The 2021 Tourism Research Webinar, themed:
"Advancing Tourism Growth and Development through Research: COVID-19 Impacts and Potential Opportunities," will take place on 17 March 2021 at 11:00. Mr Unathi Sonwabile Henama, Tourism Lecturer from Tshwane University of Technology, will be the moderator and keynote speaker for this webinar.
The National Tourism Sector Strategy (NTSS) recognises research as one of the key success factors for sustainable competitiveness in destination management and emphasises the important role research plays to guide planning and decision-making in the sector. Research in tourism assists, amongst others, to identify new markets, understand trends that might have an impact on the sector, monitor performance, assess competitiveness and provide statistics on tourists’ movement, profiles and characteristics. Guided by evidence-based research, the sector would be able to develop and implement policies, strategies, programmes, interventions and decisions to meet the needs and expectations of different stakeholders.
The NTSS further highlights the need for stakeholder partnerships and collaboration in order to strengthen the context, use and dissemination of research findings to inform policy and decision making. It is in this context that the Department strives to collaborate with institutions of higher learning and research to conduct tourism research. To date the Department collaborated with the University of Pretoria, University of Venda, University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of Johannesburg and Cape Peninsula University of Technology. These collaborations produced valuable research outputs which were disseminated to tourism stakeholders through the annual Tourism Research Seminars. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Alert Level regulations, the Department shifted from physical seminars to a webinar format to disseminate research findings. This year’s webiner will be the second seminar in a digital format. Research studies to be presented at the research webinar will focus on the impact of Covid-19 on the tourism sector and the opportunities that may emerge post the pandemic.
For more information about the 2021 Tourism Research Webinar, please contact Ms Maria Mogane on (012) 444 6350 or
mmogane@tourism.gov.za
To access presentations made at the previous Tourism Research Seminar/Webinar, please visit,
www.tourism.gov.za