Tourism, Second Homes, and an Emerging South African Postproductivist Countryside

Abstract

Issues concerning postproductivism have seen limited direct systematic research attention within South African tourism studies. However, it has recently been proposed that postproductivism as part of tourism development, although difficult to discern in its early stages, has as a process gathered sufficient momentum to warrant scholarly attention in the local context. This article develops this contention by focusing on the role of second home tourism as a contributor to developing a South African postproductivist countryside. The investigation tracks the development of a postproductivist countryside in one of South Africa's main agricultural regions: the eastern Free State. Drawing on the experiences of the rural town of Clarens and its hinterland, the diversification of economic activities away from classic productivist functions to those of postproductivism linked to consumptive activities, such as second home tourism, is outlined.