THE FUTURE OF QUALITATIVE TOURISM RESEARCH IN SOUTH AFRICA

The paper focuses on the future of qualitative research in South Africa. Qualitative research in South Africa has been primarily influenced by cultural and social sciences disciplines such as sociology and anthropology. This is mainly because of the rich cultural and social environment that defines the fabric of South Africa. Qualitative research seeks to uproot wisdom and cultivate an understanding through collecting primary and secondary data followed by interpretations. The South African tourism qualitative research seems to take a posture of multidisciplinary methodologies, including researching tourism as an economic and sociocultural phenomenon. Therefore, qualitative research in the tourism industry is linked to ontological, epistemological, political and philosophical areas influencing the study approach.
The paper explores how the current emergence of online qualitative research tools can create new lines of enquiry, leading to further research about tourism and its relational ontologies. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates how qualitative tourism research in South Africa is taking advantage of cultural and social studies developments, including science developments. The paper concludes that the innovation of qualitative research methods and how they affect the South African tourism industry and the citizens serve as a catalyst and a key factor for the further development of tourism-based research methodologies and integration into the areas of social and cultural research.