Reflections on student tourism research in South Africa.

Abstract

In South Africa, the tourism system has seen considerable policy attention over the past twenty years. As a consequence, there has been a large body of scholarship tracing its development. Much of this work draws heavily on the contributions made in postgraduate dissertations and theses. This paper focusses on the production of South African postgraduate tourism research, and the analyses of a number of variables and themes within this particular literature. The first aim of this investigation was to unpack (among other variables) the number, flow, institutional affiliation, and themes of this research. The second aim was to furnish a reflection on the completed postgraduate research, highlighting a critique of postgraduate contributions to understanding the South African tourism system. It was found that the themes of investigation, research voices and range of variables (including institutional affiliation, race and disciplinary vantage points) have all changed considerably over time. A call is made for further in-depth content analyses of this body of scholarship.

Keywords

• postgraduate
• research
• students
• South Africa
• tourism