Abstract
M.Com. (Tourism and Hospitality Management)
The beginning of democracy brought a precipitate turn not only on the political landscape, but also in the tourism industry. The mushrooming of cultural heritage attractions such as Robben Island, Mapungubwe and the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Sites, the notable national sites such as Constitution Hill, the Old Fort Museum, among others, as well as the ‘history of struggle’ that has developed into a genre of political cultural heritage tourism all make cultural heritage tourism the fastest growing type of tourism in South Africa. Since all these ‘new’ attractions cannot speak for themselves, they require provision of interpretative services, such as tourist guides. The research investigates the role of tourist guides in providing an authentic experience to tourists at cultural heritage sites in South Africa. The study employs quantitative and qualitative mixed methods. Three cultural heritage sites are selected, the Cradle of Human Kind World Heritage Site, Constitution Hill political cultural heritage site and the World of Beer contrived cultural heritage site. A sample of 150 visitors, 50 per site, is selected as well as all tourist guides at each site. Data are collected separately for each site and analysed by SPSS (quantitative) and CCM (qualitative). Results are merged in drawing a conclusion. The field of tourist guides has been relatively overlooked in the development of cultural heritage tourism inthe NDT’s(National Department of Tourism) National Tourism Sector Strategy (NTSS) (2011). The findings reveal that while there is no significance between tourists whose motivation is to learn about culture and heritage and those who hang out with friends and family in deriving the perceived authenticity, tourists are averagely satisfied with an experience provided by tourist guides. Tourist guides are doing their job well even though they perceive their role as more service oriented rather than as creators of an authentic experience. They do not understand variables such as provocation and revelation in interpretation pertaining to authenticity.