Wine tourism development in South Africa: a geographical analysis

ABSTRACT

Wine tourism, which is growing and developing on a global scale, is widely considered a driver of economic and social development in rural areas. Limited job opportunities and unemployment are prevalent in most rural areas, particularly in South Africa. In 2015, the South African wine industry generated close to 300,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities. A geographical analysis of the development and current state of wine tourism in the region can assist in the country's efforts to develop a new strategy to enhance and preserve wine tourism in the future. Wine tourism development is analysed from a nodes, network and winescape perspective using the results from a national questionnaire survey. This mostly quantitative approach explains the wine tourism development over more than 40 years from a supply-side perspective including its wine tourism product portfolio and in terms of its physical footprint. Wine tourism development commenced from only three pioneer open cellar doors in 1971, to network formation of 21 wine routes and today boasting well-established wine tourism destinations. The Stellenbosch-Franschhoek-Paarl nexus emerges as South Africa's premier winescape, as being a well-established destination in its mature life cycle phase. Strong evidence of hierarchical differentiation between the wineries of the more established wine tourism regions has emerged. The impact of the wine tourism resorts on the smaller wineries has yet to be determined in the context of the resilience of the whole region. The development of wine tourism is also responsible for the transformation of rural landscapes and especially in the regions that have the most developed wine routes. These regions need higher-level protection (especially the cultural and natural resource bases) in the form of an ‘agricultural reserve’ or the declaration of a ‘national heritage site’.

摘要

葡萄酒旅游, 正在全球范围内迅速发展, 已广为认可为一种驱动乡村社会经济发展的因素。正如绝大多数乡村地区一样, 南非乡村地区就业机会缺乏和失业问题普遍存在。2015年南非葡萄酒产业产生了将近30万个直接与间接就业机会。对该地区葡萄酒旅游的现状与发展进行地理分析有助于该国将来制定新的葡萄酒保护与提升战略。本研究利用南非全国葡萄酒问卷调查结果, 从节点、网络与景观角度分析了葡萄酒的发展, 从供给方的视角定量地解释了葡萄酒四十余年的发展, 包括其产品组合与自然足迹。南非葡萄酒的发展从1971年只有3个开创性的开放酒窖起步, 形成了有21条葡萄酒旅游路线的葡萄酒旅游网络, 至今发展为颇有名气的成熟葡萄酒旅游目的地。斯德伦波士(Stellenbosch)、弗朗斯胡克(Franschhoek)、帕尔(Paarl)三个核心已经成为南非主要的葡萄酒旅游景观, 成为处于发展周期成熟阶段的知名旅游目的地。有证据表明, 这些知名葡萄酒旅游区的葡萄酒厂已经呈现出明显的等级差异。 这些葡萄酒胜地对较小规模葡萄酒厂的影响在整个地区发展弹性的背景下有待进一步确定。葡萄酒旅游的发展有助于乡村景观的转型, 特别是有助于最发达葡萄酒旅游路线所处乡村地区景观的转型。这些地区由于其文化与自然资源的基础, 需要以农业文化保护区的形式或者宣告为国家遗产地的形式进行高等级的保护。

KEYWORDS:

• Rural development
• winery
• wine route
• winescape
• tourism area life cycle
• resortification
• South Africa

关键词:

• 乡村发展
• 葡萄酒厂
• 葡萄酒游程
• 葡萄酒景观
• 旅游地生命周期

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the support of VINPRO and Destinate in motivating wine farmers to complete the national questionnaire survey.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Wine Industry Strategic exercise (WISE).

2. The Wine of Origin Scheme explains the origin of the wine according to geographical unit. South Africa currently has five regions of origin: Western Cape, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal. It also recognises wines from a defined vineyard.

3. Note that a tourism route can be seen as a destination on its own (Hall & Brown, 2006)

4. Since 2008, the Cape winelands is on the tentative waiting list of UNESCO, to be declared a world heritage site.

5. The most successful wine routes are rural in character but their location in close proximity of a metropolitan area threatens their long-term survival because of the ongoing encroachment of formal and informal urban development into the wine grape producing regions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sanette L. A. Ferreira

Sanette Ferreira is a professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. Her main research interests are tourism and the role in regional development, the impact of crime on the destination images of South Africa, sustainable wine tourism development in South Africa and the management of large numbers of tourists in national parks.

Caitlin A. Hunter

Caitlin Hunter is a Master's student in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa working on a dissertation on wine tourism development in South Africa.