Urban Tourism and Regional Tourists: Shopping in Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract

In the international literature on urban tourism most research concentrates on cities and tourists from the global North. The patterns of urban tourism development unfolding in emerging destinations of the global South exhibit differences to the well‐documented experiences of cities in North America or Western Europe. One factor is the influence of regional tourists. It is evident South Africa's tourism economy is dominated by African tourists. Likewise, the urban tourism economy of Johannesburg is distinguished by regional tourists. This paper examines the role of ‘Southern’ tourists in urban tourism and of policy responses by Johannesburg authorities to promote shopping tourism as an element of local economic development planning.

Informal Sector Business Tourism and Pro-poor Tourism: Africa’s Migrant Entrepreneurs

“…Most research in pro-poor tourism focuses upon the impacts of international rather than domestic tourism and the majority of research on pro-poor tourism is examining the region of sub-Saharan Africa. This latter observation is of special interest as it contrasts to the marginal status of Africa in overall tourism scholarship (Rogerson & Rogerson, 2011;Rogerson, 2012). The strong Africa focus in pro-poor tourism writings can be accounted for by a number of factors.…”

“…Reviews on African tourism scholarship emphasize that the primary interest among scholars is upon leisure tourism rather than business tourism (Rogerson & Visser, 2011;Rogerson, 2012). For example, from a recent content analysis of a decade of tourism research for the Southern African Development Community it was revealed that business tourism was little investigated particularly as compared to the large amount of attention devoted to leisure tourism (Rogerson & Rogerson, 2011). This neglect of business tourism in Africa is regrettable.…”

“…As demonstrated by a number of independent research investigations as well as a cluster of work linked to the Southern African Migration Project this form of informal business tourism is widespread between South Africa and other countries in southern Africa, most importantly Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi (Muzvidziwa, 1998;Peberdy & Crush, 1998;Peberdy, 2000aPeberdy, , 2000bPeberdy & Crush, 2001;Peberdy & Rogerson, 2003;SBP, 2006;ComMark Trust, 2008;International Organization for Migration, 2010;Muzvidziwa, 2010;Chiliya, Masocha & Zindiye, 2012;Jamela, 2013). Johannesburg is host to a large circulating community of informal business travellers, mostly informal traders who cross South Africa's borders on a temporary basis to trade, shop and buy-and sell (Crush, 2005;Rogerson, 2011;Jamela, 2013). Although networks of informal cross-border trading encompass most of the African continent they have become especially dense in Southern Africa since the democratic transition in South Africa and the subsequent deregulation of the informal economy which facilitated a burst in cross-border business travel as a livelihood strategy (Crush, 2005).…”

Managing visitors’ dining and retail experiences in South African national parks

“…Hall and Mitchell (2001) found that retail and dining facilities were seen as adding to a destination's image through their reputation, through that destination's culture, by adding variety, being unique as well as through the associated relaxing and indulgent lifestyle. It is recognised that the kind of products, foods and drinks on offer for tourists can have major implications for the economic, cultural and environmental sustainability of tourism destinations, with researchers arguing that a focus on locally sourced products may result in benefits for both host and guest (Boniface, 2003;Clark & Chabrel, 2007;Hartman, Meyer & Scribner, 2009;Hurst, Niehm & Littrell, 2009;Ilbery, Kneafsey, Bowler, Clark, 2003;Torres, 2002;Rogerson, 2011;Woodland & Acott, 2007;Sims, 2009). …”

Urban tourism destinations in South Africa: Divergent trajectories 2001–2012

“…In addressing this issue South African cities have pursued a range of different interventions in order to galvanize economic expansion, to create new employment opportunities as well as to tackle chronic problems around poverty reduction (Nel & Rogerson, 2005a, 2005b. Interventions and support initiatives have ranged across variously cluster promotion, maximising opportunities for small enterprise development, encouraging creative industries (including film), call centres, high technology activities and energising locally competitive production activities (Rogerson, 2004(Rogerson, , 2008a(Rogerson, , 2010(Rogerson, , 2011a(Rogerson, , 2011b(Rogerson, , 2013aPandy & Rogerson, 2012Visser, 2014). In many respects these forms of promotion around local economic development in cities are a mirror of parallel policy developments which have occurred in cities of the global North (see eg.…”