EDITOR – There is a constant rise in educational tourism, and with tourism accounting for up to 30 per cent of the world’s export as stated by World Tourism Organisation in 2010, it is therefore essential to know the extent of involvement of these international students in local tourism and how much they contribute to tourism activities at their choice destination of study.
Durban as a destination for both local and international tourists plays host to a number of universities in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. International students are part of an educational programme, therefore South Africa (Durban) has to play an important role in motivating them to be involved in tourism activities. But there are a number of challenges that these students face when they plan to engage in tourism activities, this includes language barriers with Zulu being the major language spoken in the province.
Most international students find it difficult to communicate with locals, thus creating a problem between both parties, even with English as an alternative means of communication the restriction that is caused by language is still inevitable as it limits the activities that these students can participate in. For example, township tourism – KwaZulu-Natal has the second largest township in South Africa, Umlazi following the famous Soweto in Gauteng province. There is an increase in township tourism but due to language barriers international students do not partake as they cannot communicate with locals one-on-one.
Another challenge faced by international students is cultural differences. International students who come from similar countries to host countries experience less alienation as compared to those who come from countries which are dissimilar. Students from the SADC nations have better chances of blending in than those from the rest of Africa, Europe or other parts of the world as they have almost similar cultures making it easy for them to blend with the host country (South Africa). South Africa is a very diverse country, so is Durban, with a different mix of culture, but this is difficult for international student to adapt to.
For international students to be involved in local tourism in Durban there should be a number of actions taken by the province to beat these challenges by making Zulu attractive to international students, for example by creating palm-sized leaflets with the basic Zulu words, and also to encourage the cultural diversity and be ready to accept other cultures.
Ayooluwa O Abiolu
Durban
