Student-Centred VFR Travel: Evidence from Johannesburg

Within urban tourism VFR travel is a leading segment. The aim is to contribute to the limited scholarship on VFR travel and African urban tourism. The focus is on student-centred VFR travel in South Africa where there has been a considerable expansion, radical restructuring and change in the structure of tertiary education since democratic change in 1994. The case study is of student-centred VFR travel in Johannesburg, South Africa’s leading city tourism destination with findings analysed from research conducted with students at the University of Johannesburg. The study is the first to be undertaken in a context of the global South and a specific setting in which financial adversity is a defining characteristic of the student body as a whole. Although certain findings were revealed that are similar to those from research based in the global North certain striking differences were recorded. The most significant was the much lower volumes of student VFR travel than has been recorded elsewhere. The majority of students did not receive any VFR travellers in the previous academic year. The results from student-centred VFR travel at University of Johannesburg point to the major influence of the low incomes of households and of students which limit the nature of activities and of VFR expenditures.