Events-based small-town tourism: exploring the South African tourism sector under environmental and climate challenges
Date
2022
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Abstract
Tourism is one of the fastest emerging industries in the world which has contributed substantially to South Africa's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) throughout the years. Tourism is an integral part of the South African economy and culture, at the national and local scale. This study examines small-town tourism and the effect that events-based, wedding, natureand phenology-based tourism has on the success of the tourism sector of Chrissiesmeer, a small town located in Mpumalanga, South Africa. This study aims to explore climate- and phenology-related threats to tourism in Chrissiesmeer, through the town’s tourism sector and its reliance on climate and phenology, gauging the perceptions tourists and tourism operators hold regarding climate-related threats to tourism, and lastly, assessing the predictability and sustainability of tourist activities and annual events at Chrissiesmeer. This study takes on a mixed-methods approach that employs the use of both qualitative and quantitative data and the triangulation of results was a tool used to integrate and analyse each form of data collected to reveal common themes and patterns. Key-informant semi-structured interviews, comprehensive tourist questionnaires, and online reviews analysis were tools used to engage with the experiences of tourism in Chrissiesmeer and climate-related perceptions of former tourists and tourism operators. Image analysis of Instagram posts was conducted to compile a comparative contemporary phenological record that was compared to phenological records to provide estimated predictions of future phenological patterns of the plant and animal species identified in the study. The results demonstrate a clear link between events-based, small-town and nature-/phenology-based tourism. Nonetheless, many aspects of the tourism sector at large have some degree of dependency on the natural environment, climate, and plant or animal taxa. Thus, it is of great importance that the Chrissiesmeer tourism sector considers the potential and present effects of environmental and climate change because the majority of the most lucrative festivals, events and tourism activities are dependent on the phenological phases of certain plant and animal species. With shifting phenology being the most sensitive and earliest response to increasing global temperatures, tourism operators and small businesses in Chrissiesmeer must prepare adequately and adapt to these imminent effects, to maximize predictability and the sustainability of the key elements of the town’s tourism sector.
Description
A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2022
Keywords
Tourism sector, South African economy, Climate challenges