Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.37741/t.74.4.2
A Historical Analysis of Tourism Development in Eswatini Using Butler’s “Tourism Area Life Cycle”
Ngcebo Masilela
; Geography, Environmental Management and Energy Studies, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
Gijsbert Hoogendoorn
; Geography, Environmental Management and Energy Studies, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
*
Gustav Visser
; Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
This paper applies Richard Butler’s “Tourism area life cycle” (1980) (TALC) to examine the historical
development of tourism in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland). The subsidiary aim is to reassess tourism development
in Eswatini by updating Harrison’s “Development of tourism in Swaziland” (1995) for the period
1995–2022. The research used a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative data from the Eswatini
Tourism Authority with qualitative interviews with tourism employees, tourists, and locals. The findings
reveal that tourism development in Eswatini followed a different trajectory between 1995 and 2022 than the
one described in Harrison’s (1995) work. The industry initially went through the involvement stage, then
the development stage, and, more recently, the stagnation stage, with attempts at rejuvenation. Although
these findings differ from Butler's (1980), they extend TALC debates by showing how political shocks,
source-market dependency, and domestic tourism resilience shape trajectories in ways the model does not
anticipate, with implications for its application in Global South destinations.
Keywords
Eswatini; TALC; destination; development
Hrčak ID:
352118
URI
Publication date:
14.10.2026.
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