The Changing Location of Hotels in South Africa's Coastal Cities, 1990-2010

Hotel developments are the most significant expression of tourism growth. In the extensive international literature on urban restructuring and spatial change, the accommodation sector in general and hotels in particular are overlooked as compared to other urban functions. Only a limited amount of debate and empirical work surrounds the location of hotels. This article contributes to the sparse scholarship on spatial patterns of hotel development and location change within the urban developing world. An analysis is undertaken of the locational distribution of hotels in three urban tourism destinations, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth, which have benefited from the post-apartheid expansion of tourism. Spatial change in hotels is examined between 1990 and 2010 in terms of numbers of hotel establishments, the size and quality of hotel stock. Contrasts and similarities are highlighted between observed patterns of hotels in South Africa's coastal cities as compared with other international research.