Abstract
Orientation: Mapungubwe National Park and World Heritage Site (MNP) is a unique national park in South Africa in that it includes a World Heritage Site of significant importance for the people of southern Africa. MNP is a relatively new national park with low visitor numbers and occupancy rates, which threaten the sustainable management of the park.Research purpose: This study aimed to develop a general visitor profile and to describe the motivational factors for visiting the park in order to support the development of tourism at MNP.Motivation of the study: A tourism management plan is required for the park; however, any planning associated planning requires an assessment of tourist behaviour and needs.Research design, approach and method: An online questionnaire was distributed to a database of visitors to MNP during March−April 2013. A total of 486 responses were received. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics through frequencies and means. Motivator constructs were analysed through a factor analysis.Main findings: The study both confirmed and contradicted previous findings from other national parks in terms of visitor profiles and motivations. Most crucially, this study identified a new motivational factor for visiting national parks, which advances the need to manage the heritage aspect of world heritage sites distinctly from national parks.Managerial implications: The results indicated that visitors to MNP were older and better educated compared to visitors at other national parks. These visitors included predominantly first-time visitors. In addition these visitors are mainly motivated by the need for a nature experience, although the park is not a Big 5 reserve, findings also identified heritage and education as a unique motivational factor for this park.Contribution added: The study promotes the requirement of a unique park-specific tourism management strategy for MNP as the market base of this park is demographically distinct. In addition, the park should improve the promotion of its status as a World Heritage asset in relation to its natural attributes in order to attract greater numbers of heritage tourists. Although the park features exceptional natural features, the reserve is not a Big 5 reserve and this may result in dissatisfaction with the major group of visitors seeking a nature experience.
Highlights
Tourism is often referred to as the world’s largest industry (George 2007; Hall 2008), and it is predicted by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) that tourism will contribute 9.6% of the world’s gross domestic product and will employ over 120 million people by 2021 (WTTC 2011a)
South Africa’s best selling features are its natural beauty and wildlife, and numerous tourists visit the region in order to appreciate the natural environment, including the dynamic ecosystems and landscapes that are on offer (Parker & Khare 2005)
The Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape was inscribed as a World Heritage site by the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in 2003 (UNESCO 2003)
Summary
Tourism is often referred to as the world’s largest industry (George 2007; Hall 2008), and it is predicted by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) that tourism will contribute 9.6% of the world’s gross domestic product and will employ over 120 million people by 2021 (WTTC 2011a). Mapungubwe was the capital of an Iron Age kingdom and is considered to be the first sophisticated southern African civilisation that had a structured hierarchy, practiced agriculture and possessed trading routes as far as China (Huffman 2008) This park may be considered a relatively new national park; it was only officially established in the mid 1990s and the park was opened to visitors only in 2006. Tourism planning requires an analysis of tourist behaviour and needs to include an assessment of visitor motivations which inform the intrinsic impetus of the reasons for visit. These factors may play a central role in the sustainability of the park. These factors, together with changes in the market environment, developed the main goal of the study, namely to define a visitor profile to MNP and to determine the main motivational factors for visiting the park
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