Tourism innovation in the global South: evidence from the Western Cape, South Africa

Abstract

A research gap exists for the conceptual strengthening, measurement and analysis of innovation at the tourismfirm and systems levels, especially in the context of the global South. This paper investigates tourisminnovation in the Western Cape region of SouthAfrica. In particular, the nature and types of innovation by tourismfirms and systemactors are interrogated. It is revealed that innovation by tourismfirms iswidespread, albeit is largely incremental in nature. The main contribution of this research is the development of an expanded evidence-based tourism innovation typology from a cross-sectoral survey of tourism firms and qualitative interviews undertaken with tourism systemactors. In addition, recommendations are provided regarding measurement of innovation in tourism.