ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the structure, nature and dynamics of the global tourism production system. It discusses the dynamic functioning of production, showing how South African producers interrelate with the global system through various commercial and transactional processes, and how local and international networks of collaboration and competition shape the South African sector. Tremblay presents a conceptual model for studying the industrial organisation of and the nature of producer interplay in tourism. Tourism, he argues is a highly dynamic and highly fragmented system of production constituted of many diverse firms that both compete, but also co-operate in a number of ways to produce certain products. The South African travel intermediary market has been significantly affected by global trends. The number of travel consortiums – conglomerates of tour operators and travel agencies who operate under one marketing brand – has grown in South Africa over the past five years.
