African countries in general have registered improved socio-economic and
economic growth and development for the past 20 years since the 1990s. Of
particular interest is southern Africa which has recorded a period of
unprecedented political stability and economic growth in the wake of South
Africa’s change to a democratic dispensation in 1994. Economic growth has
brought with it an increase in the number of families counted in the middle class
and therefore as prospective domestic and outbound tourists. This study examined
the extent to which both the private and the public sectors in southern Africa,
created with a focus on overseas or international tourists, have recognized this
regional tourist market. The study used the core-periphery relationship as the
conceptual framework to determine the difference ways in which core and
periphery dynamics influenced the recognition of the regional tourist as a tourism
market. The research found that the regional market has been recognized to
different extents by the public and the private sector in the four case study
countries. The core country, South Africa, has shown the most comprehensive
recognition by dedicating resources to research into and planning around how to
capture or retain market share. The peripheral countries have dedicated few if any
resources to understanding the regional market; their systems and investors
continue to focus primarily on the international market, and because the
international and regional markets have different needs, find it difficult to switch
their focus to this emerging market. The study also found that having a core
country as an immediate neighbor pulls all those with the willingness and ability to travel towards itself, to the detriment of domestic tourism development in the
short-term. The study suggests that to access the existing regional market, the
three case study countries of the periphery would be well served to adapt to their
circumstances the data-driven approach of South Africa.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/14888 |
| Date | 07 July 2014 |
| Creators | Kiambo, Ruth Wanjiku |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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