<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>One vibrant topic within the emerging scholarship around geographies of tourism development and planning concerns that of tourism and local economic development planning. Across many countries tourism is a core base for planning of place-based local economic development programmes. In post-apartheid South Africa the country’s leading cities have promoted tourism as part of economic development programming. This article examines planning for South Africa’s aerotropolis around the O.R. Tambo International Airport in Ekurhuleni, which is adjacent to Johannesburg. Under circumstances of economic distress and the need for new sources of local job creation Ekurhuleni is undertaking planning for tourism development through leveraging and alignment to aerotropolis planning. The nexus of aerotropolis and urban tourism planning is analysed. Arguably, the strengthening of tourism in Ekurhuleni offers the potential for contributing towards inclusive development goals.</p></abstract>

One vibrant topic within the emerging scholarship around geographies of tourism development and planning concerns that of tourism and local economic development planning. Across many countries tourism is a core base for planning of place-based local economic development programmes. In post-apartheid South Africa the country’s leading cities have promoted tourism as part of economic development programming. This article examines planning for South Africa’s aerotropolis around the O.R. Tambo International Airport in Ekurhuleni, which is adjacent to Johannesburg. Under circumstances of economic distress and the need for new sources of local job creation Ekurhuleni is undertaking planning for tourism development through leveraging and alignment to aerotropolis planning. The nexus of aerotropolis and urban tourism planning is analysed. Arguably, the strengthening of tourism in Ekurhuleni offers the potential for contributing towards inclusive development goals.

Urban tourism, aerotropolis and local economic development planning: Ekurhuleni and O.R. Tambo International Airport, South Africa

Miscellanea Geographica

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

One vibrant topic within the emerging scholarship around geographies of tourism development and planning concerns that of tourism and local economic...

Indicator	Absolute Value	National Share (percent)	Rank in terms of South African municipalities
Total Trips	1 739 587	4.3	5
Leisure Trips	207 660	2.8	6
Business Trips	221 830	4.8	5
VFR Trips	1 156 229	4.6	4
International Trips	650 129	7.7	3
Domestic Trips	1 089 458	4.9	6
Total Bed Nights	8 381 711	3.1	5
Total Spend (R’000s)	7 848 442	3.3	5

Urban tourism, aerotropolis and local economic development planning: Ekurhuleni and O.R. Tambo International Airport, South Africa

Published Online: Sep 30, 2018

Page range: 123 - 129

Received: Feb 12, 2018

Accepted: Jun 19, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mgrsd-2018-0019

Keywords
aerotropolis, urban tourism planning, local economic development, Ekurhuleni, South Africa

© 2018 Christian M. Rogerson, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Figure 1

Ekurhuleni’s Tourism Economy 2015: Key Indicators

Urban tourism, aerotropolis and local economic development planning: Ekurhuleni and O.R. Tambo International Airport, South Africa

Published Online: Sep 30, 2018

Page range: 123 - 129

Received: Feb 12, 2018

Accepted: Jun 19, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mgrsd-2018-0019

Keywordsaerotropolis, urban tourism planning, local economic development, Ekurhuleni, South Africa

© 2018 Christian M. Rogerson, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Figure 1

Ekurhuleni’s Tourism Economy 2015: Key Indicators

Keywords
aerotropolis, urban tourism planning, local economic development, Ekurhuleni, South Africa