Abstract
Tourism is an important contributor to South Africa's economy; hence businesses within this sector must thrive as various economic benefits may apply to the country. Similarly, guest houses have a significant role in contributing towards South Africa's economy; hence, examining their challenges and formulating solutions to aid their survival is of utmost importance; therefore, this research is viable. It may be barriers that negatively affect the performance of guest houses; however, it may also be their inability to exploit opportunities within the tourism sector.
Incidentally, researching guest houses dawned upon me at my workplace, as I worked at OR Tambo International and experienced tourists in their numbers who visit South Africa daily. On numerous occasions, I pondered why there are guest houses that are an enormous success, yet others are confronted with various challenges which threaten their existence. I was motivated to explore the accommodation sector with a specific focus on guest houses in Mpumalanga as I was living in that province then.
I realised that there might be a research “gap”; hence I was encouraged to go on a journey to understand the challenges these establishments are confronted with and how they can overcome these obstacles that hinder the operations of these guest houses.
The topic for research was viable as I anticipated that guest houses in the same region had had similar constraints which impacted their businesses negatively and have managed to overcome these obstacles with great success. Hence this may allow the researcher to formulate guidelines for struggling guest houses to overcome these constraints and operate successfully.
Keywords: Guesthouses; guests; tourism industry; challenges; accommodation.