349-456 Tourism 2016 04EN.indd

Southern African countries have a good cultural tourism development potential, and many countries in the region have identifi ed the development of cultural tourism as one of the key growth areas in tourism. A specifi c element of cultural tourism is based on crafts that are sold for visitors in various sites and market places. Crafts and craft markets are relatively visible in the Southern African tourism landscape. While these sites have the potential to provide a signifi cant amount of employment and economic benefi ts, they have been relatively little studied in the region. Th is paper aims to focus on craft tourism and craft markets as a specifi c form of and attraction site for cultural tourism. Th e empirical example utilizes a mixed method case study approach by looking at tourists’ craft consumption at a selected market site in Windhoek, Namibia. According to the results the direct economic impacts were relatively modest in monetary terms. In general the interviewed tourists valued the local character of the crafts but only half of them indicated that they would prefer the locally-made aspect as the key selection criterion of a purchase. It is concluded that this emphasis can infl uence negatively on the local sustainability of craft-based cultural tourism.