Urban Tourism in the Global South South African Perspectives

This book examines and addresses the particular character of urban tourism occurring in the global South. It presents research essays on tourism in urban areas of South Africa, a country which is associated with big 5 nature tourism but where urban areas are also major tourism destinations. The book contextualizes urban tourism in South Africa as part of ‘the other half of urban tourism’, an overlooked but energetic scholarship which is emerging on urban places in the global South. The volume moves to present a collection of original material variously on national perspectives on urban tourism following by a cluster of city level perspectives. The last three contributions turn to the role of tourism in small towns, the bottom rung in the urban settlement system. Issues of concern include gastronomic tourism, VFR travel, airportscapes, climate change, AirBnb and creative tourism. Finally, as COVID-19 is potentially a defining historical moment for urban tourism, the volume incorporates historical research perspectives in order to address the overwhelming ‘present-mindedness’ of mainstream urban tourism writings.  The book highlights the challenges and opportunities for tourism development in the environment of the urban global South and is relevant to scholars of both tourism and urban studies as well as researchers in development studies.

Chapter 1. The Other Half of Urban Tourism: Research Directions in the Global South.- Chapter 2. Looking to the Past: The Geography of Tourism in South Africa During the Pre-COVID-19 Era.- Chapter 3. Climate Change Threats to Urban Tourism in South Africa.- Chapter 4. Mundane Urban Tourism: The Historical Evolution of Caravan Parks in South Africa 1930-1994.- Chapter 5. Connection, Place, Transit: Airport Atmospherics and Meaning-making at Cape Town International Airport.- Chapter 6. Airbnb in Townships of South Africa: A New Experience of Township Tourism?.- Chapter 7. Urban Tourism Under Apartheid: The Johannesburg Chapter.- Chapter 8. Student-Centred VFR Travel: Evidence From Johannesburg.- Chapter 9. Small Town Tourism in South Africa Revisited.- Chapter 10. The Role of Tourism in Small Town Cultural and Creative Industries Clustering: The Sarah Baartman District, South Africa.- Chapter 11. Creative Networks and the Making of Africa’s First UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy.

Christian M. Rogerson is Research Professor at the School of Tourism and Hospitality, College of Business & Economics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. For nearly 20 years he has been involved in research concerning the tourism-development nexus in sub-Saharan Africa, including local economic development, small enterprise development, poverty studies, historical research and with a particular interest in urban tourism. He has over 200 publications on tourism among others papers in Tourism Geographies, Tourism Management, International Journal of Tourism Research and  Tourism Review. Edited books have included Tourism and Development in South Africa, Urban Tourism in the Developing World: The Southern Africa Experience, and The Geography of South Africa.

Jayne M. Rogerson is Associate Professor at the School of Tourism and Hospitality, College of Business & Economics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She is an urban geographer by training with a specific research interest in the hotel industry and tourism in cities. She has published over 70 articles including papers in Urban Studies, Applied Geography, Urban Forum and Development Southern Africa. Currently, she is completing an edited book for Springer on New Directions in the Tourism Geography of South Africa.