Abstract
Over the past decade there has been considerable growth and maturation of research concerning contemporary urban tourism. Tourism in major cities is not a new phenomenon rather it has existed from the earliest times of civilization following the birth of cities. The historical development of cities as tourist destinations has remained little investigated as urban tourism research is overwhelmingly ‘present-minded’. This paper addresses the neglect of historical studies in urban tourism. Using archival sources an investigation is undertaken of the early development of tourism in Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city, which evolved from a gold mining camp established in 1886. The analysis focuses on the period from 1920 when the first tourism promotional activities were initiated to 1950 when national government enacted the Group Areas Act which began the radical reshaping of tourism in South Africa under the influence of apartheid legislation. In the formative years of urban tourism in Johannesburg between 1920 and 1950 two key overarching challenges are identified. These are the challenges of identifying and promoting the city’s tourism assets and of the building of a competitive infrastructure for tourism development, most notably in terms of the hotel accommodation sector.
Highlights
The nexus of tourism and history is well-established, albeit sometimes contested in tourism scholarship (Towner & Wall, 1991; Towner, 1995; Walton, 2005a, 2005b; Cirer-Costa, 2012)
The city’s night-time economy was deemed special for its “blaze of coloured lights spelling out a multitude of messages and attractions” and in particular its “palatial cinemas” and the annual opera season in March-April (Johannesburg Publicity Association, 1948). For both domestic and international visitors the advantages of Johannesburg tourism at Easter were highlighted to coincide with the Rand Agricultural Show and several sporting events which were “organized to synchronize with the show” (Johannesburg Publicity Association, 1948) Of note is the opportunity advertised to visit one of the 50 diamond cutting establishments in Johannesburg and encouragement to go to Northcliff, described as South Africa’s ‘premier inland pleasure resort’ (Johannesburg Publicity Association, 1949: 15)
In building the tourism economy a number of challenges arose some of which were inseparable from the growth of tourism in South Africa as a whole and contingent for their resolution upon strategic interventions driven by national government
Summary
The nexus of tourism and history is well-established, albeit sometimes contested in tourism scholarship (Towner & Wall, 1991; Towner, 1995; Walton, 2005a, 2005b; Cirer-Costa, 2012). For tourism research there are multiple reasons that it needs an historical awareness “not least to inform the ways in which tourism itself tries to use history, through the marking, marketing and exploitation of traces, stories, heritage, authenticity, and, distinctiveness” (Walton 2005b: 115). Bickford-Smith (2009: 1765) examines how different tourism sites and particular tourism gazes were constructed in Cape Town, South Africa’s iconic destination for international travel, and situates “contemporary developments in urban tourism within a historical analysis of the place-selling of this city from the late 19th century onwards”. Focused on the apartheid era Rogerson (2016, 2017) records the implementation and struggles against the racial segregation of beaches across South Africa’s major coastal leisure destinations Building upon these foundations the aim in this paper is to address further the oversight of historical studies in urban tourism research. It will be shown that during the formative years of tourism in Johannesburg between 1920 and 1950 a number of constraints upon tourism expansion can be recognised
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