Profile of Ecotourists within the Capricorn District Municipality, South Africa.

Abstract

South Africa, as an emerging country, has a conducive economic environment for tourism businesses. Thus, some provincial departments such as Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (LEDET) has set objectives to make Limpopo province a preferred ecotourism destination. These objectives have been propagated by service providers who passively participate in ecotourism yet claim to be ecotourism service providers. Moreover, the attitude of passiveness by service providers is derived from insufficient knowledge of the ecotourist. Subsequently, this set the foundation for this current study, which sought to provide demographic descriptors of ecotourists in the Capricorn District Municipality (CDM). The researchers reviewed theoretical and empirical literature conducted by tourism scholars. The study was developed on a descriptive research design and employed a quantitative approach. It is envisaged that findings of the study will be of value to ecotourism service providers as they will provide a sound understanding of ecotourists and thereby help to deliver satisfactory ecotourist experiences. This will ultimately provide valuable input in LEDET’s planning towards promoting the Limpopo province as a preferred ecotourism destination in South Africa.

Keywords

• Capricorn District Municipality
• Demographics
• Ecotourism
• Ecotourist
• Responsible Tourism