Regional tourism in South Africa: A case of 'mass tourism of the South'

Regional tourism represents a sub-category of international tourism and refers to 'intra-regional' flows of tourists. Although in many parts of the developing world regional tourism has been shown to be a major growth market, policy-makers have tended to neglect this form of 'budget tourism'. In this paper the growth and significance of regional tourism for the tourism economy of post-apartheid South Africa is highlighted. Within the developing world context, South Africa provides a useful case study in terms of the national government's growing policy awakening to the importance of regional tourism as a force for the further development of the country's tourism industry.