Abstract
Niche forms of tourism are a growing focus in tourism scholarship. One little explored form of niche tourism is the specialized micro-niche of wedding tourism. Within the growing literature that deals with niche forms of tourism in South Africa there has thus far been minimal attention given to the notion of wedding tourism. This article addresses this investigatory void through an exploratory analysis of the wedding tourism industry in South Africa in general and more specifically of Gauteng, the country‟s major population hub. The empirical material centres on the spatial organisation of wedding venues in South Africa with evidence from Gauteng as the principal focus. The findings show that „place matters‟ both in the choice of venues by international or domestic consumers and the existence of distinct clusters of venues which are unrelated to patterns of population. Interviews reveal that wedding tourism is a growing activity for many hospitality businesses and commonly linked also to business tourism with the hosting of conferences. The expanding profitability of wedding tourism has attracted new hospitality businesses to enter this niche market and correspondingly to raise levels of competition in this niche form of tourism.