Open AccessUrban tourism destinations in South Africa: Divergent trajectories 2001–2012
Author(s) -
Christian M. Rogerson,
Jayne M. Rogerson
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
urbani izziv
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.275
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1855-8399
pISSN - 0353-6483
DOI - 10.5379/urbani-izziv-en-2014-25-supplement-014
Subject(s) - tourism , destinations , tourist destinations , economic geography , environmental planning , geography , regional science , archaeology
Cities are growing tourism destinations in both developed and developing countries. For policymakers in many \udcities the promotion of tourism is a vital issue. The phenomenon of urban tourism has emerged as a significant \udresearch topic in tourism and urban studies. The South African experience has been one of the most well \uddocumented cases in urban tourism in the developing world. Most existing research is focussed on supply-side \udissues of the establishment of new tourism products in cities or of the impacts of growing urban tourism. This \udarticle examines urban tourism from a demand-side perspective and interrogates the performance of South \udAfrica’s eight metropolitan areas as tourism destinations over the period 2001-2012.The analysis reveals that the \udmetropolitan areas as a group are expanding in significance as tourism destinations. Divergent pathways or \udtrajectories of development are apparent in terms of unpacking the performance of the eight different areas. \u