Tourism is of significant importance to the economy of any country, especially in a developing country such as South Africa. The successful political transformation in South Africa has virtually 'opened' the country's tourism potential to the rest of the world.

However, the country experienced an increase in violent crime, political instability, xenophobic attacks and repeated social and labour unrest in the years that followed, escalating in 2015.

This has prompted the current research to develop a model for determining political climate variables that influence tourism in South Africa. The first stage of the research was qualitative in the form of a conceptual analysis of existing literature. The preliminary findings indicated that there were three main political climate variables that influenced tourism, namely tourist safety, political instability and public turmoil.

Tourist safety in a South African context refers to the extent of type of crime, visual policing and the effectiveness of crime prevention units as well as media coverage of crime rate statistics. All these variables can deter a potential tourist from visiting a destination.

Political instability is influenced by predictability of government action, level of corruption, presidential powers and inconsistent application of democracy as these variables could either deter or lure tourist to a destination, with regard to how these variables are perceived, either positive or negative. Public turmoil focuses on racism, xenophobia, and labour- and social unrest.

Although terrorism was discussed in literature, no evidence of it within the South African context was found in recent years. However, South Africa could be at risk of a terrorist attack since Islamic State (IS) declared its intention to attack western interests in any part of the world.

It can therefore be deduced that political instability, public turmoil and tourist safety can, to a considerable extent, influence the tourism industry in a specific country as it depicts a less favourable image of the country.

This article is based on a paper that was presented at a research conference in London earlier this year. To read the full a paper, click here.