors still visit the KNP during a recession. The aim of this study was to determine the reasons why visitors still travelled to the KNP during the 2008/2009 recession. This can be done by analysing the visitors’ behaviour and the motivational factors (internal feelings of the visitors) and determinants of the demand (income and exchange rates for instance) that influenced visitors’ choice to visit the KNP. To achieve this aim, a survey was conducted at the KNP between 15 and 20 December 2009 (high season). A total of 355 questionnaires were completed, after which a number of analyses were done to determine the effects of the recession on travel behaviour. For the purpose of this study, two articles were written. Article 1 is titled: “Motivations of visitors to the Kruger National Park during the 2008/2009 recession period”. The aim of this article was to determine the motivations of visitors to the KNP during the recession. A factor analysis on the motivations to visit the park was conducted, of which the following factors obtained the highest mean values: Escape, Wildlife experience and Family benefits. Push factors to the KNP were important to such an extent that visitors regarded visiting the park as a primary need or lifestyle. The results furthermore showed that visitors might have adapted their spending behaviour at the park to still afford to visit the park during the recession. This article provides a better understanding of visitors’ feelings towards the KNP, especially amidst recessions which, in turn, will improve niche marketing and a competitive advantage. Article 2 is titled: “Factors that influenced demand to the Kruger National Park during the 2008/2009 economic recession”. The aim of this article was to identify the determinants that influence the demand for visits to the KNP. Due to the homogeneous nature of the park’s market, the results of the stepwise logistic regression analysis revealed a few socio-demographic and behavioural determinants that influenced visitors’ demand to the park. The motives Escape and Souvenirs were the only two behavioural determinants while the provinces Gauteng and Mpumalanga were the only socio-demographic determinants. These two provinces are the two main markets for the KNP. Visitors indicated that visiting the KNP is a great way of escaping their busy metropolitan areas, especially in the Gauteng province. Mpumalanga residents have many tourism attractions in their province thus lowering the chances that they will visit the KNP. The determinant Souvenirs indicates that visitors adapted their spending at the park to still be able to afford visits. It was also found that demand to visit the park was not greatly influenced by the recession, because visitors could adapt their spending at the park. This is the first time the determinants of demand to a national park during a recession period have been conducted. The study indicated that visiting natural areas may have become a primary need or part of a lifestyle, especially during the 2008/2009 recession period. This article gives park management guidelines that will ensure the sustainability of the KNP because this information now allows for well-planned, thorough marketing and management of the park. In the case of KNP, which has a homogeneous market, the number of determinants identified influencing demand for visiting the park is fewer than has been found in other studies done on heterogeneous markets. This study therefore also makes a valuable methodological contribution in relation to analysing demand of homogeneous and heterogeneous markets. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tourism))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The tourism industry is becoming increasingly more competitive, making it essential for tourism destinations to understand why tourists travel to specific destinations. Travel motives are seen as important factors affecting tourist behaviour. Understanding the travel motives of tourists is essential information for the development of a tourism product and its marketing strategy. Tourists to different destinations have different internal reasons for doing so, and wish to fulfil certain needs. These needs motivate tourists to choose a certain destination and, therefore, identifying the travel motives of tourists to tourism destinations will help the destination to better target their marketing strategies to tourists with common motives. The aim of this study is to determine the travel motives of tourists to selected national parks in South Africa as well as to determine whether there are differences and/or similarities between these motives. The parks concerned are the Addo Elephant-, Augrabies Falls- and Golden Gate Highlands National Parks. This will assist SANParks in their future marketing efforts and help to better understand why the tourists choose to visit the respective parks. A literature review regarding tourist behaviour was carried out to achieve Objective 1, which was to conduct a theoretical analysis of tourist behaviour. The primary reasons for understanding tourist behaviour are to be able to retain your customer for life, to fulfil the tourists’ needs and to develop better target marketing strategies. To understand tourists’ travel motives better, studying tourist behaviour becomes important. The tourist’s decision-making process (that forms part of the tourism behaviour model) is divided into six stages. These are, awareness of a need; seeking information; evaluation of information; decision making; action or buying and postpurchase evaluation. The tourist behaviour model consists of a number of factors that influence this decision-making process, including internal (for example perception, learning and motivation) and external (for example culture, social class and family) influences as well as personal (race, gender and age) and market-related (climate, economy and government) influencers. The most important influence relevant to this study is motivation. To achieve Objective 2, which was to conduct a theoretical analysis of travel motives of tourists to nature based products, a literature review concerning the travel motives of tourists was carried out. This revealed that a number of different travel motives to tourism destinations have been identified. Internal needs motivate tourists to travel to specific destinations, in the hope of fulfilling these needs. Research on travel motives is based on a number of theories, and some of the important motives that arose were: nature, wildlife, escape, relaxation, education, novelty, socialisation, family recreation and destination attractions. In conclusion, there are similarities as well as differences in the travel motives of tourists to different natural areas. Objectives 3 and 4 included determining the profiles as well as the travel motives of tourists to the selected national parks. Secondary data was used to determine the profiles and travel motives of the tourists. The first section focused on the profiles of the tourists, which proved to be quite similar in all three parks, with minor differences regarding province of residence and the languages spoken. The second section focused on the travel motives of these tourists, and a factor analysis was used to extract six factors from the data. These factors were: relax and socialise, park attractions, nature and wildlife, knowledge-seeking, photography and park activities. The factors of tourists to each park were compared by means of a practical significance test (ANOVA) to determine the differences in travel motives to each park. The results revealed that certain travel motives were more important to certain of the three selected national parks, for example: knowledge-seeking is more important to tourists visiting the Addo Elephant National Park, relax and socialise is more important to tourists visiting the Augrabies Falls National Park, and park activities are more important to tourists visiting the Golden Gate Highlands National Park. By determining the differences and similarities in travel motives to the three selected national parks, the aim of this study was achieved. The results are in agreement with other researchers’ findings that there are a number of travel motives motivating tourists to visit certain destinations, and this study determined that these motives differ from destination to destination. / 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.

Arts festivals form a large part of the South African culture originally as many local communities began to share their culture with visitors by means of arts festivals. This has grown into a large industry that has tremendous financial gain for the hosting communities. With over 500 arts festivals each year in South Africa alone, visitors are certain to find a festival to satisfy their specific needs and wants. Therefore, with so many genres available, each festival has created its own niche market and loyal customer base. An extensive literature study was conducted for the purpose of this thesis and it was found that research of small to medium arts festivals has been neglected. This finding motivated the main theme of this research. As mentioned earlier, there are so many genres available that the festival organisers may experience difficulty when deciding what to offer and how many genres to offer in order to still be sustainable and attract a sufficient number of visitors. Furthermore, the large number of arts festivals organised each year makes it increasingly difficult for festivals to build a loyal client base. First-time visitors can be converted into repeat visitors if the marketing strategy is precise. Repeat visitors, as stated in the literature, results in a sustainable income for each festival. Another question that motivated the research was the location of the three arts festivals (Innibos, Vryfees, and Kierieklapper). Three arts festivals in three provinces makes an interesting study to determine whether there is a difference in the three types of visitors that they attract and the spending patterns at each festival. While addressing the problems stated above, this study produced the following three articles: * Article 1: ―Determinants of spending at Vryfees with a focus on genres‖. * Article 2: ―First-time versus repeat visitors at Innibos Arts Festival‖. * Article 3: ―Role of location in the attendance and spending of festinos‖. Article 1 investigates spending determinants that influence visitor expenditure on the different genres offered at the Vryfees Festival in Bloemfontein, based on a survey conducted in 2011. The research is based on the notion that different genres have different spending patterns. Article 2 focuses on the differences and/or similarities between first-time and repeat visitors at the Innibos Arts Festival as an alternative approach to market segmentation. Lastly, the third article focuses on three different arts festivals in three different locations in South Africa. The research was conducted by means of a visitor survey at the three arts festivals during the same year with questionnaires administered at Innibos (428), Vryfees (336), and Kierieklapper (202) respectively. The most significant contributions of this study can be summarised as follows: * the tourist spending behaviour in regards to the difference between first-time and repeat visitors is significant and can be considered an important spending determinant; * the tourist spending behaviour in terms of length of stay between first-time visitors and repeat visitors is significantly different, suggesting that familiarity with the destination (as the repeat visitors are) has an important impact; * different locations attract their own type of tourists and certain locations receive a higher economic injection than other provinces do because of the type of festival held. All three arts festivals attract mainly Afrikaans speaking attendees; and for the first time, a comparative study has been conducted on three arts festivals targeting the Afrikaans speaking community. Additionally, this is the first time a comparative study was conducted on three small to medium arts festivals located in three different provinces; and * the developed spending model described in the last chapter of this thesis can assist the festival organisers with future festival marketing to improve their income and marketing strategy. / PhD (Tourism Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Arts festivals form a large part of the South African culture originally as many local communities began to share their culture with visitors by means of arts festivals. This has grown into a large industry that has tremendous financial gain for the hosting communities. With over 500 arts festivals each year in South Africa alone, visitors are certain to find a festival to satisfy their specific needs and wants. Therefore, with so many genres available, each festival has created its own niche market and loyal customer base. An extensive literature study was conducted for the purpose of this thesis and it was found that research of small to medium arts festivals has been neglected. This finding motivated the main theme of this research. As mentioned earlier, there are so many genres available that the festival organisers may experience difficulty when deciding what to offer and how many genres to offer in order to still be sustainable and attract a sufficient number of visitors. Furthermore, the large number of arts festivals organised each year makes it increasingly difficult for festivals to build a loyal client base. First-time visitors can be converted into repeat visitors if the marketing strategy is precise. Repeat visitors, as stated in the literature, results in a sustainable income for each festival. Another question that motivated the research was the location of the three arts festivals (Innibos, Vryfees, and Kierieklapper). Three arts festivals in three provinces makes an interesting study to determine whether there is a difference in the three types of visitors that they attract and the spending patterns at each festival. While addressing the problems stated above, this study produced the following three articles: * Article 1: ―Determinants of spending at Vryfees with a focus on genres‖. * Article 2: ―First-time versus repeat visitors at Innibos Arts Festival‖. * Article 3: ―Role of location in the attendance and spending of festinos‖. Article 1 investigates spending determinants that influence visitor expenditure on the different genres offered at the Vryfees Festival in Bloemfontein, based on a survey conducted in 2011. The research is based on the notion that different genres have different spending patterns. Article 2 focuses on the differences and/or similarities between first-time and repeat visitors at the Innibos Arts Festival as an alternative approach to market segmentation. Lastly, the third article focuses on three different arts festivals in three different locations in South Africa. The research was conducted by means of a visitor survey at the three arts festivals during the same year with questionnaires administered at Innibos (428), Vryfees (336), and Kierieklapper (202) respectively. The most significant contributions of this study can be summarised as follows: * the tourist spending behaviour in regards to the difference between first-time and repeat visitors is significant and can be considered an important spending determinant; * the tourist spending behaviour in terms of length of stay between first-time visitors and repeat visitors is significantly different, suggesting that familiarity with the destination (as the repeat visitors are) has an important impact; * different locations attract their own type of tourists and certain locations receive a higher economic injection than other provinces do because of the type of festival held. All three arts festivals attract mainly Afrikaans speaking attendees; and for the first time, a comparative study has been conducted on three arts festivals targeting the Afrikaans speaking community. Additionally, this is the first time a comparative study was conducted on three small to medium arts festivals located in three different provinces; and * the developed spending model described in the last chapter of this thesis can assist the festival organisers with future festival marketing to improve their income and marketing strategy. / PhD (Tourism Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

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.