Abstract
South Africa is the leading destination of the Africa continent with 9 million international tourists. The country is really opened up to tourism in during early 90's, at the end of apartheid regime.
This activity, although recent, has known a considerable growth, due to an important rise in regional and European tourists. The African and overseas visitors adopt various activities, practices and of course the numbers are seasonal, but all of them take part in helping develop South Africa's tourism industry. Even if today, this euphoria is threatened by a few problems.
Actually many different factors hinder the tourism industry to develop to its full potential. Indeed, crime and insecurity continue to grow and it stays the most important problem in the tourism industry in the country.
Unfortunately, it's not the only one problem which curtails the development of tourism in South Africa. Air links with a few countries are inadequate and some accommodations don't meet consumers demand. Moreover, some political and economic problems also contribute to affect tourism, but we have to know which are the most important and how it affects tourism.
Few months ago, the beginning of the FIFA World Cup, the question was to know the main factors which have a bad impact on this new industry and at what level these constraints could negatively affect tourism in South Africa.
Extract
[...] Accommodation contributes approximately one-third of the spending of an average tourist in South Africa. Thus, if tourists don't find any accommodations meeting at their criteria of choice, they will not travel in South Africa. In 2003, there were 11500 shelters, which means an average of 200 000 rooms. This number increased between 1995 and 2003 by 21,5% but it stays insufficient. Moreover, a high percentage of domestic travelers accommodate in their parents or friends house, indeed in of people from Lesotho, Namibia or Zimbabwe live in parents or friends accommodations when they travel. [...]
[...] But all of them take part to the development of tourism industry. Even if today, this euphoria is threatened by a few problems. Actually a lot of different factors hinder the tourism industry to develop fully. Indeed, crime and insecurity continue to grow and it stays the most important problem in the tourism industry. Unfortunately, it's not the only one problem which slows the development of the tourism in South Africa. Air links with some countries are insufficient and some accommodations don't meet consumers demand. [...]
[...] That's why South Africa could become a destination too expensive. CONCLUSION As expected, the organization of the World Cup will be expensive in South Africa. More than 400 billion Rant have been committed in 2007 over three years to upgrade infrastructure, including $ 1.7 billion directly related to the World. Higher amounts for the three previous World Cups held in the FIFA France, Japan and Korea, then Germany, which had spent between 16 billion and 20 billion Rant. But even if the first power of Africa is a developed country, catching up to meet the requirements of FIFA was immense. [...]
[...] Even with the FIFA World Cup and all the security develop around it, in my opinion, the criminality could increase. Indeed, during this event, the number of tourists will be so important, and travelers have more or less money, so it can create more temptations for poor people and criminals, and the rate of thefts and aggressions could grow. With the arrival of many tourists, one can also think that prostitution will take a much larger scale. As in Germany during the last World Cup, where hotels were equipped for prostitutes and their customers; and so if the same thing occurs in South Africa, tourism could be associated to a sexual tourism. [...]
[...] Poor maintenance of road infrastructure in rural areas could also be a problem. In some former homelands, the potholes, landslides and switchbacks are frequent but underreported. Nearby villages, animals (cows, horses) wandering around can also be dangerous. Moreover, if some people want to go from a city to another during the world cup in order to see match it could constitute a big problem. Of course, we can find a lot of taxis and taxis buses, but during the world cup, tourists will probably use this way of transport, and with the number of tourists expected, it seems impossible to believe that there will be enough taxis for everyone. [...]
