Abstract
The literature indicates that wildlife tourism has become a major draw card for many countries. This is also true for South Africa where wildlife tourism forms the cornerstone of the South African tourism industry. Wildlife tourism activities can be classified into two main groups: non-consumptive (viewing and photographing of wild animals) and consumptive (such as hunting and fishing). Although hunting is one of the major contributors to wildlife tourism in South Africa little is known about the hunters themselves. Therefore the aim of this article is to understand the reasons why South African hunters hunt and to identify specific clusters. In order to achieve the above, a web-based survey conducted on the SA Hunters’ website was used, which afforded respondents the opportunity to complete and return the questionnaire electronically. A total of 344 (n) completed questionnaires were received. The results revealed seven travel motives why South African hunters hunt, namely: for educational purposes, culture and heritage, family togetherness, nature experience, adventure, wildlife meat products and spiritual reasons. In addition three clusters or markets were identified. Key words: Hunting, Biltong hunting, wildlife-based tourism, travel motives, market segmentation, cluster analysis
Highlights
Wildlife tourism products such as game farm tourism are recognised as one of the cornerstones of South Africa’s wildlife tourism industry and have indicated extraordinary growth over the last 50 years (Reilly et al, 2003; Bauer and Herr, 2004)
The survey was conducted using ‘Potshot’, the electronic newsletter of South African Hunters and Game Conservations Association (SAHGCA) from October 2009 to January 2010, which is sent to all SAHGCA members (N=17 066)
The questionnaire was based on work carried out by Van der Merwe et al (2011) and Vermeulen (1994) when determining the profile of biltong hunters, and the work of Radder (2005) regarding the travel motives of trophy hunters
Summary
Wildlife tourism products such as game farm tourism are recognised as one of the cornerstones of South Africa’s wildlife tourism industry and have indicated extraordinary growth over the last 50 years (Reilly et al, 2003; Bauer and Herr, 2004). Wildlife tourism is defined as ‘tourism that is based on encounters with nondomesticated animals and the encounters can occur in either the animals’ natural environment (for example, in a national park) or in captivity’ (for example, at a zoo) It includes both non-consumptive (for example, game viewing, hiking and walking safaris) and consumptive activities (for example, hunting and fishing)’. One of the major contributors to wildlife tourism in South Africa is hunting (Bauer and Herr, 2004) It is defined by Reynolds and Braithwaite (2001) as being the consumptive use of wildlife in either natural habitat, semi captured or farmed conditions. Various forms of hunting exist; for example, big game hunting (most antelope species, such as kudu, eland and elephant), small game hunting (for example, ducks and game-bird hunting) and skill hunting (for example, bow hunting, black powder hunting and falconry (Bauer and Herr, 2004)
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