The 2008 and 2009 recession increased pressure on travellers to cut costs on luxury items, such as going on holiday, and this has led to a global tourism decline of 8%. This, however, was not the case in the Kruger National Park (KNP) in South Africa where a sustained 1.6% accommodation unit occupancy growth was experienced. In order to sustain this growth, it is of the utmost importance to determine why people still visited the Park during this period. Thus the aim of the study was to determine why people still visited the KNP amidst the 2008 and 2009 economic recession. A total of 355 completed questionnaires were obtained at the Park during 15 December 2009 – 20 December 2009 (high season) after which various analyses (including factor analysis) were conducted. Six motives were identified and ‘escape’, ‘wildlife experience’ and ‘family benefits’ were rated most important. Push factors were more dominant to the extent that visitors regard taking a holiday to the Park as a necessity. It furthermore seems that visitors adapt their spending behaviour at the Park to still be able to afford the visit. This was the first time that research was conducted at a national park during a recession period and this information is important for South African National Parks, seeing as it provides a better understanding of visitors’ behaviour as well as feeling towards the Park (especially during recession), and leads to improved niche marketing and a competitive advantage. This research also provides a better understanding of visitors’ behaviour during economic downturns.

This study examines cultural heritage tourism by identifying and segmenting heritage site visitors according to the aspects they define as necessary for a memorable heritage site experience. The research focusses on visitors to Nelson Mandela Heritage Sites and emphasises that the links between the attributes of a site and the visitors themselves are essential to understanding tourists’ willingness to pay to visit the mentioned sites. A typology of visitors that the authors labelled ‘auxiliary experience seekers, convenience experience seekers and comprehensive experience seekers’ (ACC) was used. The results revealed comprehensive experience seekers as the most critical market segment regarding the much significantly higher amount they are willing to pay when visiting Nelson Mandela Heritage Sites. This leads to a better understanding of aspects contributing towards a memorable heritage site experience as well as to visitors’ willingness to pay for such experiences. This study also provides further insight into cultural heritage tourism in general. Moreover, such segmentation was found as a useful research tool for producing a distinct visitor profile as well as how a memorable experiencing can be generated by suggesting diversified pricing at such sites.

This paper aims to evaluate how prices are formed in the informal tourism market and how this has a bearing on the livelihoods of informal traders. More specifically, the objectives of this research were to: (i) determine the dependence and strategies of informal traders on sales and fair prices for their livelihood; (ii) assess price judgement of tourists in two currencies and (iii) determine whether altruism influences price judgement. A mixed-methods approach was followed, where interviews were held with informal craft traders and a questionnaire was electronically administered to 450 international tourists who visited South Africa. The results show that the informal craft traders are supporting extended family members in southern African countries. The informal tourism economy in South Africa therefore plays an integral part in providing a source of livelihood for many migrants. In addition, tourists have inaccurate price judgements, which is more pronounced for lower valued items, and leads to price distortions in the market. We also find that price judgement in the unfamiliar currency distorts the effect of pro-social behaviour on price judgement, with higher levels of altruism only being associated with price overvaluations in the respondent’s home currency.