UP presents research results to national Department of Tourism

The Tourism Management Division presented the final results of a two-year research study, entitled A Model to Measure South Africa’s Tourism Competitiveness ­– at the National Department of Tourism’s annual Tourism Research Seminar. The event is hosted to showcase funded research projects undertaken by various tertiary institutions across the country.

The aim of the study was to identify the most appropriate set of factors and indicators of destination competitiveness that are relevant to South Africa as a tourism destination, with a view of developing and applying a model or instrument to measure and rate the country’s competitiveness, relative to its potential. Mixed methodology was employed and included a Delphi survey among industry experts as well as a consumer survey in six of South Africa’s most influential traditional and emerging sources markets. An adapted version of the Analytical Hierarchy Process was used to test the determinant attributes of competitiveness for South Africa, including a comparative analysis with key competitors in each of the source markets.

An important insight from the research is that the perception of industry stakeholders of the burning issues and challenges facing the private and public sectors, as well as their successes, were largely mirrored in the results from the source market surveys.  The final model includes a range of qualitative and quantitative data, with the essential feature of allowing permutations across source countries and competitors while taking into consideration current trends.

Future application of the model may serve to create greater awareness among stakeholders of specific improvement strategies required to reach new levels of competitiveness for the country as a tourism destination.