Tourism is not a list of places. It is the business of knowing who travels, why they go and what they need when they get there.The GOAT Notes™
Tourism is people travelling away from their usual home, work and daily surroundings, for leisure, business or another purpose, together with the industry that looks after them on the way: transport, accommodation, food, attractions and guiding. When a question asks “What is tourism?”, give both halves, the trip and the industry.
The difference matters to the industry. A tourist who stays overnight pays for a bed, meals, transport and activities, so one night in a place is worth far more to local businesses than one afternoon. That is why the definition counts nights.
Tourism is named in two ways: by where the trip goes (domestic, regional, international) and by which way it points (inbound, outbound). Every name is given from one country’s point of view. In this guide that country is South Africa.
| Term | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic | Residents travelling inside their own country | A family from Kimberley spending a week in Cape Town |
| Regional | Travel to a neighbouring country in the same region, for us southern Africa | A shopper from Windhoek visiting Cape Town |
| International | Travel to a country outside one’s own region | A couple from the United Kingdom on safari |
| Inbound | Visitors from other countries coming into South Africa | The same couple, seen from South Africa |
| Outbound | South Africans leaving South Africa to travel abroad | A Kimberley learner on a school tour to Windhoek |
Nobody travels for no reason, and the reason decides what the tourist buys. The reasons CAPS lists lead straight into the types of tourist later in this topic:
Once a tourist has decided to go, three things shape what they will choose. They sound alike, so learn the difference.
| What it means | Example for a coach tour | |
|---|---|---|
| Need | Something the tourist must have; without it the trip cannot work | A safe vehicle, food and water, medical help for a tourist with a heart condition |
| Preference | What the tourist would like and picks when there is a choice | A window seat, vegetarian meals, a morning departure |
| Expectation | What the tourist believes they will get, from the advert or from past trips | A clean coach, a friendly driver, leaving on time and value for money |
Try it. Mr Naidoo, a retired teacher from Durban, books a coach tour. He asks for a seat near the toilet because of a medical condition, would rather sit at the window, and expects the coach to be clean. The seat near the toilet is his need, the window is his preference, and the clean coach is his expectation.
CAPS names fifteen types of tourist. A type is decided by the main purpose of the trip, and an exam question gives you a clue, a place or an activity to read it from. Learn each type with its clue.
Five pairs of types are easy to mix up. Settle them now, because a question often has one of each hiding in the same advert.
| Pair | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Adventure and sport | Adventure is a thrill or a risk taken for the experience (rafting, abseiling). Sport and recreation is taking part in, or watching, an organised sport (a marathon, a match). |
| Business and incentive | Business is travel for the employer’s work (a meeting, a conference). Incentive is a trip the employer pays for as a reward. |
| VFR and leisure | VFR means the people are the reason and the tourist stays with or visits them. Leisure is a holiday for rest, with nobody to visit. |
| SIT, eco and cultural | SIT is one narrow interest (bird watching, wine tasting). Eco is nature visited without harming it. Cultural is people’s heritage and traditions. |
| Backpacking and gap year | Backpacking is a budget trip with hostels, at any young age. Gap year is a break between school and study or work, often long and sometimes with volunteering. |
Adverts are written to hide the type inside the offer. One advert can match more than one type, because it contains more than one clue. Read the three adverts, then check the reading below.
A matching question asks for the type (1 mark) and the clue you read it from (1 mark).
Quote words from the advert. A clue you made up earns nothing.
A tourist profile is a short description of the person who is travelling. Companies use it to decide what to offer, and an exam question gives you a story and a table to fill in. The headings never change; the answers come from the story.
Three rules fill the table without losing marks. Use only what the story tells you, and write the fact, not a guess. Where a heading is not stated, work it out from a clue: a nurse earns a modest salary, a “limited budget of R9 800” is a budget, and “a busy job” hints at a business or leisure break. And match the purpose of the trip to one of the fifteen types.
The story behind it. Thandi, 29, is a nurse from Gqeberha. After a hard year she has saved enough to take her sister and two friends to the coast for a week. They want a cottage where they can cook, a quiet beach and no stress. Now cover the right-hand column and fill in a profile for a different traveller:
Mr Pieterse, 64, a retired farmer from Bloemfontein, is going to Durban with his wife to visit his grandchildren. They need a ground-floor room and plan to drive down.
A mode of transport is the way a tourist gets from one place to another. CAPS groups them into four main families and a fifth for the unusual ones. Learn the family and the examples, because a picture question shows you the vehicle and asks for its mode.
A few examples need a line each. A coach is a long-distance bus with luggage space; a shuttle bus runs a short, fixed route, such as airport to hotel. A metered taxi charges by the distance on its meter, while a minibus taxi follows a set route and charges a low fare per seat. A helicopter can take off almost anywhere and is used for scenic flights; a microlight is a very light aircraft for very few people. A tram runs on rails through city streets. A chartered boat is hired for a group, and a yacht is a sailing boat, usually small.
| Mode | CAPS examples | Where it usually fits |
|---|---|---|
| Road | Car, bus, coach, shuttle bus, metered taxi, minibus taxi, motor cycle | Short and medium trips, door-to-door, places with no station or airport |
| Air | Aeroplane, helicopter, microlight | Long distances and overseas; a helicopter or microlight for a short scenic flight |
| Rail | Train, tram | Between cities and inside a city, along fixed routes |
| Water | Luxury cruise liner, chartered boat, yacht | Leisure on the sea, rivers and dams; crossing water |
| Extraordinary | Camel, donkey cart, hot air balloon, bicycle | A special experience or a short local trip |
CAPS asks you to compare road, air, rail and water on six criteria. Know what each one means before you rate anything.
| Criterion | What it asks |
|---|---|
| Comfort | How pleasant the journey is: seat room, noise, toilets, food |
| Cost | What the tourist pays: ticket, fuel, tolls, extras |
| Safety | How likely the tourist is to be hurt, robbed or delayed by danger |
| Carrying capacity | How many people (or how much luggage) the vehicle can carry |
| Speed | How quickly it covers the distance |
| Reliability | How well it keeps to the time and runs without breakdowns or cancellations |
Each criterion needs a fact about each mode, or one sentence that compares them.
Never write “it is better” on its own. Give the criterion, then the verdict.
Every advantage and disadvantage is one of the six criteria in disguise. “Cheap” is cost, “can carry hundreds” is capacity, “delayed by weather” is reliability. Use that to sort your answers and to find a second point when you are stuck.
| Mode | Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|---|
| Road | Door-to-door; you choose the route and the stops; cheap when shared; no airport or station needed | Traffic and accidents; tiring on long trips; fuel and toll costs |
| Air | Fastest over long distances; reaches other countries and islands; saves days | Expensive; check-in and transfer time; weather delays; baggage limits |
| Rail | Relaxed and scenic; carries many passengers; no traffic; fair price | Fixed routes and timetables; few stations; slower; delays when there is a breakdown |
| Water | A cruise liner is a hotel that moves; relaxing; reaches coastal places | Slowest; seasickness; weather risks; a cruise is costly; few ports |
| Extraordinary | A unique experience; close to nature and local life; little or no pollution | Slow; weather-dependent; carries very few people; unsuited to long distances |
When a question says “discuss the advantages”, one word is not enough. Give the advantage and add the reason in the same sentence: “Air travel is the fastest, so a business traveller saves a whole day.” Two such sentences earn the marks of a four-mark question; a list of single words does not.
A family from Pretoria spends a week in Durban. What kind of tourism is this trip?
A group of learners from Lesotho visits Cape Town on a school tour. From South Africa’s point of view this trip is…
A South African couple flies from Johannesburg to Paris for a holiday. Which two labels fit, from South Africa’s point of view?
Which statement defines a tourist?
A man from Mozambique drives to Nelspruit and stays three nights for a conference. A classmate calls him an international tourist. Why is the classmate wrong?
Which of these is a tourist’s NEED?
Sipho books a lodge and hopes the room will look like the photographs on its website. This hope is his…
A guest asks for a window seat and a morning departure on a coach tour. These requests are her…
A wheelchair user cannot join a tour because no vehicle has a ramp. Which of her requirements was not met?
Which sentence separates a preference from an expectation correctly?
Naledi travels to Durban to stay with her aunt and cousins over Christmas. Which type of tourist is she?
An advert says: “Bungee off the bridge, then raft the rapids.” Which type of tourist is it aimed at?
A company pays for its ten best salespeople to spend a weekend at a spa resort. Which type of tourist are they?
Thabo takes a year off between school and university, volunteers at a school abroad for six months, and then travels. Which type of tourist is he?
Hennie visits the Winelands only to taste wines at cellars, and does nothing else. Which type of tourist is he?
Which heading belongs in a tourist profile?
A story says: “Mr Dlamini is an accountant from Eswatini.” Which two profile headings does this give?
A story says: “She has only R4 500 to spend on the trip.” Under which profile heading does this go?
A story is about a couple and their two young children on a beach holiday. What do you write under “Travelling with”?
Which profile entry shows a NEED rather than a preference?
Which list contains only extraordinary modes of transport?
A tram runs on steel rails along city streets. Which family of transport does it belong to?
Which of these is an example of water transport?
A microlight is a very light aircraft for a very few people. In which family does CAPS place it?
Which list contains only road transport?
What does the criterion “carrying capacity” measure when modes of transport are compared?
Which main mode is fastest over a long distance?
A train is held up for two hours by a breakdown. Which criterion is affected?
Which statement is a disadvantage of a cruise liner?
A business traveller in Johannesburg must be in Cape Town by 09:00 tomorrow. Which mode should she choose, and why?
Read this advert: “BUSINESS AND BEACH: three days of meetings and a conference in Durban, then Friday free to lie on the beach.” Name TWO types of tourist that the advert suits and quote a clue for each. (4)
Business tourist. Clue: “meetings and a conference”. Leisure tourist. Clue: “Friday free to lie on the beach”.
Read the story and complete the tourist profile. Dr Hassan Abdi, 52, a doctor from Kenya, travels to Cape Town for a ten-day holiday with his wife and two teenage children. He wants a family room and expects clean, safe accommodation. Give: age group, nationality, occupation, travelling with, purpose of the trip and one expectation. (6)
Age group: about 50 (52 years). Nationality: Kenyan. Occupation: doctor. Travelling with: his wife and two teenage children (family). Purpose: a ten-day holiday (leisure). Expectation: clean, safe accommodation.
A tourist must travel from Johannesburg to Cape Town. Compare an aeroplane and a coach on cost and speed, and recommend one mode for a learner with a very small budget. (5)
The aeroplane is more expensive than the coach. The coach is cheaper. The aeroplane is faster and takes only a few hours. The coach is slower and takes many hours. Recommendation: the coach, because cost is the criterion that matters most to a learner with a small budget.
Explain to a Grade 8 learner the difference between inbound, outbound, domestic, regional and international tourism, using South Africa as the starting point.
Explain how you decide which type of tourist an advert is aimed at. Use one advert of your own as the example.
Explain how to compare two modes of transport so that your answer earns full marks.
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