ABSTRACT
Africa has recorded the highest average tourist arrival growth in the world over the past decade, with South Africa being a key beneficiary (Cleverdon, 2002). As a consequence, the tourism sector is now the fourth-largest industry in South Africa, supporting more than 1,200 hotels, 2,000 guest houses and 8,000 restaurants. This expansion far outstrips the annual growth rate of the economy (Visser and Van Huyssteen, 1999). It is well known that tourist spending both directly and indirectly affects a range of sectors, including not only the hospitality and catering industries, but the retail trade, transport, entertainment, food processing, agriculture and aspects of education and training to name a few. Given the vast range of industrial sectors gaining from tourism development, it is not surprising that the South African government has accorded tourism expansion a central position in national development initiatives. Within this context the national government has instituted a range of incentives and initiatives to stimulate tourism development, with the expansion of tourism infrastructure forming a key component of this strategy (Rogerson, 2002a). Subsequently, public, private and corporate assistance and investment has led to a proliferation of mass tourism projects, such as guest houses, hotels, lodges, tourist routes and casino development (Seif, 2000). Little investment has, however, been made in tourism infrastructure targeting those international tourism markets that prefer to avoid these types of facilities. In this respect, backpacker tourists and their preferred accommodation type, backpacker hostels, are a case in point.
