Recreation and Tourism

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Browsing Recreation and Tourism by Subject "African religious pilgrimages"

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    The potential of African religious pilgrimages as a tool for tourism development in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
    (University of Zululand, 2021-04) Linda, Nompumelelo
    The main purpose of this study was to explore the contribution of African religious pilgrimages towards tourism development in South Africa using the province of KwaZulu-Natal as a case study or as an example. Given that the religious sector is apart of the tourism sector, the study sought to establish whether pilgrimage destinations would be perceived as a socio-economic contributor to the country’s economy. The study adopted a mixed method design with both quantitative and qualitative modes of inquiry used during the collection, analysis and interpretation of data. Questionnaires were used to collect data from respondents through face-to-face surveys. The quantitative data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Pearson correlation and Mann-Whitey U tests as well as bivariate analyses were used to determine the relationships between individual dependent and independent variables. These were considered essential for testing the objectives. For the qualitative data, content analysis was used to filter the meanings of open-ended responses in order to establish the respondents’ in-depth understanding and/or own interpretation of the subject under enquiry. During this process, the sequential parts or common threads from data were classified according to their categories in order to generate themes and sub-themes for the purpose of interpreting the outcomes against the research questions. The findings showed that while African religious pilgrimages have the potential to make socio-economic contributions, they are not perceived in that manner by religious leaders and local stakeholders. The major recommendation from this study is for stakeholders to enhance the socio-economic potential of religious pilgrimages such that they promote them as tourism and/or socio-economic development stimuli within the study areas and elsewhere in South Africa.
University of Zululand