Marketing South Africa as a tourist destination : a Chinese perspective

Abstract

The South African tourism industry is becoming an important service sector in this country, which is attracting increasing international tourists in recent years. China, as a fast developing country, will be exerting greater influence on the development of tourism worldwide over the next decade. In particular, the impact of rapid growth of China's outbound tourism market has been felt by South Africa. A feature that South Africa's tourism marketers need to understand is the different demographics of the Chinese population and their different perceptions on SouthAfrican tourism. The purpose of this study is to identify, analyze and evaluate factors that could impact positively and/or negatively on the image of South Africa as a tourist destination among prospective tourists from China. It examines the opinions and perceptions of Chinese tourists in Shanghai. The research evaluates the kinds of perceptions and attitudes held by Chinese tourists towards South African tourism. The study was conducted with the assistance of fieldworkers in Shanghai who helped the research complete all the interviews and questionnaires. Data was analysed through the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS), and findings, conclusions, and recommendations are presented. The study provides the recommendations to South African tourism organizations to take into considerationthe seriousness of Chinese tourists' understanding and perceptions towards South Africa as an emerging tourism destination as results indicate that many Chinese tourists do not quite understand South Africa and lack proper knowledge and information. Findings indicated that, although many Chinese tourists do know about South Africa as a tourist destination, they do