The Historical Development of South African Small Towns as Spa Resorts

Although never as famous as the spa resorts of Europe or North America, a number of small towns in South Africa evolved into resorts based on the local asset of medicinal hot springs. The objective in this chapter is to contribute towards understanding the different historical pathways of small towns as spa tourism destinations. An historical approach is adopted using archival sources. Against the backcloth of a review of international literature on the making of spa resorts an analysis is undertaken of the role of mineral springs in the historical tourism development of South African small towns. The focus then narrows to a local case study of Caledon as a small town spa destination in the Western Cape. Arguably, the town of Caledon established its presence as a resort by the 1890s enjoying its heyday as a spa tourism destination over the next half-century. This small town experienced a dramatic demise as a spa tourism destination following a fire in 1946 that devastated the Sanatorium and the hotel. For almost 50 years what remained of Caledon’s tourism economy was disconnected from the town’s major asset. During the 1990s Caledon experienced a tourism revival with the grant of a casino licence as well as the building of a spa hotel which can be interpreted as an adaptive response to the new milieu of wellness tourism.