An Evolving Tourism Destination

This sub-section draws upon the findings from contemporary visitor data to the Cradle of Humankind WHS; consultancy reports on tourism investment and trends in the area; an analysis of tourism data; the results from key stakeholder interviews with provincial management and experts in the tourism sector; and, a survey of accommodation establishments in the area.

Table 5.1: Cumulative Visitor Numbers to Maropeng and Sterkfontein, 2006-2015 No. of Recorded

Visitors

School Visitors % School Visitors

Net Visitors

2006 187 176 74 442 39.8 112 734

2007 176 616 67 858 38.4 108 758

2008 200 220 88 199 44.0 112 021

2009 205 633 92 781 45.1 112 852

2010 217 651 92 267 42.4 125 384

2011 196 740 102 995 52.4 93 745

2012 203 828 101 366 49.7 102 462

2013 216 917 102 197 47.1 114 720

2014 203 425 83 934 41.2 119 491

2015 253 061 100 855 39.9 152 206

(Source: Maropeng Visitor’s Centre, 2016)

Table 5.1 provides baseline data on total number of visitors to Maropeng and the Sterkfontein Caves for the period 2006-2015. It is evident that the numbers of recorded visitors steadily expanded and reached a peak in 2010 when South Africa hosted the FIFA Soccer World Cup. Since 2010, however, visitor numbers have fallen with a small recovery in 2012. From 2012, visitor numbers have steadily increased – reaching an all-time high of 152 206 visitors in 2015. The vital educational role played by the Cradle of Humankind WHS is reflected in the high proportion of school visits, which constitute a rising proportion of total visitor numbers. In the Cradle of Humankind the share of school visitors grows from 39.7 (2006) to 52.3 percent by 2011, with a sharp drop to only 83 934 schoolchildren having visited the sites in 2014. The visitation of the COH WHS by schoolchildren then shows a steady decline to only 39.8 percent in 2015 (similar to numbers of visitors when the site was first opened in 2005). This suggests that in the context of the downturn in long haul (international) tourism and domestic tourism since the global financial crisis, school tours contribute a higher proportion of total visitors, although this has declined since the Department of Basic Education (DBE) stopped the subsidy for school fieldtrips in 2011. The COH WHS has facilities for school camps and instituted broad educational and cross-circular teaching and learning programmes in the last few years (Rubin, 2013). Maropeng hopes to grow the school visitorship in future.

Correspondingly, the group of ‘net visitors’, who include tourists (foreign and domestic) as well as day visitors is reduced to an all-time low of 93 745 visitors in 2011 but has grown to 152 206 visitors in 2015. The data on visitor numbers signals that the Cradle attracts a steady if unspectacular growth of mainly day visitors (Robertson, 2013). Although like many other South African heritage tourism products, the COH WHS is currently not functioning as a strong destination in and of itself (Pillay, 2013).

Further insight into the nature and purpose of tourism in the Cradle of Humankind area can be gleaned from the findings of 41 interviews, which were conducted from 2013-2015, with accommodation providers in the Cradle of Humankind and its surrounds. In terms of source of visitors, the average profile given by accommodation providers is 80.3 percent domestic tourists and 19.7 percent international tourists. The group of international visitors is, however, divided almost equally between long haul foreign visitors mainly on leisure trips, and groups of regional African tourists mostly engaged in business tourism. The dominance of domestic tourists was reflected in the findings that for 85.3 percent interviewed establishments, the cohort of domestic visitors represented 60 percent or more of total visitors. For 78.0 percent of the sample, domestic visitors represent at least 80 percent of their clientele. Of the 41 interviews, in only three cases were international visitors the leading element and in two of these establishments it was regional African visitors, rather than long haul international tourists, that represented the major share of clientele.

The interviews revealed the increasing importance of this regional African market, with Botswana, The Central African Republic and Zimbabwe among main sources of visitors. The purpose of tourism visits was examined in the 41 interviews conducted with the accommodation providers. The average across the survey was that business tourism (including MICE tourism) approximated 59 percent of tourists in the sample of accommodation establishments, with leisure visitors forming the remainder. This finding is indicative of the established importance of the Cradle of Humankind and its surrounds for conferencing, with many venues reporting a pattern of visitation of business tourists during weekdays and leisure tourists at weekends. One accommodation respondent remarked: “we are more likely to concentrate on conferencing in the future” (M/14).

For 80 percent of the interviewed accommodation establishments, business tourists represented at least 50 percent of all their clientele and for 60 percent of the sampled establishments, business tourism constituted at least 75 percent of their market. Across the sample, leisure tourists formed an average 31 percent of visitors, but for 40 percent of the sample, leisure travellers were estimated to represent at least 50 percent of the market of these accommodation establishments. Overall, what these findings confirm is that the tourism economy of the COH WHS and its surrounds is strongly weighted towards business

as opposed to leisure tourism, and that leisure tourists only dominate a minority of establishments. Indeed, interviewees were asked to estimate the proportion of their business that might currently be attributed to heritage tourists, mainly attracted by the area’s palaeo-anthropological significance; the results showed for 78 percent of the sample that the impact was minimal.

Figure 5.10: Mogale City: Purpose of Tourism Visit 2001-2015 (Source: Unpublished Global Insight Data, 2015)

Finally, in terms of unpacking the nature and trends of tourism development in the area, further understanding can be drawn from an examination of tourism data for the local municipality of Mogale City – self-styled as ‘the City of Human Origins’ – under which much of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site area falls. Figure 5.10 differentiates the purpose of tourism trips for Mogale City for the period 2001-2015. Several observations can be offered. First, this discloses that most tourism visits are overwhelmingly for leisure purposes (since about 2006 – the Cradle of Humankind was launched on the 7^th December 2005) and then followed by Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR), a form of domestic tourism with limited local spend. Second, in the category of leisure tourists, the trends show marked fluctuations and only a 20 percent growth across the period 2001-2011, albeit it is

noteworthy that leisure trips have steadily declined in the last 3 years, a decline which is mirrored in national leisure travel. Third, whilst the number of business trips is the smallest of the three categories, it is noted that it exhibited (once again, in parallel with national trends) a steady growth trajectory with a 56 percent expansion between 2001-2011, and then slowly decreases and continues to decline.

Table 5.2: Mogale City: Contribution of Tourism to Local Economy, 2001-2015 Total Tourism Spend (R1000) Current

Prices

Total Tourism Spend as % of Local GDP

2001 680 219 8.3

2006 1 143 166 7.6

2010 1 539 701 7.3

2013 2 073 242 7.9

2014 2 233 803 8.8

2015 2 135 243 8.2

(Source: Unpublished Global Insight Data, 2015)

With the expansion in the number of tourism trips into Mogale City there has been corresponding growth of tourism spend into the local economy. Table 5.2 indicates an almost continuous pattern of the expansion of tourism spend into the local economy since 2001, with a sharp spike in tourism spending after 2006, a period after the full establishment of the Cradle of Humankind as a functioning tourism destination. The peak of tourism spend is reached in 2014. The estimated contribution of total tourism spend in local GDP reveals that, for Mogale City, the relative contribution of tourism to the local economy has been falling from a 8.3 % share in 2001, to 7.9 % by 2013, and a growth rate of 8.2% in 2015. This suggests that whilst tourism is a significant sector for the local economy, its relative importance as compared to other sectors is seemingly in stagnation (Table 5.2). Key stakeholders confirm this assessment and point to several issues that underpin its modest performance. In an interview with the former Chief Executive Officer of the Cradle of Humankind it was pointed out that “we have not managed in the South African context and within the global context to publicise and market The Cradle of Humankind as a place you

must go to, making a point of pilgrimage to symbolically see where we all come from”

(Hanekom 2013). The broad tourism trends in the Cradle of Humankind point towards a destination that is growing only slowly. It is apparent that South Africa’s hosting of the FIFA Soccer World Cup in 2010 appeared to exert only limited economic stimulus to the area. The extent to which soccer fans would want to visit heritage sites is something that has to be investigated. Most accommodation service respondents (56%) indicated that they felt that the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup had no significant impact on their occupancy levels in June/July 2010. Disappointing visitor numbers is at the heart of understanding the Cradle of Humankind’s current modest pro-poor local impacts. Direct estimated employment growth attributable to the project is 6000 jobs (Gauteng Province, 2001). In terms of indirect impacts, the foundation planning documents highlighted potential local community benefits that emerge from nurturing local SMMEs that could function as outsourced suppliers for goods and services to larger tourism enterprises in the area (Gauteng Province, 2001: 255;

Rogerson & van der Merwe, 2016).

Difficulties of reducing leakages in tourism supply chains are recognised in terms of lack of skills and capacity in local communities to supply the types of products and services required by growing tourism businesses, with the outcome that most business opportunities are taken up by entrepreneurs external to the area. The survey of accommodation establishments revealed evidence of some local sourcing, particularly of perishable food products, but little mention of SMME take-up of opportunities in, for example, technical supplies, laundry or transport, which have been identified in other areas of South Africa as potential pathways for entrepreneurs in neighbouring communities to access tourism value chains.

Only limited ad hoc programmes for supporting and upgrading local SMMEs with learnerships have been instituted. Implementation of a comprehensive SMME support intervention in the area so far has not been pursued (Robertson, 2013). However, one initiative is a community small business based upon the training of local unemployed youth in fossil casting to produce souvenirs for sale at the visitor centres. The next important aspect to investigate in the context of the COH WHS is what heritage tourists make of this