African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure (Jul 2016)
Profiling visitor characteristics at Tsitsikamma National Park, South Africa.
Abstract
South Africa has many governmental and private owned national parks and game reserves. It therefore follows that there is high level of competition amongst these national parks and game reserves in attracting tourists to visit them. It has therefore become important for national parks and game reserve marketers and managers to determine who the tourists are who tend visit them are. The reason for this is that park management and marketers need to focus their efforts to optimise their limited resources. This can only be done once there is a clear understanding of who the market is, where they come from and their expectations. The literature study clearly showed that market segmentation is essential for the effective marketing of a tourism product or destination. A survey was done between November and December 2015, profiling tourists to the Tsitsikamma National Park, who stayed overnight at Storms River Camp. The study focussed on the profile of visitors to the Tsitsikamma National Park and the main objectives for the study were to investigate the biographical aspects of the visitors and investigating the motives of visiting the national park. The study adopted a quantitative research methodology using questionnaires as a research instrument. The main findings of the study revealed that majority of tourists visiting the park during the period of research were mainly South Africans, who are young and employed. The main reasons for visiting the park were to relax and to get away from the normal routine. Majority of the respondents prefer the national park for its beautiful nature and wilderness experience. These findings have greater implications for park management and its marketing efforts for future sustainability of the national park.
