Coastal and Marine Tourism (CMT), as part of the oceans economy, offers significant development opportunities that can contribute to job creation and sustainability. However, a desktop study funded by the National Department of Tourism (NDT) revealed that there are limited national and international best practices to assess the economic impacts of CMT. To examine the economic impacts of CMT in South Africa, surveys were implemented with demand-side (tourists/ users/ customers) and supply-side (the accommodation sector, CMT business owners, retail outlets and tour operators) coastal and marine stakeholders. This presentation presents the descriptive analysis of survey results from key stakeholder groups. The results are used for the economic modelling as well which used the Input-Output (I-O) model and Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) approaches. A proportionate targeted sampling approach was used to survey 3 031 tourists/ users/ customers, 125 accommodation establishments, 125 restaurants and retail outlets, 94 CMT business owners and 66 tour operators. The surveys were undertaken in KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Eastern Cape. CMT locations in these provinces were purposively chosen and persons systematically selected. The demographic profile of tourist/ user/ customer respondents indicate diversity in terms of gender and historical racial groups with most having post-matric qualifications and having higher than average incomes. The majority of these respondents were also overnight and day visitors. The majority of respondents participated in in multiple CMT activities. This shows high levels of interest in CMT products/activities. CMT locations also have repeat visitors and attract new visitors. There was also high levels of satisfaction among visitors with CMT activities and experiences. Most respondents spent on food and drinks and travel. The highest average spend by tourists was for travel and accommodation during visit to South Africa. Shopping as well as food and drinks also had relatively high average spend. In terms of the supply-side stakeholder key findings, most of these businesses were operational for more than 10 years. The months regarded as high and low season were similar for all stakeholders with occupancy rates/ number of clients and average spend per client rates being substantially higher during high compared to low seasons. Research challenges were noted, especially in relation to undertaking fieldwork in Northern Cape and interviewing supply-side stakeholders. These issues were also raised during the piloting phase of the research. Differences were noted in terms of expenditure patterns among the stakeholders. However, the highest average expenditure was generally for salaries/ wages followed by capital expenditure. In terms of use of service providers/ suppliers, the highest was for restaurants and retail establishments followed by tour operators and accommodation establishments. Among all the stakeholders who used service providers, most were locally-based which indicates support for local businesses which is a key component of the transformation agenda. However, few service providers were identified as being black or female-owned. In relation to employment trends, the results show that accommodation establishments employed the most staff and CMT businesses the least. Most staff were locally-based. No discernible gender differences emerged. Africans are employed the most in many businesses which is important given that this is the main equity target group. The importance of developing a standardised framework to measure, monitor and manage the economic impacts of CMT in South Africa remains. This research will inform the development of a framework for CMT. Show less

Coastal and Marine Tourism (CMT), as part of the oceans economy, offers significant development opportunities that can contribute to job creation and sustainability. However, a desktop study funded by the National Department of Tourism (NDT) revealed that there are limited national and international best practices to assess the Show more

The core message of Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens (WSNBG) is the enjoyment of nature “where luscious nature welcomes visitors and the rushing water of the Witpoortjie Waterfall, gushing from a height of 70 metres, soothes and revitalises careworn city-dwellers.” Overall the site is beautiful and had a number of positive observations such as the interesting and unique layout of different garden sections, the Garden invites visitors to explore, very friendly and helpful staff, ample space for visitor numbers and ease of movement through a pristine environment. Some of the negative observations related to limited ablution facilities, problematic access to visitors that make use of public transport (taxi and bus routes about 3km from entrance) and limited branded signage enroute to the site. Show less

The core message of Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens (WSNBG) is the enjoyment of nature “where luscious nature welcomes visitors and the rushing water of the Witpoortjie Waterfall, gushing from a height of 70 metres, soothes and revitalises careworn city-dwellers.” Overall the site is beautiful and had a number of Show more

Accommodation is one of the largest components of the tourism sector (Deng, Yeh, and Sung 2013). The increasing competition in the accommodation sector has meant that establishments have started focusing a lot on improving customer satisfaction with a view to retain existing and attract new customers. Consequently, a number of studies have been carried out to assess customer satisfaction and its determinants in several sectors, including accommodation. Several of such research investigates the relationship between various service quality dimensions and overall customer satisfaction. For example, The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), established in 1994 and inspired by the Swedish Customer Satisfaction Barometer (SCSB) (Fornell et al., 1996), contains sets of causal relationship between the antecedents (e.g. customer expectations, perceived service quality and perceived value) and the consequences (e.g. customer complaints and customer loyalty) of customer satisfaction. Such studies are based on the premise that service quality influences customer satisfaction which in turn influences customer behavioural intention (i.e. their intention to return to the same accommodation again or complaints behaviour) (Kang, Okamoto, and Donovan, 2004). The latter empirically reported that increased customer satisfaction in the accommodation sector led to positive behavioural intention, prevented customer defection, and lowered marking costs of the organisations. There is also considerable evidence to suggest that service quality and perceive value with a product or service are associated with customer satisfaction (Brady, Robertson, and Cronin, 2001). Show less

Accommodation is one of the largest components of the tourism sector (Deng, Yeh, and Sung 2013). The increasing competition in the accommodation sector has meant that establishments have started focusing a lot on improving customer satisfaction with a view to retain existing and attract new customers. Consequently, a number of Show more