Brand Positioning for Sub-Saharan Africa’s Rural Tourism Development

Well-conceived and effectively managed rural tourism brand in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) can help build favourable reputation which enhances the confidence of tourists. The purpose of this paper is to formulate brand essence (functional and emotional benefits derivable from a brand) and brand position statement, for SSA’s rural tourism development. This study conducted descriptive analysis of brand essence for SSA’s rural tourism development. It is exploratory, rather than conclusive in nature. Functional benefits of SSA’s rural tourism include her diverse natural and cultural attributes, friendliness of population, climatic conditions, and unique rural landscape. Her emotional benefits include the ‘feel-good’ factor when tourists are offered the ‘rural idyll’ experience not found in any other continent or sub-continent, or buy local foods and souvenirs. This positive feeling of visiting SSA’s rural areas adds richness and depth to the tourists’ experience of being involved with her brand. The knowledge of rural tourism brand essence can help SSA’s local communities, local governments and national governments to communicate not just the functional values, but also the emotional values of visiting rural areas to tourists. This will lead to particular relationships between local communities and stakeholders to enact these emotional values or rewards. SSA’s rural tourism brand positioning statement could read: “To tourists seeking nostalgic experiences, novelty and escape, rural SSA offers authentic rural landscape, ‘rural idyll’ experience, and amazing friendly populationsâ€

Choice of Intermediary for Leisure Travel Arrangements

Travellers can plan and arrange holidays themselves online or through the supplier, or use the services of a travel organizer, such as a travel agent. Consumers of travel services will seek to optimize choices by selecting a distribution channel which will provide them with the greatest perceived value. The primary goal of this study is to explore the underlying factors that influence consumer behaviour in making travel decisions, with specific reference to choosing between booking through a travel agent or online. Research with a perspective on travel decision-making in South Africa is limited. This study surveyed 408 respondents residing in South Africa using a structured questionnaire examining preference in booking holiday flights or accommodation through a travel agent or Internet. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify factors influencing traveller decision-making. Factors that influence travel decision-making were identified to include ‘trust’, ‘convenience and adoption of technology’, ‘best deal and price’, and ‘personal contact’. Travellers who preferred booking through the Internet found the potential of technology to save time and effort and to be convenient, due to the Internet being available day and night, important advantages of booking online. Travellers who preferred booking through a travel agent placed a premium on personal contact and social interaction between traveller and travel agent. They further valued the travel experience and ability of the travel agent to group transactions

Entrepreneurial Inclination: South African Youth's Mental Attitude towards starting Tourism Business

This study assessed the tourism entrepreneurial intention of South African youth, and the mental attitude of those who have this intention. It used questionnaire survey to gather data from 207 youth resident in Mtubatuba Local Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa, to address the study objectives. Data analyses reveal that a significant percentage of the youth have tourism entrepreneurial intention. Those who perceive themselves as entrepreneurial individuals and willing to start tourism businesses in the future exhibit some distinct mindset. This mental attitude depicts these individuals to be innovative, transformational, risk takers, persistence, strong-minded, visionary, optimistic, and goal-getters. The South African Government, through its Department of Labour, need to optimize its strategic and operational plans to support these entrepreneurial youth in acquiring business education and entrepreneurial skills, to empower them realise their dreams of starting and managing their own businesses. This will help curb the high rate of unemployment in South Africa, especially among the youth

Employee Retention Factors: The Case of Hotels in Cape Town, South Africa

High turnover of employees in the hotel sector has been widely reported in academic papers. This high turnover has associated costs, such as financial costs, inconsistency in delivering service quality, and probable loss of customer loyalty. This empirical study investigates hotel employees’ responses to statements that relate to work conditions that support employee retention. Selected three, four and five star hotels in Cape Town, South Africa participated in this study. A structured respondent-completed questionnaire was used to collect data that were subjected to descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analyses. Result highlights suggest that hotel employees, dominated by the female population, are mostly not so desperate to leave their employment soon, however not many of them have worked in the hotel for more than five years. There are positive inter-correlations among ‘employee retention’ factor and other factors that relate to work conditions that support employee retention (compensation, employee development, work engagement, work relations, and working hours). Results also show that ‘strict supervision’, ‘long working hours’ and ‘perceived unfair salary’ are the top major concerns for hotel employees. These findings will enable hotel employers address employee concerns in order to curb the high employee turnover costs. Possible comparative research in other nations and continents will help establish cultural similarities and differences among nations or continents. &nbsp

Tourist Activity and Destination Brand Perception: The Case of Cape Town, South Africa

A respondent-completed questionnaire in Cape Town, South Africa was used to check how the activities that tourists enjoyed in Cape Town relate to how they perceive this destination using brand descriptive variables (brand essence, brand image and brand loyalty). 200 questionnaires were received for bivariate and multivariate analyses. This study finds that although tourists found most activities in Cape Town enjoyable; nature and outdoor, food and wine, and shopping enjoyment have more impact in determining the general experience satisfaction of tourists, than beach, and surprisingly, history and cultural activities. Nonetheless, tourists generally perceive Cape Town quite positively. From analyses, this study strongly suggests that the brand position statement for Cape Town should revolve around unique and diverse tourists' attractions in Cape Town, and the memorable experience with which tourists go home from Cape Town. The brand position statement should be linked to Cape Town tourism integrated marketing communications. This study can assist tourism business owners in Cape Town to evaluate and improve tourism offerings to meet the expectations of visitors, contributing to visitors forming a positive perception towards Cape Town. The findings have implications for similar destinations in the developing economies

Socio-demographic variables' relationships in choosing between travel agencies and the Internet for leisure travel arrangements: the case of South Africa

Traditionally, travel agents have been seen as the key intermediary between suppliers of travel services and the traveller. Consumers of travel services can plan and arrange holidays themselves (online or directly through the supplier) or use the services of a travel organiser, such as a travel agent. Travellers will seek to optimise choices by selecting a distribution channel which will provide them with the greatest perceived value. The goal of this study is to investigate the role of socio-demographic variables in influencing consumer behaviour when making travel decisions, with specific reference to choosing between bookings through a travel agent or online. 408 South African residents were surveyed using a structured questionnaire, in examining possible relationships between travellers‟socio-demographic characteristics and preferences in booking holiday flights or accommodation through a travel agent or Internet.Travellers were sampled using a non-probabilistic convenience sampling method. Descriptive andBivariate analyses of the data collected were done. Pearson Chi-Square test checked for relationships between variables. This study made an interesting finding that unlike popular belief; the age of travellers does not relate to choice of booking via the Internet or travel agent. However statistically significant relationships were found between travellers‟ income level and race, on the one hand; and booking domestic flights online or through a travel agent, on the other hand

Segmentation by motivation for rural tourism activities in The Gambia

h i g h l i g h t s We conduct a survey of 430 tourists in The Gambia to find out about market potential for rural tourism. We employ a combined factor-clustering method to extract distinct market segments for tourism activities in The Gambia. We find four distinct market segments. There is high (latent) market potential for rural tourism businesses in The Gambia. We sketch out a 'development path' on how an event-based rural tourism can actually be implemented

Socio-demographic variables' relationships in choosing between travel agencies and the Internet for leisure travel arrangements: the case of South Africa

Abstract Traditionally, travel agents have been seen as the key intermediary between suppliers of travel services and the traveller. Consumers of travel services can plan and arrange holidays themselves (online or directly through the supplier) or use the services of a travel organiser, such as a travel agent. Travellers will seek to optimise choices by selecting a distribution channel which will provide them with the greatest perceived value. The goal of this study is to investigate the role of socio-demographic variables in influencing consumer behaviour when making travel decisions, with specific reference to choosing between bookings through a travel agent or online. 408 South African residents were surveyed using a structured questionnaire, in examining possible relationships between travellers' socio-demographic characteristics and preferences in booking holiday flights or accommodation through a travel agent or Internet. Travellers were sampled using a non-probabilistic convenience sampling method. This study made an interesting finding that unlike popular belief; the age of travellers does not relate to choice of booking via the Internet or travel agent. However statistically significant relationships were found between travellers' income level and race, on the one hand; and booking domestic flights online or through a travel agent, on the other hand

The entrepreneurial intention of university students : the case of a university of technology in South Africa

This quantitative study was executed from a realist’s ontological perspective and its epistemological leaning is towards that of an empiricist. The study essentially sought to determine the existence or otherwise of entrepreneurial intentions among the students. Ample emphasis needs to be placed on entrepreneurship education and practical entrepreneurship schemes (such as mentorship programmes) if developing countries are to realise the goal of having a productive and virile youth population, which would represent a significant shift from today’s yawning youth unemployment position. The study collected data in a cross-sectional manner from a random sample of 150 students drawn from a leading South African University of Technology. In analyzing the data, there was recourse to the use of descriptive as well as inferential statistics. Interestingly, results show no statistically significant relationships between students’ entrepreneurial intention and selected sociodemographic variables such as age, gender, culture, etc. While we acknowledge that the results of this study emerged from a sample of 150 students of a particular university and therefore betray the concept of generalization, we are equally confident that the findings have significant implications for developing economies around the world including South Africa.http://journals.univ-danubius.ro/index.php/oeconomica/indexam2017Business Managemen

Problematising Local Indigenous Community Research

This book deliberates on developments related to Knowledge Pathing: Multi-, Inter- and Trans-Disciplining in Social Sciences. The book explores the value of this vexed concept in advancing the course for multi-, inter- and trans-disciplinary perspectives, methodologies, theories and epistemologies of knowledge pathing. The discourse on knowledge pathing remains critical in advancing debates and dialogues in the humanities and social sciences spaces of research and studies. This book makes a significant contribution to the scholarly understanding of indigenous knowledge research by focusing on problematising local indigenous community research from Afro-sensed perspectives. The field of indigenous knowledge research and higher education in Africa is complex. Yet, across the continent, higher education has been the sector to least embrace Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) or regard indigenous science as a legitimate source of inspiration for the development of youth and local communities. Higher education institutions and local indigenous communities should thus generate knowledge and power through research. On the other hand, higher education researchers should use their research processes and skills for cross-beneficiation when engaging local indigenous communities. This book embodies the current discourse on decolonisation and the use of indigenous knowledge in research and is intended for research specialists in the field of indigenous knowledge systems