Visitors perceptions and attitudes towards the tourism product offered by Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa

Abstract

All potential tourist destinations strive to attract and retain their existing tourist clientele, but this seems to be a challenge facing nature-orientated and ecotourist destinations around the world. However, an understanding of consumer behaviour could help tourist marketers to improve their marketing strategies. This paper scrutinises visitors perceptions and attitudes towards the tourism product offered by Pilanesberg National Park. The park is situated in Northwest Province, South Africa, and was opened in 1979 by the then Bophuthatswana government. It is approximately 57 000 hectares in size and boasts the “Big Five” amongst the wildlife species that it accommodates. This case study found that the majority of visitors were domestic travellers and only 30% international tourists. Their motivations in visiting the park were to escape from their normal daily environment and to enjoy the natural surroundings that the park offers. Furthermore, the majority of the visitors rated the services that the park offers as matching their expectations.

Keywords: Nature tourism, national park, tourist, tourist motivation, service quality, customer satisfaction.