Andrea Saayman

North-West University | NWU · School of Economics (Potchefstroom Campus)

Tourism is prevalent in rural areas of South Africa, where natural settings provide attractive opportunities. Despite tourism’s potential to improve societies, many surrounding rural populations struggle with poverty. They have low involvement in tourism activity and need more access to empowerment programmes, and there need to be community-based s...

This paper explores the relationship between the mandate of conservation authorities and the agenda of community development in rural areas and provides recommendations on how to improve the status quo. The analysis is based on qualitative data collected during five interviews with uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park’s (UDP) community liaison officers and...

Tourism is often promoted in Africa for its potential to inspire sustainable development and reduce poverty in rural areas, which host some of the most pristine natural attractions in the world. This research provides insights into the perceived influence of tourism on communities surrounding conservation areas and puts forward recommendations to i...

Forecasting tourism demand taking cyclical patterns into account has gained popularity. The focus has traditionally been on univariate time‐series models, which does not consider the influence of varying elasticities in upswings and downswings. This article aims to fill this void by forecasting tourism demand to five destinations, using a Markov‐sw...

Rural women entrepreneurs are tapping into the abundant cultural tourism resources in Southern Africa to support household livelihoods. This research focuses on the entrepreneurship skills, demonstrated by rural women entrepreneurs when managing culturally-based tourism ventures in Southern Africa. The ventures enable rural women entrepreneurs to e...

Makumbirofa, S.D. and Saayman, A., 2022. The influence of environmental value orientations on the overall scuba diving experience within a marine protected area. Journal of Coastal Research, 38(1), 168181. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. This paper reports on the findings of a discrete choice experiment that aims to value the different att...

Pro-poor tourism (PPT) strategies enable the poor to benefit from tourism. This study applies economic and marketing theories in the exploration of PPT. It investigates behavioral economics in tourism by evaluating the framing effects of marketing materials on tourists’ willingness to pay for PPT products. It integrates framing and persuasion theor...

The world of travel and tourism have perhaps changed forever as a result of COVID-19; considered the worst global pandemic to affect the world, post World War II. The spread of the Coronavirus diseases was considerably attributed to the travel and tourism industry, and with the attempt to curb the spread of the virus, the industry experienced calam...

COVID-19 disrupted international tourism worldwide, subsequently presenting forecasters with a challenging conundrum. In this competition, we predict international arrivals for 20 destinations in two phases: (i) Ex post forecasts pre-COVID; (ii) Ex ante forecasts during and after the pandemic up to end 2021. Our results show that univariate combine...

The difference of price perception between using foreign and home currencies is considered a form of money illusion. People may view a product as expensive in a foreign currency with a higher nominal face value, causing under-spending. Since most developing countries have considerably weaker currencies than developed countries – often the main orig...

A brief look at tourism to, within, and from Africa.

This book draws attention to the need for a comprehensive and rigorous focus on local solutions to improve the welfare of captive elephants, their mahouts and local residents, and to enhance tourists' experiences of elephant tourism. It achieves this by critically reviewing recent research into elephant tourism, and providing contemporary analytica...

This paper aims to evaluate how prices are formed in the informal tourism market and how this has a bearing on the livelihoods of informal traders. More specifically, the objectives of this research were to: (i) determine the dependence and strategies of informal traders on sales and fair prices for their livelihood; (ii) assess price judgement of...

It has been suggested that tourism fisheries can raise the value of landed catch, provide alternative livelihoods for local artisanal fishers and, because recreationally caught fishes are often released, simultaneously conserve stocks. However, for fishing tourism to meet ecotourism standards, sustainable, local economic benefit is imperative. This...

It has been observed that since most eco-tourist resorts and activities in these countries are located in rural areas, ecotourism often affects the lives and agricultural production of local communities negatively. This leads to conflicts over land-use between eco-tourism and agricultural activities in many parts of these countries. Ecologically se...

Orientation: Beaches attract millions of visitors every year and this has an impact not only on the economy, the environment and the local community but also on current and future beachgoers. Research purpose: The aim of the article is to use expenditure-based segmentation to gain a greater understanding of beach visitor spending in order to ident...

Background: Around the world, domestic and regional travel is considered the backbone of the tourism industry, with as much as 80% of international visitors within the same region, however, various factors permit or deter tourists to move around freely. The arguments of tourism promoting trade and vice versa, are both valid. Since trade can promote...

The purpose of this article is to segment visitors to a cheese festival to identify more appropriate marketing strategies. Segmentation can be based on various characteristics of consumers. One characteristic that has become popular over the last number of years is expenditure-based segmentation, which is an attempt to address issues of festival su...

The accurate forecasting of tourist arrivals has become a necessity for destination managers and tourism businesses. Singular spectrum analysis (SSA) has been applied in other areas, although its application in tourism demand is limited to SSA using a single univariate time series. New developments in the field extend the univariate framework into...

Background: Consumers worldwide have recently become more aware that their consumption preferences and habits influence not only the environment, but also other people’s lives. These ‘ethical’ consumers are therefore said to consider the moral features of the product or service in their consumption decision. The most prominent ethical consumption l...

The aim of this research was to determine the economic impact of trophy hunting in the wildlife industry of South Africa. The link to the questionnaire was distributed electronically by the Professional Hunters Association of South Africa (PHASA) as well as by SCI (Safari Club International) to the 7600 hunters who engaged in hunting activities in...

The goal of this research was to investigate the determinants that influence foreign tourism arrivals to the African continent, firstly as a collective and secondly in different regions, with the aim to foster a greater understanding of how African countries and regions can grow their tourism economies. Using static and dynamic panel estimators, tw...

This research uses evidence of 116 articles to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) for tourism‐led growth (TLG). A dichotomous dependent variable was regressed against CSFs for various cross sections of 47 countries, spanning from 1995 to 2013. The results show that the safety and security of tourists, human resources, trade openness, prot...

While African outbound tourism represents 3% of international tourism, the continent is experiencing high economic growth rates, contributing to a fast-growing middle-class and a large potential market for international travel. This article analyses African outbound travel to all other continents from an Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) perspectiv...

In 1998, the Italian authorities declared the marine area around the Peninsula of Portofino, Liguria, a Marine Protected Area (MPA) covering 13 km of coastline on the north-western coast of Italy. Thus, many feared decreased local tourism and resultant economic loss due to limitations on activities within the MPA. The MPA has, however, led to an in...

As South Africa’s popularity as a tourist destination increases, the need for skilled human capital also increases. The study of skills development and human capital in all sectors of the economy has long been topical as a means to support organisational progression that can eventually lead to economic growth. Estimates suggest that tourism and hos...

Saayman, M. and Saayman, A., 0000. How important are Blue Flag awards in beach choice? South Africa's almost 3000-km coastline has long stretches of sandy beaches. An important yardstick for measuring their quality is the Blue Flag award, desired by beach and coastal management agencies. This paper investigates whether the Blue Flag status necessar...

Quantitative methods for forecasting tourist arrivals can be subdivided into causal methods and non-causal methods. Non-causal time series methods remain popular tourism forecasting tools due to the accuracy of their forecasting ability and general ease of use. Since tourist arrivals exhibit seasonality, Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Av...

This article aims to contribute to the literature on the effects of trade bloc formation and plurilateral economic cooperation on international tourism flows. This research expands previous findings in the number of countries (58) and types of agreements (formal and informal, global and regional) under investigation in order to (i) capture the effe...

The Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour is a major event on the road cycling calendar. The majority of cyclists travel significant distances and participation produces a substantial carbon footprint. This paper examines participants’ willingness to pay to offset their carbon footprint. The purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to the literat...

Southern African countries are increasingly dependent on natural beauty and wildlife for tourism. Conservation is essential for sustainable tourism, and is expensive, especially for threatened and endangered species. The current price of a species only takes into account its current usefulness, often leading to an underestimation of the value of wi...

The Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour is a major event on the road cycling calendar. The majority of cyclists travel significant distances and participation produces a substantial carbon footprint. This paper examines participants? willingness to pay to offset their carbon footprint. The purpose of this paper is to make a contribution to the literat...

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview and comparison of three related methods for modelling the short-run economic impact of events, namely the partial Input-Output (I-O), Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) and Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models. An analysis of strengths and limitations of these different methods suggests that it...

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview and comparison of three related methods for modelling the short-run economic impact of events, namely the partial Input-Output (I-O), Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) and Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models. An analysis of strengths and limitations of these different methods suggests that it...

There are generally three explanations for tipping: social approval, equitable service exchange and other reasons. The combination and importance of these reasons differ between countries and cultures. In this study, three distinct questions were asked. What influences the frequency of the tipping decision? What influences the magnitude of the tip...

This research follows micro-economic theory, according to which demand for a product is influenced by price, substitute prices and income, to determine the sensitivity of inbound tourist expenditure in South Africa to changes in these variables. Tourist expenditure per person per day from different origins forms the dependent variable. Using quarte...

The Wacky Wine Festival is the largest wine festival in South Africa with more than 15,000 visitors. An expenditure-based segmentation was completed in order to compile a profile of the low- and high-spenders who visit the Festival with the purpose of identifying the attributes of high-spenders. In order to achieve this, a survey was conducted in J...

This article investigates the non-consumptive, or appreciative value of the 'Big 7' and identifies the variables that influence willingness to pay (WTP). Addo Elephant National Park in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, is one of few places in the world where tourists can view all seven species: lion, buffalo, rhinoceros, leopard, elephant, s...

International tourist arrivals to South Africa have increased significantly over the past 15 years and the country is ranked amongst the top thirty most popular destinations. It is therefore surprising that little research is available on forecasting tourism demand in South Africa. This article aims to expand on forecasting intercontinental tourism...

More than 60,000 divers annually visit Sodwana Bay in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, one of the world's top diving sites. A survey was conducted during March and April 2012 to identify factors that influence the spending behaviour of divers. Data from 402 questionnaires provided information about spending per person, socio-demographic profile, diving...

Pilgrimages around the world attract large numbers of followers, often classified as religious tourists. More than a million people attend the annual Easter weekend meeting of The Zion Christian Church in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world and could be expected to have a significant impact on the...

There has been an increase in the number of arts and music festivals held annually in South Africa. These festivals range from wide all-encompassing arts festivals, such as the National Arts Festival, to specific festivals that cater for very specific audiences, such as the Jazz Festival and the Philharmonic Orchestra Festival. It may therefore be...

Sport events are big business, attracting not only a large number of participants, spectators and sponsorships, but also wide media coverage. The hosting of sport events have led to increased rivalry between nations, regions and cities. Sport events range from mega events, such as the Olympic Games and the FIFA Soccer World Cup, to endurance events...

This paper investigates the pattern of inbound tourists' consumption in South Africa, examining four main intercontinental markets and five different tourism goods. The empirical investigation develops an almost ideal demand system (AIDS) model and it extends recent research by allowing tourists to base their spending decision on the real effective...

This paper models tourism demand for South Africa from the UK and the USA, using an almost ideal demand system. An error-correction almost ideal demand system (EC-AIDS) is applied to quantify the responsiveness of UK and USA tourism demand for South Africa, relative to changes in tourism prices and expenditure or income. Short-term own-price, cross...

Tourism literature mainly argues that exchange rate volatility signals risk associated with a destination, which may cause tourists to refrain from visiting the destination and/or cancel their trips. This is especially true if the cause of volatility is seen as a result of political unrest or instability. However, not all volatility is due to count...

The Wacky Wine Festival in Robertson is unique, due to the fact that there are 48 wine farms on an existing wine route that participate in the festival. Each one of these farms is offering its own unique products and entertainment programme as part of the festival in general. This article aims to determine the economic contribution of the festival...

This article will determine the socio-economic impact of South Africa’s largest urban national park, and the one that attracts the most visitors. Because national parks have more functions than mere conservation, the following questions arise: “What economic and social impacts are created by such parks?” and “How do communities benefit from allocat...

Tourism to South Africa has increased consistently over the last 15 years and the country has become one of the most popular tourist destinations, not only in Africa, but also in the world. With 10 million tourists visiting South Africa, tourism has grown to become an important industry, contributing more than 8% to the country's gross domestic pro...

Purpose The Comrades Marathon is a world‐renowned ultra marathon that takes place yearly between the cities of Pietermaritzburg and Durban in KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa. It attracts athletes from around the world, and boasts a participation of more than 14,000. The purpose of this article is to determine the impact that this marathon has on the pr...

The Kruger National Park in South Africa is a key ecotourism attraction for both domestic and international tourists. The South African National Parks have recently come under pressure to uplift communities and to build relationships with communities. This study therefore aimed to answer the question: how do communities benefit from the Kruger Park...

In the field of tourism forecasting, the application of time-varying parameters has been successful in forecasting arrivals taking into account the changing behavior of tourists. This article uses quarterly data to forecast intercontinental tourism demand for a long-haul, developing destination (South Africa) by applying time-varying parameters (TV...

South Africa plays host to a number of major sporting events that takes place annually such as the Two Oceans Marathon, the Argus Cycle Tour and the Midmar open water mile. This research aims to identify the socio-economic differences of participants in the events and to determine the key drivers of their spending. Three surveys were conducted at t...

This article aims to apply expenditure-based segmentation to visitors to the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival. Surveys conducted at the Festival from 2005 to 2011 and ANOVA analyses were used to divide the visitors into low, medium and high spenders based on total expenditure. Results show that the high-spending market at the Festival was disting...

Even though risks certainly influence travel and tourism patterns, very little research has been conducted into how the industry generally perceives and manages risks. This article aims to (i) identify the risks the South African tourism industry deems important; (ii) construct a matrix for assessing the various risks identified and (iii) determine...

Tourism may have a favourable impact on economic growth and development in Africa. In South Africa, tourism is widely seen to be a growth catalyst and to be able to contribute towards the economic upliftment of poorer regions. The magnitude of the impact of tourist spending may, however, depend on the extent of leakages from the country or region,...

Although the annual budget speech traditionally focused on fiscal matters, the minister of finance regularly covered monetary policy issues in his speech. This paper reviews and compares the monetary policy statements/views expressed in the budget speech with the monetary policy stance portrayed in the annual ‘President's Address’ to the shareholde...

The Grahamstown National Arts Festival is the oldest National Arts Festival in South Africa and was founded in 1974. This celebration of the arts takes place over a period of eleven days with the main festival running over eight days, which also makes it the longest (in terms of number of days) arts festival in the country. The literature review re...

National parks are playing an important role in the South African tourism landscape - especially in their respective regional economies - since most foreign and many domestic tourists visit one or more of the 21 national parks annually. For the purpose of this article, socio-economic impact analyses were conducted at four national parks using simil...

Purpose and/or objectives: The purpose of this article is to apply expenditure-based segmentation to visitors at the Tsitsikamma National Park. The objective of the research is twofold, to identify the socio-demographic and behavioural variables that influence spending at the Tsitsikamma National Park and to make recommendations on how to attract t...

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to model and forecast tourism to South Africa from the country's main intercontinental tourism markets. These include Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, the United States of America and France. Problem investigated: Tourism to South Africa has grown substantially since the first democratic elections in 1994....

This article explores the relationship between tourist arrivals and trade in South Africa. Two analyses were conducted - a panel data analysis, which included tourism and trade data of 40 countries with South Africa, and a time-series analysis that involved South Africa's main tourism and trade partners. Cointegration tests, Granger causality and B...

According to uncovered interest parity (UIP) theory, the rates of return on comparable assets should be equal across the world, implying that the exchange rate would adjust to ensure that difference between world interest rates average zero. In addition, real interest parity (RIP) prevails when there is long-run convergence between real returns on...

South African National Parks (SANParks) plays a major role in the tourism industry and has three primary functions, namely to conserve biodiversity, to create tourism and recreational opportunities and to build strong community relations. These parks, therefore, have a definite socio-economic impact on adjacent communities, although little is known...

The question of currency over- or undervaluation is often asked and implies the existence of an equilibrium exchange rate (EER). The aim of this research was to determine the long-term EER of the South African rand using the behavioural equilibrium exchange rate (BEER) methodology. This paper used a panel of data from South Africa's main trading pa...

Sport events have become big business as countries as well as cities are competing fi ercely to host major events. The purpose of this article is to determine the economic impact of visitor spending during the annual Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay Cycle Tour. Direct spending was determined based on a survey consisting of 583 respondents, while the impact o...

The Kruger National Park is one of the most visited national parks in the world and one of South Africa's prime tourism destinations. It attracts more than I million visitors per year and, as such, plays an important role in the regional and national economy. The article aims to assess the extent to which socio-demographic and behavioural indicator...

Most of South Africa’s national parks are based in rural areas, although a few parks – such as Wilderness National Park (WNP) – are situated in an urban area. This park differs from other national parks in several ways: it is not fenced in, it has very few animal species and it is a marine (fresh and salt water) reserve. WNP is a scenic park with w...

The Klein Karoo National Arts Festival (KKNK) is one of the most popular arts festivals in South Africa. However, the festival is already in the decline phase of its product life cycle. This leads to serious concerns for its future profitability and sustainability. Given the economic value of the festival, an understanding of expenditure patterns a...

Events and festivals are hosted with the expectation that they hold many benefits for the host communities. These benefits include employment, income generation, and increasing tourist numbers, thereby improving the quality of life of the host community. However, little is known about the socioeconomic impact of arts festivals, especially in the So...

National parks in South Africa are seen as major tourism assets due to the wildlife and various activities for international and local visitors. Little is known of the socio-economic contribution of these parks to their respective local economies. The purpose of this research was to determine the socio-economic impact of the Karoo National Park (Ka...

The Addo Elephant National Park is one of only a few national parks in the world that offers the Big 7 experience and is therefore one of South Africa’s prime tourism destinations. The park plays an important role in the regional economy and has become a hub for tourism development. The aim of this article is to determine the extent to which socio-...

Reports that the Addo Elephant National Park is one of only a few national parks in the world that offers the Big 7 experience and is therefore one of South Africa?s prime tourism destinations. Highlights the park?s important role in the regional economy and in tourism development. Determines the extent to which socio-demographic and behavioural an...

Purpose Little empirical research has been conducted on competitive intelligence (CI). This paper aims to contribute to the quantitative strand of the CI literature by exploring and validating the theoretical constructs of the CI process. Design/methodology/approach Data from 601 questionnaires filled out by South African and Flemish exporters wer...

South Africa has experienced a significant increase in tourist arrivals over the past ten years. The challenge is to sustain this growth and therefore it is important to understand the factors that influence inbound tourism to South Africa. The purpose of this article is to identify the various determinants of inbound tourism to South Africa from d...