Centre for Tourism research in Africa (CETrA)

The mandate of CeTra is to:

• Highlight CPUT’s contribution to tourism and hospitality teaching and research in the Western Cape, South Africa and internationally

• Facilitate research activities in the tourism, hospitality, sport and events fields; to bring together university researchers, lecturers and practitioners (including public sector institutions) domestically and internationally, in order to find feasible answers to applied research questions

• Encourage focused research clusters incorporating researchers and students from different CPUT departments and from outside the university

• Foster research on tourism development and contact between tourism research centres and individuals globally

• Provide research facilities for students and researchers

• Create databases and expand current databases relating to tourism, hospitality, sport and events

• Provide facilitation of dissertation supervision

CARNiVAL Project

In 2013, CETRA joined a trans-continental network of partners to work on the CARNiVAL Project, in order to examine why mega-events fail to deliver sustainable legacies and to identify best practices to leverage the positive impacts of these events. CPUT’s partners in this project include the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Coventry University, the North Carolina State University and the Technische Universität.The CARNiVal Project is funded by the EU Commission and will run for four years. In 2014, emerging researchers from Coventry University visited South Africa and had several meetings with various 2010 FIFA World Cup™ stakeholders.

National Department of Tourism (NDT) Event Impact Assessment Framework

CETRA has been appointed by the NDT to develop a standardised framework to measure, monitor and manage the impacts of events of different types and sizes in South Africa. During 2014 (and into 2015), as part of Phase 2 of this study, a pilot study was completed and several events were evaluated nationally, including the Vredefort Dome Festival (Parys), the World Ports Congress (Durban) and the Mother City Queer Project (CT). A part of the funding from the NDT contract research is for student bursaries linked to event-related topics approved by the NDT. Two master’s students were funded in 2014: Mecia Petersen and Mandilakhe Mhlauli.

Additional research activities

Prof Kamilla Swart and Dr Brendon Knott participated in an international collaboration with Prof Holger Preuss, who led a team to conduct field research at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, together with Brazilian research partners. Prof Swart and Dr Knott collaborated with the team based in Rio during the World Cup. During their visit, they also had meetings with several academics involved in mega-event research, including Prof Chris Gaffney.

Prof Swart presented two papers at the European Association for Sport Management (EASM) Conference in Coventry in September. One paper focused on the media analysis of event legacies in relation to the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, and the other focused on the economic impact of WRC Neste Oil Rally Finland. Prof Swart was also part of the Carnival team who hosted a workshop session on the legacies of sport mega-events at EASM. As a result of the Carnival project, two master’s students, Janice Hemmonsbey and Gift Muresherwa, participated in the EASM master’s seminar where they worked on research tasks with students from European universities. A highlight was when Janice’s group won the small group presentation task titled Coventry’s Olympic Legacy, and were given the opportunity to present at the main EASM conference. Frinwei Achu, a CPUT staff member, participated in the EASM doctoral workshop. Janice also presented at the main conference at EASM.

Prof Swart was invited to present an expert analysis and facilitate a session on the role of BRICS/African Countries to bid for multisport events at the 2014 Sport and Tourism Exchange (SETE) Conference and Exhibition in Durban in October. Prof Swart was invited to present on the 2010 FIFA World CupTM research findings at an international conference, Innovation – Tourism & Sports Mega Events, hosted by the Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration of Getulio Vargas Institute (EBAPEFGV), with support from CNPq - National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, at FGV headquarters in Rio de Janeiro in December. The focus of the conference was to generate knowledge and encourage reflection and debate on the topic of innovation, as well as applicability in the context of tourism and sport mega-events.