The Serviced Apartment Industry of South Africa: A New Phenomenon in Urban Tourism

Abstract

Serviced apartments are a distinctive form of tourism product which have attracted only limited research attention. The objective is to examine the emergence and characteristics of the serviced apartment sector in South Africa as a new phenomenon within the urban tourism economy. The findings show its growth as linked to the expanding trend for business professionals and consultants to work abroad for an extended period of time, a globalisation tendency accelerated in South Africa by the brain drain of skilled professionals. The evidence from this investigation reveals that serviced apartment complexes currently are geographically concentrated in the country’s major hubs for international business travel and that, within cities, the location of these facilities is focused mainly in upmarket residential areas which offer high quality living environments and access to business and entertainment nodes.