The growth and promotion of regional tourism in the developing world: the South African experience

Abstract

Although regional tourism is an important phenomenon in the developing world, it has largely been overlooked by international tourism scholars. The promotion of regional tourism can make a positive contribution to tourism development. This article stresses the importance of regional tourists to the expanding tourism economy of South Africa. It highlights the changing policy environment and suggests that critical policy interventions should be undertaken at both national and local levels of government in order to maximise the developmental impacts of promoting regional tourism.

¹Respectively, Professor of Human Geography and PhD Student, School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Research Foundation, Pretoria Gun Award 2054064, and thank Wendy Job for preparing the diagrams for this paper.

1. INTRODUCTION

The term ‘regional tourist’ represents a sub-group of the category of ‘international tourist’ and refers to travel by people outside their usual country of residence but within the same region (Ghimire, 2001a,b). On a global scale, data from the World Tourism Organization (WTO) confirms that regional travel represented as much as 82 per cent of all international tourism arrivals by the end of the 1990s. The WTO (2004) projections are that long-haul travel will rise to reach 24 per cent of all international tourism flows by 2020. Nevertheless, it is still the case that ‘three quarters of all international tourists will go to nearby destinations with similar cultural traditions’ (Aramberri, 2004: 8).

Although ‘regional travel is becoming an important phenomenon in several parts of the Third World’ (Ghimire, 1997), the phenomenon of regional tourism has been largely overlooked by international tourism scholars (Ghimire, 2001a,b; Scheyvens, 2002; Aramberri, 2004; Rogerson, 2004). The most developed scholarship relates to South East Asia in general and more particularly to Singapore's emerging role as a ‘tourism capital’ and ‘hubbing’ centre for visitors travelling to and within Asia (see Oppermann, 1997a,b; Chang, 1998, 2001; Chang & Yeoh, 1999). Typically, much recent literature on international tourism in Africa focuses on long-haul rather than intra-regional travel (Christie & Crompton, 2001; Kester, 2003; Naude & Saayman, 2005). The neglect of regional tourism is reflected also in biases in national tourism planning across Africa, which often targets primarily the attraction of high-yield international tourists from Europe or North America. With the growth of regional tourism, however, Scheyvens (2002: 6) argues that it is time for policy makers ‘to look at what benefits such forms of tourism could bring’.

Against this backcloth, South Africa provides an outstanding exception in the documented experience of tourism planning in the developing world. This article emphasises the importance of regional tourists to South Africa's expanding tourism economy. It highlights the changing policy environment and suggests that critical policy interventions should be undertaken at both national and local levels of government in order to maximise the developmental impacts of promoting regional tourism. It draws on a range of source material, including new data on international tourism released by South African Tourism (SAT, 2006a), recent survey material on various groups of African tourists in South Africa (Mba-Anto, 2004; Fanaroff Associates, 2005; Katongo, 2005; Mavunganidze, 2005; Peberdy et al., 2005), and important policy documentation relating to the promotion of regional tourism at the levels of both national and local government (ComMark Trust, 2006a; SAT, 2006b). It argues that the South African experience offers a useful international case study that serves to highlight the significance of regional tourism flows as a force for developing the local tourism industry.

2. REGIONAL TOURISM DEBATES

In the developing world, regional tourist flows are of particular significance in international tourism. With few exceptions, the single largest source of international tourism arrivals for most developing countries is ‘neighbouring low-income countries’ (Gladstone, 2005: 109). Indeed, Gladstone (2005: 113) asserts that: ‘Non-Western tourists represent the biggest group of foreign travellers in many low-income countries’. In India currently more than 35 per cent of the country's international tourists are from other low-income countries in South Asia (Gladstone, 2005). Furthermore, ‘Indonesia receives 77.5 per cent of its international arrivals from other Asian countries and close to 40 per cent from southeast Asia alone’ (Gladstone, 2005: 109). As a whole, in recent decades across the developing world, flows of intra-regional tourism have expanded considerably (Chang, 1998; Dieges, 2001; Ghimire, 2001a,b; Scheyvens, 2002).

Intra-regional visitors make up the largest segment of all international visitors in Africa (Timothy & Teye, 2005; Ndiaye, 2006). Timothy & Teye (2005: 88–9) argue that, at present, given ‘the weak air, water and rail transportation systems in Africa, the largest proportion of the intra-regional movements is by road transportation’. According to WTO projections, intra-regional tourism arrivals in Africa will rise to 64 per cent of all international tourism by 2020, as compared to 58 per cent recorded for 1995 (WTO, 2004). The main driver of the projected expansion of intra-regional travellers is expected to be increased levels of income and wealth. It is estimated that by 2020 the number of these travellers in Africa will exceed 50 million and this is anticipated to be a force for the transformation of tourism on the continent (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Projections for Africa international tourism to 2020

The emergence and expansion of regional tourism is inseparable from the growth of domestic tourism in developing countries (Ghimire, 1997, 2001a; Mena et al., 2004). The same factors that gave rise to mass tourism in the countries of the First World are now providing the basis for a new kind of tourism in the developing world (Gladstone, 2005). Of greatest significance perhaps is the expansion of the new middle classes in India, Mexico, Brazil and elsewhere, who are ‘the main movers of domestic tourism’ (Aramberri, 2004: 7). Over the past few decades the economic rise of South East Asia has meant that more people have the necessary leisure time and disposable income to allocate to tourism. Mena et al. (2004: 21) observe that with the increased economic affluence of the 520 million inhabitants of the ten ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) countries ‘a surge of intra-regional’ travel is anticipated.

In common with domestic tourism, the motivations for regional travel encompass pilgrimage, visiting friends and relatives, business travel, and an increasing element of leisure tourism (Gladstone, 2005). In Africa the first scholar to analyse regional tourism argued that while the main travel motivations for Africans were business related, it was doubtful whether business travel alone could explain the observed expansion in regional tourism within the continent. Other factors clearly were at work, including ‘politics (e.g. official missions), visiting friends and relatives, holiday and recreation’ (Dieke, 1998: 40). More recent research also underscores the potential significance of shopping, education and health as additional drivers of regional tourism flows in Africa, particularly to South Africa (Peberdy & Rogerson, 2003; Saayman & Saayman, 2003; Mba-Anto, 2004; Katongo, 2005; Donaldson & Gatsinzi, 2005; Rogerson, 2006; Rogerson & Visser, 2007).

The works by Ghimire (1997, 2001a,b) reveal important differences between the profiles of regional tourists and those of the larger category of international tourists. In particular, the behaviour and spending patterns of regional tourists are seen as different from those of the average international tourist (Ghimire, 1997). Gladstone (2005) observes that as regional tourists in the developing world are more likely to patronise informal sector tourism establishments than tourists from Western Europe or the US, they fall into the category of ‘international informal sector tourism’. Likewise, Ghimire (2001b: 6) stresses that regional tourists of the South ‘may be satisfied with less luxurious accommodation and more aware of local cultural norms than tourists coming from Europe or North America’. Overall, because of their different characteristics and spend patterns, the British Department for International Development (DfID) considers regional tourists potentially ‘can create proportionately more local economic opportunities than international and packaged tourism’ (DfID, 1999). The implication is that regional tourism offers considerable opportunities for encouraging ‘pro-poor tourism’ in the developing world, not least in Africa (Gerosa, 2003; Mitchell & Ashley, 2006).

As noted above, scholarship in international tourism has ignored the scale of regional tourism and the policy issues it involves (Scheyvens, 2002; Gladstone, 2005). Beyond work on Singapore as a regional capital for Asian tourism (see Chang, 1998, 2001), only research on borderland regions in the developing world, which are described by one scholar as ‘beehives of cross-national and cross-cultural exchanges’ (Aramberri, 2004: 5), can offer any glimpse into the policy dimensions of regional tourism flows (Zhao, 1994; Askew & Cohen, 2004; Timothy & Teye, 2005). For Gladstone (2005: 108) ‘the most glaring omission from Western [tourism] researchers’ accounts of international tourism is the millions of non-Western tourists who travel to other non-Western countries'. In similar fashion, Ghimire (1997, 2001a,b) draws attention to the absence of even basic information on the profile, activities and travel patterns of regional tourists.

This neglect of regional tourists extends into the realm of national tourism planning. Notwithstanding the growth of regional tourism across the developing world, the policy significance of this kind of tourism is eschewed by governments. It has been observed that ‘the dominant official concept of tourism in developing countries focuses on receiving wealthy foreign visitors from the industrialized North’ (Ghimire, 2001b: 2). The consequence is that governments have put significant efforts into promoting long-haul international tourism and overlooked the potential for regional tourism (Gladstone, 2005). More broadly, Aramberri (2004) considers this policy oversight to be part of the prevailing model of tourism development, which is essentially blind to the dynamics and possibilities of both domestic and regional tourism.

3. THE STRATEGIC SIGNIFICANCE OF SOUTH AFRICA'S REGIONAL TOURISTS

During the early 1990s Cassim (1993) drew attention to the potential significance of regional tourism for South Africa's tourism economy. Before the transition to democracy in 1994, tourism flows from sub-Saharan Africa were confined mainly to visits to friends and relatives (VFR tourism). Key source countries were the surrounding nations, most importantly Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Precise statistics are unavailable for the volume of regional tourists travelling to South Africa during the 1990s. It is well documented, however, in several migration studies, that there was a surge of visitors to South Africa during this period from surrounding states and extending into francophone Africa and East Africa (Peberdy, 2000a,b; Peberdy & Crush, 2001; Mba-Anto, 2004). In addition, from the early 1990s there is evidence of a growing stream of regional tourists, particularly to Johannesburg, for purposes of shopping and cross-border trade (Peberdy & Crush, 1998, 2001; Rogerson, 2002). Once again, surrounding countries – in particular Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana and Swaziland – were identified as leading sources of this form of what has been described elsewhere as ‘informal sector business tourism’ (Timothy & Teye, 2005).

3.1 Causes of regional tourism flows

Several factors can be identified as contributing to the expansion of regional tourism flows into South Africa over the past decade. First, in common with the growth of long-haul international tourism, the emergence of South Africa's new democracy and reintegration into the international economy triggered a wave of regional tourist arrivals from across Africa, particularly for purposes of business. There has been a surge in both formal and informal business travel. Expansion of formal business travel has been boosted variously by the extension into Africa of many South African enterprises, the growth of conference tourism in South Africa, and the headquarter function played by Johannesburg for many international companies with operations spread across Africa (Rogerson, 2002, 2005). The growth of informal business travel, mainly for trading purposes, has been fuelled both by the pull of opportunities for accessing in South Africa goods that are in limited supply or unavailable in other parts of Africa and the push of constrained income opportunities in countries such as Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe (Peberdy & Rogerson, 2000; Katongo, 2005; Mavunganidze, 2005; Peberdy et al., 2005; SBP, 2006).

A second critical factor in the expansion of regional travel is improved infrastructure networks, especially for land transport. In particular, enhanced cross-border road networks, such as the Maputo Development Corridor to link Johannesburg and Maputo, have greatly facilitated new patterns of regional communication and travel across southern Africa (Rogerson, 2001). In addition to improved access for private vehicles, the considerable expansion and upgrading of road infrastructure has given rise to an expanding network of cross-border regional bus services connecting South Africa and surrounding countries, run by an array of operators including Greyhound, City-to-City and Intercape. For example, the City-to-City ‘no frills’ bus service provides a regular service linking South Africa with destinations in Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

A third factor is that regional tourism has benefited substantially in the post-apartheid period from improved air transport links between South Africa and the rest of Africa. Pirie (1990) showed that under apartheid international flight connections between South Africa and the rest of Africa were sparse mainly because of sanctions and South Africa's pariah international status. With democratic change, demand has grown and the links have improved. In re-examining South Africa's international flight connections pre- and post-apartheid, Pirie (2006) strongly highlights the ‘Africanisation’ of South Africa's global air connections in the democratic era. In 1994 South Africa was linked directly by air with more overseas than African countries and cities; within a decade the pattern has been reversed (Pirie, 2006). Nevertheless, the costs of intra-African air travel are high and remain a critical barrier to the expansion of regional tourism through air transport. Inadequate air lift access and capacity is acknowledged as constraining South African tourism as a whole, including regional travel (DTI, 2005: 45). A core issue remains that of the highly regulated air service regime, which inhibits competition between the airlines that operate across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region (Genesis Analytics, 2006). With the slow pace of liberalisation of African air space, SADC countries continue to artificially restrict international air travel, with the consequence that air travel costs remain high. Although low cost carriers, such as Kulula, are entering into competition with established national carriers and beginning to lower the costs of regional air travel in the SADC region, on certain routes it is still the case that ‘competition and capacity are restricted, flight frequency is low and ticket prices are high’ (ComMark Trust, 2006b: 14).

A fourth factor in the growth of regional tourism to South Africa has undoubtedly been the stimulation of improved living standards, wealth and incomes for a segment of the population across several African countries, thus allowing a greater potential for travel. It is argued that ‘pure leisure travel’ across much of Africa is a market segment that is only beginning to emerge (SAT, 2006b). Nevertheless, in certain African countries, including Nigeria, Kenya and Angola, established elites as well as a small middle class have the means to travel to South Africa. In some countries, a market segment of ‘hyper-wealthy’ African travellers is emerging of extremely affluent individuals who enjoy high incomes from contacts with government or through running their own businesses (SAT, 2006b). Further regional travel flows have opened up as South Africa has become a focal point for the African markets of educational tourism (Donaldson & Gatsinzi, 2005) and health tourism.

Finally, a range of other factors must be noted as further enabling access to travel and regional tourist flows into South Africa. Among these factors are easier access for foreign exchange in several African countries, enhanced telecommunication links and internet connectivity making travel bookings easier, and certain relaxations in South Africa's immigration controls and visa regulations for African visitors. A highly significant change in visa requirements was the agreement in 2005 for the waiver of visas for nationals travelling between South Africa and Mozambique. Most recently, as will be discussed in Section 4, regional travel to South Africa has been actively promoted by marketing campaigns launched by South African Tourism and supported further by local economic development initiatives in some of country's leading cities.

3.2 The significance of South Africa's regional tourists

New data and other information released in 2006 by the Strategic Research Unit of SAT (2006a, b) makes it possible to construct a detailed profile of regional tourists, their distinctiveness in terms of international tourism flows to South Africa, and the strategic significance of regional tourism for the South African tourism economy. Overall, of the total of 7.37 million foreign arrivals in South Africa for 2005, continental Africa is the source of 5.36 million or 72.7 per cent (SAT, 2006b). The geographical sources of international tourism arrivals for South Africa in 2005 are shown in Figure 2, indicating the massive strength of Africa in the total picture of the country's international tourism economy. It is evident that Africa, South Africa's natural hinterland, provides the baseload or backbone of the country's international tourism economy (Saayman & Saayman, 2003; Rogerson & Visser, 2006). Gladstone (2005: 47) observes a clear distance decay effect in the flows of international tourists to both developed and developing countries. This pattern is demonstrated in the South African experience of the majority of visitors emanating from the surrounding countries, particularly from the SADC countries (SAT, 2006b).

Figure 2: Source countries for international travellers to South Africa, 2005

Figure 3 presents the major sources of international arrivals in South Africa for 2005. The dominance of surrounding African nations is shown by the fact that they represent seven of the ten most important source countries. Taken together, the leading five source countries – Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique – account for 4.73 million arrivals or 64.2 per cent of all international tourism arrivals. Lesotho provides 22.5 per cent of all international arrivals. The share of long-haul international visitors in the tourism economy is 27.3 per cent, with the UK, Germany, USA, the Netherlands, France and Australia ranked as the leading six individual source countries.

Figure 3: Leading source countries for international tourism, 2005

Further insight into the travel patterns of South Africa's regional tourists is provided in Figures 4 and 5, which unpack the source of arrivals in terms of mode of travel. The findings overwhelmingly confirm the significance of land rather than air transport for African visitors. An estimated 92 per cent of African visitors to South Africa arrive via land travel, representing nearly two-thirds of all the country's international tourism arrivals (SAT, 2006b). As shown in Figure 4, the major African land travel markets mirror the leading sources of international tourism arrivals in South Africa, with Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique heading the list. It is calculated that air transport, on the other hand, produces only 8 per cent of all arrivals from Africa and 6 per cent of all South Africa's international tourism arrivals. Figure 4 highlights Nigeria, Angola, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania as the five most significant African air travel markets for South Africa in 2005. Notwithstanding the much smaller volume of air arrivals, an analysis undertaken for the period 2000–04 disclosed that land arrivals are growing at a slower annual rate (1.8 per cent) than air arrivals (5.9 per cent) (see SAT, 2006b).

Figure 4: Leading African land travel markets, 2005

Figure 5: Leading African air travel markets, 2005

The significance of regional African markets for the South African tourism economy is again evidenced by an examination of foreign direct spend (including capital expenditure) patterns in South Africa. For the year 2005, SAT (2006a) data records total foreign direct spend at R55.9 billion, of which Africa represents the largest contributor with two-thirds of total spend. By contrast to the estimated African total spend of R37.8 billion, the second largest source region was Europe, which accounted for R12.1 billion in 2005 (SAT, 2006a: 23). Figure 6 shows the 20 leading country sources of visitor spend as recorded in SAT data (2006a: 89). Compared to the ranked order of countries in terms of numbers of arrivals, certain differences are notable. Firstly, Mozambique and Zimbabwe appear as the two most significant individual countries in terms of foreign direct spend. Secondly, Lesotho and Swaziland are less significant in terms of direct spend than the large number of arrivals from these two countries would suggest. And thirdly, as a result of high average daily spend patterns, long-haul international tourism sources now represent four of the ten most significant markets, with the UK, Germany, USA and Netherlands the leading countries ranked by direct spend data.

Figure 6: Leading sources of foreign direct spend, 2005

3.3 The distinctiveness of regional tourists

As has been pointed out by Rogerson and Visser (2006: 203), ‘South Africa's two groups of “international” tourists visit the country for very different reasons’. SAT data for 2005 shows that the majority of long-haul arrivals from Europe and North America were visiting South Africa for the purpose of holiday or leisure. For example, 67 per cent of all visitors from Europe and 56.5 per cent of all visitors from North and South America in 2005 were travelling to South Africa for leisure purposes. By contrast, only 20 per cent of all African arrivals in South Africa were travelling for leisure purposes. Overall, SAT data record that 45.6 per cent of all African visitors were travelling to South Africa for business purposes. Another important share of the African market – 24.7 per cent – is recorded as travelling to South Africa for VFR tourism. The African countries that had the highest levels of arrivals in South Africa for business purposes in 2005 were Tanzania (66.3 per cent), Mozambique (63.8 per cent), Kenya (62.1 per cent), Botswana (57.4 per cent) and Nigeria (54.6 per cent). In terms of the share of VFR tourism in total arrivals for each country, the highest levels were recorded for Namibia (51.9 per cent), Zimbabwe (30.0 per cent) and Lesotho (28.4 per cent).

Of special importance in terms of the category of business travel to South Africa is the group of shoppers and cross-border traders from African destinations (SBP, 2006). SAT calculates that one-third of all African tourists in South Africa are visiting the country mainly for shopping. The core significance of shopping for African visitors is further underscored by survey findings that the major items of expenditure by African tourists are overwhelmingly in relation to shopping (SAT, 2006b). The largest number of cross-border shoppers are drawn to South Africa from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Swaziland and collectively represent a major constituent in the total African land market for South African tourism (Mavunganidze, 2005). An increasing flow of shopper tourists is observed also from countries farther north in Africa, including Angola, Cameroon, the DRC, Kenya, Nigeria and especially Zambia (Peberdy & Rogerson, 2003; Mba-Anto, 2004; Katongo, 2005).

The range of shopper tourists in South Africa is diverse. On the one hand, there is a group of middle to high income shoppers, often air travellers, who spend between R20 000 and R50 000 on high end or luxury goods (Rogerson, 2006). By far the majority of shoppers, however, are land travellers who come to South Africa by bus, private car, taxi or truck (SAT, 2006b). As has been demonstrated in several investigations, these informal cross-border traders mainly travel to South Africa for short periods (one to four days) to purchase a range of goods for resale in home markets (Peberdy, 2002). Existing research points to the value of goods taken out of South Africa by a single trader as varying from R500 to R15 000, with an average value of between R3000 and R5000 (Peberdy et al., 2005) The leading items of purchase for cross-border traders are clothing, food (fruit/vegetables), personal care items (especially beauty products), pharmaceutical goods, electrical goods, motor vehicle parts and other consumer products (Peberdy et al., 2005: 7).

Given the nature of regional tourism in South Africa, it is not surprising that the majority of African visitors to South Africa fall into the category of ‘independent travellers’ rather than tourists visiting the country on some form of inclusive tour (where air fare, accommodation, internal travel and food are included) or package arrangement (air fare and accommodation). In the case of visitors from Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, 80 per cent are classed as independent travellers. By contrast, more than half of long-haul international arrivals from China, France, Italy or Japan are travelling on the basis of a package (air fare and accommodation) or fully inclusive package (air fare, accommodation, food and local travel) (SAT, 2006a). Another distinguishing feature of regional tourists in South Africa is the small proportion of their expenditure as a whole that is recorded for accommodation: a high share of African visitors to South Africa stay with friends, relatives or, in the case of cross-border shoppers, in low-budget and informal accommodation (Fanaroff Associates, 2005). In addition, the shorter stay in South Africa of regional rather than international long-haul visitors and the repeat visits of informal business travellers and VFR tourists are further distinctive aspects that have been observed in other works (Rogerson, 2004; Rogerson & Visser, 2006).

Finally, in terms of contrasts between regional and long-haul international tourists visiting South Africa, attention must be drawn to certain findings about their different travel patterns within the country. It has been shown that the majority of regional tourists from Africa, who are visiting for purposes of business rather than leisure, are seeking an ‘urban experience’. The province of Gauteng, with Johannesburg as the magnet for shoppers, emerges as the province most visited by travellers from Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe (SAT, 2006a). Moreover, the key finding of a survey of African land travellers into South Africa was the significance of mall shopping in their visit to the country. It is striking that less than 10 per cent of land travellers to South Africa from sub-Saharan Africa were recorded as visiting a nature reserve or game viewing, as compared to the nearly two-thirds who were involved in mall shopping (SAT, 2006b). In sharp contrast to the activities and patterns of visits undertaken by regional tourists, the mass of long-haul international tourists, who are mainly leisure seekers, show the highest levels of visits to the Western Cape, a finding which is explained in terms of the special role of Cape Town as a mecca for long-haul international visitors to South Africa (Rogerson & Visser, 2004). Moreover, for long-haul travellers, unlike regional tourists, visits to South Africa's game reserves are an essential element of the itinerary of most visitors to the country (Rogerson & Visser, 2006).

4. THE PROMOTION OF REGIONAL TOURISM TO SOUTH AFRICA

In the immediate aftermath of the democratic transition during the phase of what became known as the ‘Mandela boom’ of international tourism to South Africa, the essential focus of tourism policy was on further accelerating the flow of long-haul international travellers to South Africa from Europe, North America and, to a lesser extent, from Asia and Australasia (Rogerson & Visser, 2004). Despite the growth of regional tourist flows to South Africa, little policy attention was given to promoting such potential tourism markets until after the restructuring of the former South African national tourism organisation (SATOUR) into SAT in 2000. For the body of SAT, reorganised and re-energised but with limited resources, successful international marketing of South Africa required the undertaking of ‘detailed research on potential tourism-generating regions and the characteristics of desired tourism programmes’ (Visser, 2003: 117).

4.1 National initiatives to increase regional tourism

One outcome of this restructuring of the country's key agency for international tourism marketing was the launch of a vigorous new market research campaign. On the basis of new market research, a strategic analysis was conducted by SAT of South Africa's position in various source markets, a process that culminated in 2002 in the preparation of South Africa's Tourism Growth Strategy (SAT, 2002). This policy document seeks to increase international tourism in South Africa in a manner ‘that will take the benefits of growth of tourism to all South Africans through sustainable GDP growth, sustainable job creation and promoting transformation and redistribution in our economy’ (SAT, 2002: 9). Six strategic objectives underpinned the tourism strategy: to increase foreign tourist volumes, to increase spend, to increase length of stay, to promote a more even geographical spread of tourism, to reduce seasonality, and to drive transformation and black economic empowerment (SAT, 2002; Visser, 2003). Overall, the Tourism Growth Strategy was anchored on focusing international marketing activities in a set of ‘core’ and ‘tactical’ markets within four broad portfolios in order to target specific segments of consumers (SAT, 2002).

It is significant that one of the portfolios, which was established by SAT, is dedicated to Africa and thus focuses on maximising the benefits of regional tourism flows for South Africa. The strategic focus for Africa is not simply intent on increasing volume in terms of the numbers of visitors. Rather, marketing activities in Africa are designed to extract further value from the existing visitors by ‘up-selling’ and ‘cross-selling’ into other product areas to encourage additional spending and extended stays in South Africa (Visser, 2003: 119). As explained in the Tourism Growth Strategy, ‘a land traveller may come to South Africa for business purposes and the challenge would be either to up-sell additional entertainment and shopping components or alternatively to migrate them on their next trip to a holiday or leisure purpose’ (SAT, 2002: 16). On the basis of a strategic analysis, South Africa's Tourism Growth Strategy (2002) initially identified Egypt, Nigeria, Mauritius, Kenya and Tanzania as the African markets with the greatest opportunities to expand tourism yield.

Between 2002 and 2006, further important developments took place in SAT's initiatives for expanding regional tourism flows. Three specific markets have been targeted as deserving of special attention. First is the market offered by SADC countries, which currently dominate both arrivals from within Africa and all international tourism arrivals in South Africa. For this particular region, SAT recognises that land arrivals are the most critical segment and that what is termed ‘purpose’ travel, involving business or shopping, is the core driver rather than leisure travel. SAT's essential marketing aim for the SADC market is to defend South Africa's dominant position in this existing market. It is recognised that the major opportunity lies not so much in increasing volume as in expanding yields through increasing spending in South Africa (SAT, 2006b: 45). Various market segments have been identified, such as ‘well-to-do leisurers’, ‘shoppers’, ‘young up-and-coming travellers’, and subcategories of business travellers.

The second African market that SAT has targeted is East Africa. Kenya is the country which is targeted as the specific focus and ‘launch pad’ into the wider region, including Uganda and Tanzania (SAT, 2006b: 11). During 2003 SAT prepared a Kenya marketing ‘activation strategy’ designed to promote South Africa as a preferred tourist destination through a range of media campaigns (SAT, 2003). A series of attractive packages was marketed to Kenyan travellers and tailored to shopping, entertainment and business (SAT, 2003). In 2004 an advertising campaign dubbed ‘coordinates’ was launched in Kenya using catch phrases such as ‘the world of business in your backyard’, ‘the world of entertainment in your backyard’ and ‘the world of leisure and shopping in your backyard’ (Otieno, 2005). The core thrust of Kenya marketing was thus to ‘turn up the volume’ of tourism by focusing on key consumer categories (SAT, 2006b). In particular, South Africa's shopping, leisure and business opportunities were profiled and special packages incorporating these elements designed with the goal of encouraging business visitors to extend their stay (Mjekula, 2003; Otieno, 2005).

As a third market, in West Africa, Nigeria was selected as the ‘launch pad’ for wider international tourism marketing of South Africa. The region of West Africa was identified by SAT (2006b) research as having a sizeable population, wealth and relatively high outbound tourism flows, which suggested significant future potential. The Nigerian market was selected for special attention, not least because of its huge potential and a growing web of connections between Nigeria and South Africa (Lutchman et al., 2004). Of special interest to SAT are the market opportunities from Nigeria's expatriate communities and its own class of the ‘hyper-wealthy’ (SAT, 2006b). The marketing of South Africa to Nigerian consumers builds on the high level of business travel between the two countries and the findings from focus groups in Nigeria that South Africa is seen as a holiday destination. The emphasis in advertising is ‘South Africa – where business meets pleasure’, ‘jet set meets out of this world’, ‘deal meets maker – what South Africa offers Nigerian traders’, ‘style meets taste’ and ‘shop until you drop’. In targeting the Nigerian market, South Africa's role as shopping and fashion hub for Africa is given considerable marketing attention, as indicated in the content of one SAT advertisement which proclaims:

Can I really? Find a place where shopping is never out of fashion. Where life is an air-conditioned mall and the streets are paved with designer labels. Where everything that glitters is gold. Where you don't have to be rich and famous to buy the lifestyle. Where there's always another special for sale or an extra special sale. Designed so that you can shop until you drop. The best of everything that is giant about Africa, its heart, its people, its vibrant lifestyle and exciting fashion, you'll find in South Africa.

These initiatives by SAT to support regional tourism flows to South Africa were boosted in 2006 by important steps taken by the national Department of Transport to address the liberalisation of air transport in Africa. As has been shown in recent detailed analysis, the slow pace of air transport liberalisation has been identified as a significant constraint on tourism's potential for achieving the goals for shared economic growth in South Africa (Genesis Analytics, 2006). In July 2006 South Africa's Department of Transport announced a new Air Lift Strategy that marks a policy shift towards greater liberalisation of air transport to support the national goals of ‘sustainable economic growth and job creation’ (Radebe, 2006: 4). A special focus is to be given to addressing the needs of intra-African services and thus to unblock one of the major constraints on regional travel (Radebe, 2006).

4.2. Local initiatives

It must be recorded that the efforts made by SAT are being complemented increasingly by another set of initiatives undertaken at local government level in South Africa, which further serves to promote regional tourism. In particular, the city of Johannesburg has emerged as proactive in its recent local development initiatives for tourism (Rogerson, 2002, 2006). The city's tourism development strategy prepared in 2001 recognised that Johannesburg does not possess a competitive advantage for the promotion of leisure tourism. Instead, on the basis of an analysis of the city's tourism assets and competitive advantage, two strengths were identified: business tourism and shopping tourism. This second sectoral driver sought to capitalise on the city's existing advantage as the ‘preferred destination of African tourists in South Africa’ (Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council, 2001: 88) especially for cross-border shoppers. SAT research disclosed that for many regional tourists Johannesburg was viewed as ‘the Las Vegas of Africa’ (SAT, 2002: 10).

Several proposals had been discussed as early as 2002 for the development of dedicated facilities to further promote Johannesburg as a shopping destination for regional travellers (Rogerson, 2003). Serious support initiatives were launched, however, only after the release of new research showing that cross-border retail tourism represents a significant contributor to the Johannesburg economy. Research by the ComMark Trust (2006a) revealed that by 2005 more than 500 000 people came to shop each year in the city, bringing in an annual sum of between R15 billion and R20 billion to the local economy. Of the total number of shoppers, it is estimated that more than 450 000 are land travellers and at least 90 000 are air travellers from other African destinations (ComMark Trust, 2006a).

In partnership with the City of Johannesburg a number of initiatives have been launched to put ‘Jobai’ firmly on the map of African shoppers. To address the challenges to and constraints on cross-border retail tourism, the Joburg Cross-Border Shopping Association has been established as a lobby association by a group of private sector retail, transport and accommodation enterprises. During 2006 the Johannesburg City Council introduced two specific interventions geared to improving the supply of information for shoppers, the establishment of a Visitor Centre at the city's major Park Station and the development of a cross-border shoppers' map of Johannesburg that highlights the location of key shopping areas and safe routes for access (Rogerson, 2006).

As pointed out by the SBP (2006), the development of a more enabling policy and administrative environment for the group of cross-border shoppers and traders would represent a major step towards achieving the goal of Johannesburg becoming the Dubai of southern Africa. Among several issues that must be addressed are inefficiencies in long-distance transport, safety and security of shoppers, xenophobia in post-apartheid South Africa, lack of appropriately priced accommodation, lack of storage facilities, poor internal transport within Johannesburg, difficulties in getting VAT rebates, and a number of problems with customs and visas (Rogerson, 2006).

5. CONCLUSION

Until recently, international tourism scholarship generally overlooked issues relating to the large and increasing volume of intra-regional tourists in the developing world. Accordingly, this article has sought to address a void in the existing literature by looking at the specific issues and growing policy debates surrounding the growth of regional tourism to South Africa from states in sub-Saharan Africa. It has shown that the African tourism market is critical for the success of South Africa's initiatives for tourism to be a lead economic driver for the country (SAT, 2006a,b).

Overall, at national government level, SAT is assuming the lead role in developing and seeking to maximise the potential of regional tourism for South Africa. It acknowledges that currently travel within Africa is multi-purpose in nature and driven by business or shopping and that pure leisure travel is only beginning to consolidate. Accordingly, the marketing initiatives for leisure travel by regional African visitors are fused together with other activities, especially those relating to business (SAT, 2006b).

For other countries in the developing world, of particular interest from the South African experience is the clear recognition that has been given by the national government to establishing a role for regional tourism in tourism planning. In recent years, tourism planning and international marketing for South Africa has moved beyond the conventional promotion of the country only for long-haul international travellers from Europe or North America. Contemporary South African planning acknowledges both the distinctiveness and the significance of regional tourists as part of the promotional initiatives for international tourism. Policy lessons may be gleaned for developing countries from the evolving South African experience of incorporating planning for regional tourism in national tourism policy making.

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Research Foundation, Pretoria Gun Award 2054064, and thank Wendy Job for preparing the diagrams for this paper.

Notes

¹Respectively, Professor of Human Geography and PhD Student, School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Research Foundation, Pretoria Gun Award 2054064, and thank Wendy Job for preparing the diagrams for this paper.