《Shopping tourism or tourists shoppingA case study ofSouth Africa s African tourism market》.pdf

Tourism Economics, 2012, 18 (6), 1313–1329 doi: 10.5367/te.2012.0169 Shopping tourism or tourists shopping? A case study of South Africa’s African tourism market MELVILLE SAAYMAN AND ANDREA SAAYMAN Institute for Tourism and Leisure Studies and School of Economics, respectively, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, Private Bag X6001, Potchefstroom 2521, South Africa. E-mail: melville.saayman@nwu.ac.za; andrea.saayman@nwu.ac.za. (Corresponding author: Andrea Saayman.) Tourism to South Africa has increased consistently over the last 15 years and the country has become one of the most popular tourist destinations, not only in Africa, but also in the world. With 10 million tourists visiting South Africa, tourism has grown to become an important industry, contributing more than 8% to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP); it has even surpassed earnings from gold exports as an important source of foreign exchange. A closer inspection of the arrivals statistics reveals that the majority (75%) of tourists are from Africa. In addition, 75% of all African tourists are from South Africa’s neighbouring countries. However, most research on tourism to South Africa focuses on intercontinental arrivals. Among the reasons cited for the exclusion of African tourists is that these tourists visit South Africa for reasons other than tourism,