Traces of the Past: The Bantu World and Black South African Travel Mobilities in the 1930s

Racism has been imprinted on the landscape of South African tourism. This paper offers a glimpse of the early impact of race on the development of tourism as the travel movements of most Black South African travellers were restricted by pass laws and segregation legislation. The research adds to an emerging scholarship and debates surrounding the historical development of tourism in South Africa. It provides a window on the traces of the past and of a travel movement by Black South Africans during the 1930s. Analysis is undertaken of the content of The Bantu World newspaper which shows that among the Black urban elite there is marked evidence of tourism mobilities. This period was dominated by VFR flows albeit with elements of overlapping leisure and health-related travel movements. In addition, the appearance is observed of an incipient tradition of business travel by Black South Africans at this time.