Visions for South African Sport Tourism

Sport tourism is a segment of the tourism industry which is growing rapidly. In South Africa it is slowly being recognized as an important niche market within the tourism sector. In order to capitalize on the country\u27s recent sporting successes, South Africa Sports Tourism (SAST) was launched by the government in 1997. This article will review the development of sport tourism in postapartheid South Africa by giving a brief description of the SAST initiative. It will further describe various issues, such as community involvement, private sector involvement, integration of sport and tourism bodies, and education and research, which must be addressed for sport tourism to truly play its role in the development of South African society. In order to ensure that the current SAST campaign is not merely rhetoric, it should be reviewed and further steps should be taken to implement an integrated sport tourism plan for South Africa