After roughly 20 years since the emergence of urban scholarship in same-sex sexualities in South ... more After roughly 20 years since the emergence of urban scholarship in same-sex sexualities in South Africa, it is worthwhile considering how some of the concerns that originally animated that scholarship have evolved and also how such concerns are today reflected differently away from primary cities (where much earlier research was conducted). In this commentary, I explore the unique history of Stellenbosch, a university town/secondary city 50 km away from Cape Town. Stellenbosch’s own unique history of—and recent developments with regard to—public (male) same-sex expression help set into relief earlier scholarship and also points towards some future research questions that may also be applicable elsewhere on the African continent. While, as made clear, Stellenbosch is in some key instances unique in terms of its sexualized and raced history both in South Africa and the wider continent, its position as what we might increasingly want to frame as a secondary city, its particular racial ...
New Directions in South African Tourism Geographies, 2019
Accommodation is a critically important component of the tourist’s experience of a destination. T... more Accommodation is a critically important component of the tourist’s experience of a destination. Tourist accommodation ranges from the formal hotel to the potential informality of second homes, Airbnb and home-stay accommodation. This chapter focuses on South African guesthouses as a tourist accommodation type that made its appearance in the late 1980s as a largely unregulated alternative to hotels. In terms of South African guesthouses, the first investigations were concerned with the general geography of guesthouses, the characteristics of their facilities and services, as well as the profiles of the owner and visitor. Since then, the development of guesthouses, certainly from a spatial perspective, has slipped from the scholarly gaze. The aim of this investigation is to track the subsequent development of guesthouses, which started as an alternative tourist accommodation type in the Stellenbosch Winelands. Duplicating the aims of the earlier studies, the expanding spatial footprint of this accommodation type is of particular interest as there appears to be considerable expansion into agricultural areas and consolidation of dense guesthouse accommodation in the urban areas. Conceptually, the paper questions the utility of the ‘alternative tourist accommodation’ category. It is argued that alternative tourist accommodation is very fluid in its meaning over time and what is seen as alternative now can be mainstream later.
Tourism, with a significant component thereof comprising leisure tourism, is one of the largest e... more Tourism, with a significant component thereof comprising leisure tourism, is one of the largest economic systems globally and employs millions. The international tourism system has since the 1950s seen unpresented growth in most countries on all continents. This growth in both tourism products and consumers have for the most part taken place in urban areas. Leisure tourism has been shaping urban spaces for many decades although its relevance has only relatively recently been acknowledged. Similarly, leisure tourism has expanded in South Africa with a key focus on its urban areas. The impact of leisure tourism in South Africa has been highly uneven across the urban space economy. This investigation traces some of the development trends of leisure tourism in Cape Town and Stellenbosch respectively. It is argued that leisure tourism is increasingly creating uneven and exclusionary urban spaces. The challenges this presents to South African urban places in general is then considered.
CITATION: Visser, G. 2017. Reflections on student tourism research in South Africa. African Journ... more CITATION: Visser, G. 2017. Reflections on student tourism research in South Africa. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 6(2):1-18.
CITATION: Visser, G. 2016. Urban leisure and tourism-led redevelopment frontiers in central Cape ... more CITATION: Visser, G. 2016. Urban leisure and tourism-led redevelopment frontiers in central Cape Town since the 1990s. Tourism : An International Interdisciplinary Journal, 64(4):397-408.
Tydskrif vir Gesinsekologie en Verbruikerswetenskappe, 2004
Weinig navorsing is tot dusver gedoen op die dinamiese impakte van tweede-woning-ontwikkeling in ... more Weinig navorsing is tot dusver gedoen op die dinamiese impakte van tweede-woning-ontwikkeling in Suid-Afrika. Die doel van die studie is om die gebrek aan hierdie akademiese nadenke aan te spreek by wyse van 'n gevallestudie wat handel oor die empiriese werklikhede van Clarens. Die studie toon dat tweede-woning-ontwikkeling in hierdie dorp 'n reeks positiewe impakte het soos werkskepping en diversifisering van die plaaslike ekonomie. Daarteenoor word knelpunte rondom dramatiese eiendomsprysverhoogings, wat lei tot volgehoue woonbuurtsegregasie en die beperking van die tipes werkskepping wat plaasvind, uitgelig. In die algemeen is die strekking van hierdie artikel dat tweedewoning- ontwikkeling in Clarens 'n positiewe ontwikkeling vir die gasheergemeenskap is
Globally, studentification has emerged as a prominent urban process, fast becoming entrenched in ... more Globally, studentification has emerged as a prominent urban process, fast becoming entrenched in geographical discourse. Since the early 1990s, in both developed and developing world countries, an expansion in student enrolment has outstripped the ability of higher education institutions to provide adequate accommodation. These trends have been noted in South Africa too. The extent and impact of studentification on the urban geography of those places in which it has taken root is still poorly understood in both South Africa and the global South at large. This paper investigates studentification as experienced in one of South Africa’s secondary cities – Stellenbosch. An overview of generic studentification impacts is provided and the development of this process tracked. Thereafter, the motivation for living in these developments and the impacts of this process comes into view. It is argued that the areas affected by studentification have fundamentally changed in their physical and so...
Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, 2016
Studentification is a global phenomenon that has been prominent in urban geographical discourse s... more Studentification is a global phenomenon that has been prominent in urban geographical discourse since the large-scale expansion of higher education in the early 1990s. In many developed and developing world countries, expansion in student enrolment has outstripped the ability of institutions of higher learning to provide adequate accommodation. Similar trends have been recorded in South Africa. The task of this paper is to investigate studentification as experienced in one of South Africa’s secondary cities. The paper draws attention to the economic, socio-cultural, and physical characteristics of this form of student housing on host locations. It is argued that studentification holds both positive and negative impacts for the host communities of Bloemfontein. Finally, it is suggested that studentification in South Africa requires greater research attention.
Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, 2015
Growing trends of fear and insecurity in cities have sparked the re-visitation of gating, posing ... more Growing trends of fear and insecurity in cities have sparked the re-visitation of gating, posing significant problems for citizens and policy makers alike. Gated developments are a global phenomenon occurring in diverse countries in both the developed North and developing South. Metropolitan areas in South Africa have also witnessed a rapid increase in the number and spread of gated developments since the late 1980s. Development of enclosed neighbourhoods has become increasingly popular, gaining widespread support for their utopic lifestyle and safety features. On the whole, high levels of crime and fear of crime have led to the construction of defensible space, in the form of gated developments, resulting in elevated levels of segregation. This paper provides a spatial analysis on gated developments in the non-metropolitan setting of Bloemfontein. The pattern and timeframe of gating in this city is shown to be similar to those found elsewhere in South Africa and, indeed, globally. ...
... First, an outline of the pos-sible meanings of the concept "second h... more ... First, an outline of the pos-sible meanings of the concept "second homes" is provided and attention is fo-cused on some of ... from a different empirical base, drawing heavily on interview material with Village and Life, a key property development and tourism service provider. ...
Tourism geographies are a vibrant field of scientific inquiry. Despite this, it is obvious that t... more Tourism geographies are a vibrant field of scientific inquiry. Despite this, it is obvious that the sub-discipline is met with disinterest within geography departments, at the same time as tourism geographers are welcomed and acknowledged within the wider tourism community. This article offers some reflections and an institutional perspective on the tourism-geography nexus. This is accomplished by reviewing the institutional and geographical affiliations of authors in the journal Tourism Geographies. It is shown that tourism geographies are successful globally, but for various reasons are increasingly marginalized within geography departments. Hence, it is concluded that tourism geographies seem to be moving out of geography departments, which may turn out to deprive students of learning about the geography of a major driver of global and regional change.
This book is dedicated to our dear colleagues, those who have come before, those who are now pres... more This book is dedicated to our dear colleagues, those who have come before, those who are now present and those who are yet to join our wonderful department in the Eikestad.
... with comparative study of countries facing similar challenges (Pressly, 2002, p. 1, in Visse... more ... with comparative study of countries facing similar challenges (Pressly, 2002, p. 1, in Visser, 2003c, p ... The problems of definition arise primarily from the fact that second homes do not constitute a ... areas and small towns are well rehearsed, it seems that their impact in metropolitan ...
... Under the rubric of 'dark tourism' recent w... more ... Under the rubric of 'dark tourism' recent work by Strange and Kempa (2003) represents an initial ... of differ-ent elements of what Scheyvens (2002) elsewhere refers to as 'justice tourism'. Thepotential of township tourism, with visitors engaged in exploring sites of the anti ...
In recent years, there has been increasing interest in changes within gay ghettos, villages, prec... more In recent years, there has been increasing interest in changes within gay ghettos, villages, precincts, and neighbourhoods in different cities and regions, particularly in the West. This includes concerns from some constituencies about the decline-or de-gaying-of some queer neighbourhoods, coupled with commentary about the emergence of newer places, sometimes espoused as mixed, gay-friendly, or post-gay. Drawing on the South African experience, the question of how central these debates should stand in gay geographical scholarship is posed. Although it is increasingly acknowledged that the ''old gay ghetto debates'' are in some ways parochial (both spatially and theoretically), the dominance of such concerns remains pervasive in Western gay space theorisation. In this paper, attention is focused on Western theorisations of the relationship between gay sexualities, its links to specific forms of gay space such as gay ghettos and neighbourhoods, and the South Africa context. The contention is that gay spaces (in the form of consolidated space, or villages) are not a necessary outcome of lived gay identities. It is argued that in South Africa differently constructed gay identities are differently spatialised and ultimately incongruent with Western theory. The investigation supports the growing scholarship that suggests Western theorisation of the links between gay sexual identity and space is not universally applicable.
After roughly 20 years since the emergence of urban scholarship in same-sex sexualities in South ... more After roughly 20 years since the emergence of urban scholarship in same-sex sexualities in South Africa, it is worthwhile considering how some of the concerns that originally animated that scholarship have evolved and also how such concerns are today reflected differently away from primary cities (where much earlier research was conducted). In this commentary, I explore the unique history of Stellenbosch, a university town/secondary city 50 km away from Cape Town. Stellenbosch’s own unique history of—and recent developments with regard to—public (male) same-sex expression help set into relief earlier scholarship and also points towards some future research questions that may also be applicable elsewhere on the African continent. While, as made clear, Stellenbosch is in some key instances unique in terms of its sexualized and raced history both in South Africa and the wider continent, its position as what we might increasingly want to frame as a secondary city, its particular racial ...
New Directions in South African Tourism Geographies, 2019
Accommodation is a critically important component of the tourist’s experience of a destination. T... more Accommodation is a critically important component of the tourist’s experience of a destination. Tourist accommodation ranges from the formal hotel to the potential informality of second homes, Airbnb and home-stay accommodation. This chapter focuses on South African guesthouses as a tourist accommodation type that made its appearance in the late 1980s as a largely unregulated alternative to hotels. In terms of South African guesthouses, the first investigations were concerned with the general geography of guesthouses, the characteristics of their facilities and services, as well as the profiles of the owner and visitor. Since then, the development of guesthouses, certainly from a spatial perspective, has slipped from the scholarly gaze. The aim of this investigation is to track the subsequent development of guesthouses, which started as an alternative tourist accommodation type in the Stellenbosch Winelands. Duplicating the aims of the earlier studies, the expanding spatial footprint of this accommodation type is of particular interest as there appears to be considerable expansion into agricultural areas and consolidation of dense guesthouse accommodation in the urban areas. Conceptually, the paper questions the utility of the ‘alternative tourist accommodation’ category. It is argued that alternative tourist accommodation is very fluid in its meaning over time and what is seen as alternative now can be mainstream later.
Tourism, with a significant component thereof comprising leisure tourism, is one of the largest e... more Tourism, with a significant component thereof comprising leisure tourism, is one of the largest economic systems globally and employs millions. The international tourism system has since the 1950s seen unpresented growth in most countries on all continents. This growth in both tourism products and consumers have for the most part taken place in urban areas. Leisure tourism has been shaping urban spaces for many decades although its relevance has only relatively recently been acknowledged. Similarly, leisure tourism has expanded in South Africa with a key focus on its urban areas. The impact of leisure tourism in South Africa has been highly uneven across the urban space economy. This investigation traces some of the development trends of leisure tourism in Cape Town and Stellenbosch respectively. It is argued that leisure tourism is increasingly creating uneven and exclusionary urban spaces. The challenges this presents to South African urban places in general is then considered.
CITATION: Visser, G. 2017. Reflections on student tourism research in South Africa. African Journ... more CITATION: Visser, G. 2017. Reflections on student tourism research in South Africa. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 6(2):1-18.
CITATION: Visser, G. 2016. Urban leisure and tourism-led redevelopment frontiers in central Cape ... more CITATION: Visser, G. 2016. Urban leisure and tourism-led redevelopment frontiers in central Cape Town since the 1990s. Tourism : An International Interdisciplinary Journal, 64(4):397-408.
Tydskrif vir Gesinsekologie en Verbruikerswetenskappe, 2004
Weinig navorsing is tot dusver gedoen op die dinamiese impakte van tweede-woning-ontwikkeling in ... more Weinig navorsing is tot dusver gedoen op die dinamiese impakte van tweede-woning-ontwikkeling in Suid-Afrika. Die doel van die studie is om die gebrek aan hierdie akademiese nadenke aan te spreek by wyse van 'n gevallestudie wat handel oor die empiriese werklikhede van Clarens. Die studie toon dat tweede-woning-ontwikkeling in hierdie dorp 'n reeks positiewe impakte het soos werkskepping en diversifisering van die plaaslike ekonomie. Daarteenoor word knelpunte rondom dramatiese eiendomsprysverhoogings, wat lei tot volgehoue woonbuurtsegregasie en die beperking van die tipes werkskepping wat plaasvind, uitgelig. In die algemeen is die strekking van hierdie artikel dat tweedewoning- ontwikkeling in Clarens 'n positiewe ontwikkeling vir die gasheergemeenskap is
Globally, studentification has emerged as a prominent urban process, fast becoming entrenched in ... more Globally, studentification has emerged as a prominent urban process, fast becoming entrenched in geographical discourse. Since the early 1990s, in both developed and developing world countries, an expansion in student enrolment has outstripped the ability of higher education institutions to provide adequate accommodation. These trends have been noted in South Africa too. The extent and impact of studentification on the urban geography of those places in which it has taken root is still poorly understood in both South Africa and the global South at large. This paper investigates studentification as experienced in one of South Africa’s secondary cities – Stellenbosch. An overview of generic studentification impacts is provided and the development of this process tracked. Thereafter, the motivation for living in these developments and the impacts of this process comes into view. It is argued that the areas affected by studentification have fundamentally changed in their physical and so...
Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, 2016
Studentification is a global phenomenon that has been prominent in urban geographical discourse s... more Studentification is a global phenomenon that has been prominent in urban geographical discourse since the large-scale expansion of higher education in the early 1990s. In many developed and developing world countries, expansion in student enrolment has outstripped the ability of institutions of higher learning to provide adequate accommodation. Similar trends have been recorded in South Africa. The task of this paper is to investigate studentification as experienced in one of South Africa’s secondary cities. The paper draws attention to the economic, socio-cultural, and physical characteristics of this form of student housing on host locations. It is argued that studentification holds both positive and negative impacts for the host communities of Bloemfontein. Finally, it is suggested that studentification in South Africa requires greater research attention.
Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, 2015
Growing trends of fear and insecurity in cities have sparked the re-visitation of gating, posing ... more Growing trends of fear and insecurity in cities have sparked the re-visitation of gating, posing significant problems for citizens and policy makers alike. Gated developments are a global phenomenon occurring in diverse countries in both the developed North and developing South. Metropolitan areas in South Africa have also witnessed a rapid increase in the number and spread of gated developments since the late 1980s. Development of enclosed neighbourhoods has become increasingly popular, gaining widespread support for their utopic lifestyle and safety features. On the whole, high levels of crime and fear of crime have led to the construction of defensible space, in the form of gated developments, resulting in elevated levels of segregation. This paper provides a spatial analysis on gated developments in the non-metropolitan setting of Bloemfontein. The pattern and timeframe of gating in this city is shown to be similar to those found elsewhere in South Africa and, indeed, globally. ...
... First, an outline of the pos-sible meanings of the concept "second h... more ... First, an outline of the pos-sible meanings of the concept "second homes" is provided and attention is fo-cused on some of ... from a different empirical base, drawing heavily on interview material with Village and Life, a key property development and tourism service provider. ...
Tourism geographies are a vibrant field of scientific inquiry. Despite this, it is obvious that t... more Tourism geographies are a vibrant field of scientific inquiry. Despite this, it is obvious that the sub-discipline is met with disinterest within geography departments, at the same time as tourism geographers are welcomed and acknowledged within the wider tourism community. This article offers some reflections and an institutional perspective on the tourism-geography nexus. This is accomplished by reviewing the institutional and geographical affiliations of authors in the journal Tourism Geographies. It is shown that tourism geographies are successful globally, but for various reasons are increasingly marginalized within geography departments. Hence, it is concluded that tourism geographies seem to be moving out of geography departments, which may turn out to deprive students of learning about the geography of a major driver of global and regional change.
This book is dedicated to our dear colleagues, those who have come before, those who are now pres... more This book is dedicated to our dear colleagues, those who have come before, those who are now present and those who are yet to join our wonderful department in the Eikestad.
... with comparative study of countries facing similar challenges (Pressly, 2002, p. 1, in Visse... more ... with comparative study of countries facing similar challenges (Pressly, 2002, p. 1, in Visser, 2003c, p ... The problems of definition arise primarily from the fact that second homes do not constitute a ... areas and small towns are well rehearsed, it seems that their impact in metropolitan ...
... Under the rubric of 'dark tourism' recent w... more ... Under the rubric of 'dark tourism' recent work by Strange and Kempa (2003) represents an initial ... of differ-ent elements of what Scheyvens (2002) elsewhere refers to as 'justice tourism'. Thepotential of township tourism, with visitors engaged in exploring sites of the anti ...
In recent years, there has been increasing interest in changes within gay ghettos, villages, prec... more In recent years, there has been increasing interest in changes within gay ghettos, villages, precincts, and neighbourhoods in different cities and regions, particularly in the West. This includes concerns from some constituencies about the decline-or de-gaying-of some queer neighbourhoods, coupled with commentary about the emergence of newer places, sometimes espoused as mixed, gay-friendly, or post-gay. Drawing on the South African experience, the question of how central these debates should stand in gay geographical scholarship is posed. Although it is increasingly acknowledged that the ''old gay ghetto debates'' are in some ways parochial (both spatially and theoretically), the dominance of such concerns remains pervasive in Western gay space theorisation. In this paper, attention is focused on Western theorisations of the relationship between gay sexualities, its links to specific forms of gay space such as gay ghettos and neighbourhoods, and the South Africa context. The contention is that gay spaces (in the form of consolidated space, or villages) are not a necessary outcome of lived gay identities. It is argued that in South Africa differently constructed gay identities are differently spatialised and ultimately incongruent with Western theory. The investigation supports the growing scholarship that suggests Western theorisation of the links between gay sexual identity and space is not universally applicable.
Uploads
Papers by Gustav Visser