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The emerging role of the fashion industry in Johannesburg's tourism development strategy

ABSTRACT
The tourism industry has been described as one of the world’s highest priority
industries and has emerged as a significant sector in many global economies including
South Africa. The global fashion industry is also a multi-billion dollar industry and in
many parts of the world is a huge draw card for tourists. Cities like Paris, Milan and
New York have long been acclaimed for their thriving fashion industries. In recent
times non-traditional fashion cities such as Kenya, Beirut, Lyon and Amsterdam have
increasingly looked to the fashion industry for economic and tourism development.
The South African fashion industry has flourished in recent years with the emergence
of a new genre of design houses redefining South African fashion. It is against this
background that the focus of this study was to investigate the link between fashion
and tourism in the city of Johannesburg. A review of the policy framework
surrounding the cultural and tourism industries was conducted to ascertain the role
and importance ascribed to the tourism and cultural industries in South African policy
with particular emphasis on the city of Johannesburg’s policy environment. The
international experience of using fashion in tourism and urban development strategies
provided examples and insight into global strategies of linking fashion and tourism.
Case studies of the Johannesburg Fashion District and SA Fashion Week revealed
their emerging role in the tourism industry. The experience and views of designers
and industry officials regarding the role of fashion in the tourism industry was
determined through in-depth semi-structured interviews. The study concluded that
there is definitely potential for the local fashion industry to make a significant
contribution to tourism in the city of Johannesburg but this is dependent on the
development of a clear fashion tourism policy framework, greater marketing and
promotional efforts and the addressing of critical challenges in the fashion and
cultural tourism sectors.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/4680
Date18 March 2008
CreatorsGatawa, Nyasha Grace
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Format3526382 bytes, 53869 bytes, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf

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