Turning travellers into tourists

The University of Port Elizabeth’s Centre for Tourism Studies is helping to grow and sustain South Africa’s tourism industry through the development of under graduate short courses in addition to post-graduate studies.

The Centre, which is a partnership between Shamwari Holdings and the Faculty of Economic and Building Sciences at UPE, has decided to offer the courses because of the widespread need for such training in order to ensure that the present boom in tourism to South Africa is sustained, says Centre director Peter Myles.

These short courses are in addition to the post-graduate training being developed by the Centre, which will offer a B Com Honours programme in tourism.

“The Centre for Tourism Studies has been established in partnership with one of the Eastern Cape’s most successful and innovative tourism operations in order to meet the demand for graduates with an in-depth understanding of the challenges and opportunities confronting the tourism sector.

“The tourism industry challenges conventional approaches to business management because the product is perishable and intangible, and sales take place in advance of production,” he says.

“Tourism is a peculiar industry. There are few industries where the product has such a short shelf life. Bed nights, airline seats, car rentals or tables in a restaurant which are not sold today cannot be sold tomorrow.

“Tourism products are also inconsistent and exist as ideas in the minds of prospective buyers. It may be impossible to repeat the same experience again because of uncontrollable factors such as climatic conditions, political unrest, safety and security.

“The chain of distribution in tourism is also different. There are no manufacturers. Instead you have principals i.e. owners, agents, operators and developers of products such as hotels, tours and restaurants.”

There is also no actual ownership of the whole product. The active ingredients such as vast mountain ranges, long beaches, the oceans, the local culture and other attractions are used and reused by consumers. Therefore they have to be preserved through co-operation between the private and public sectors, he adds.

“Tourism is dependent on complex combinations of intersecting resource characteristics and therefore sophisticated planning processes need to be understood and implemented.”

World best practice principles and responsible tourism guidelines will be introduced into the South African tourism industry through the Centre.

The University through its partnership with Shamwari has established links with the Educational Institute for Service Studies (EISS) that has established a campus at Port Alfred focusing on Hospitality Management Education.

EISS is in turn linked with the CHN University of Professional Education, which is based in The Netherlands.
In addition, a relationship has been established with the University of Washington in Seattle which has a vibrant Maritime Studies Unit. Together the two institutions will design the first module on Marine Tourism in Africa. A link has also been developed with the University of Miami through an international education and exchange programme. Furthermore, the Centre for Tourism Studies is in the process of developing a relationship with the International Centre for Responsible Tourism at the University of Greenwich in Kent, United Kingdom.

“Port Elizabeth is the only coastal city in the world surrounded by over one million hectares of protected area incorporating a mix of national parks, nature reserves, wilderness, private game reserves and game farms.
“The University is therefore well positioned in the Eastern Cape, with all the essential resources at its disposal, to make a major contribution to research and education in the development of responsible tourism,” says Mr Myles.