Abstract
Regional tourism is of growing significance in the international tourism economy. For the continent of Africa, most international tourism requires intraregional travel. The objective of the current study was to examine the regional tourism flows to South Africa from Nigeria. South Africa, as a regional tourism destination, has identified Nigeria as being an important tourism market. Regional tourism flows between Nigeria and South Africa have been impacted on by a number of factors, including political relationships, xenophobia and visa restrictions. Unlike limited studies that focus only on the profile of the Nigerian tourist in South Africa, the present study examines the relationship existing between Nigeria and South Africa, not only in terms of the profile of Nigerian tourists in South Africa, but also the historical relationship between Nigeria and South Africa, in the context of air links, trade, the impacts of xenophobia on Nigerians, as well as visa regulations/restrictions. The study further explores South African Tourism marketing strategies in relation to the Nigerian market. In addition to documentary sources, the research uses interviews and questionnaires. The interview population size consisted of the tourism organisations (n=4) and airlines (n=4), while the questionnaire population consisted of Nigerian tourists (n=200). The results revealed that Nigeria and South Africa have a cooperative relationship with regards to air connections, and that the issue of xenophobia does not affect the number of Nigerian tourist arrivals in South Africa, but that visa restrictions represent a barrier to the Nigerian tourist flow to South Africa. The study, further, reveals that leisure and business Nigerian tourists still form a big market for South Africa, and, also, that shopping is still one of the major activities in which they participate when they visit South Africa. The study, therefore, contributes to the existing international scholarship on regional tourism.
M.A.