Critical success factors of a business tourism destination: Supply side analysis

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ORIENTATION: Globally, destinations offer various products and services to visitors featuring different attributes and characteristics, making each destination unique. The critical success factors (CSFs) of each of these destinations may differ, making the management process more complex. RESEARCH PURPOSE: The purpose of this research was to identify the CSFs for business tourism destinations in South Africa from a supply viewpoint. MOTIVATION FOR THE STUDY: Because of the importance of CSFs, many previous studies have attempted to identify such factors within the tourism industry, but few concentrated on business tourism, especially in South Africa, leaving a gap in terms of knowledge. By means of identifying and understanding what these factors are for South Africa, the country could further develop its tourism sector, which could result in its being more competitive as a destination. RESEARCH DESIGN, APPROACH AND METHOD: To achieve this goal, a qualitative research approach was followed by interviewing seven key business tourism coordinators in South Africa, to determine the key success factors of the business. The data gathered were transcribed and analysed using Creswell's six steps in data analysis and interpretation. MAIN FINDINGS: Finances, human resources, product and customer-related aspects were identified as the CSFs for business tourism in South Africa. PRACTICAL/MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS: Educating the market and marketing value add-ons were identified as important for enhancing and making business tourism in South Africa more competitive. CONTRIBUTION/VALUE-ADD: The results could guide managers in the implementation of effective key success factors in an effort to mitigate management problems in a very competitive sector.