e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 18, No. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 1 Kamantha Govender University of the Witwatersrand Tinashe Chuchu University of Pretoria Eugine Tafadzwa Maziriri University of the Free State Maria Nascimento Cunha Universidade de Aveiro An Analysis of Local Tourists’ Perceptions towards Attraction Sites in Cape Town, South Africa The impact that local residents play in the promotion and marketing of a destination, whether directly or indirectly, cannot be ignored. This is particularly associated with the destinations' image. The concept of destination image has, therefore, attracted a significant amount of attention from scholars. This then leads to the purpose of this study to investigate perceptions of local tourists towards Cape Town as a travel and holiday destination. The destination under investigation was Cape Town, one of South Africa's largest tourist cities. The nature of this research was quantitative and adopted the survey method. A total of 270 willing respondents, selected through convenience sampling, participated in the study. A key finding established by the study was that destination image had significantly more influence on local tourists' attitudes in comparison to its influence on their willingness to visit a destination. Based on the findings, implications were brought forward and possible suggestions for further research on the topic under investigation. Keywords: Destination, image, visitor attitudes, revisit intention Ms. Kamantha Govender Marketing Division School of Business Sciences University of the Witwatersrand 1 Jan Smuts Ave, Johannesburg, 2000 Private Bag 3, Wits, 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa Email: kamantha.govender@students.wits.ac.za Dr. Tinashe Chuchu Department of Marketing Management Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences University of Pretoria Private bag X20, Hatfield, Hillcrest, Pretoria, South Africa, 0028 Phone: [27] 12 420 4440 Email: tinashe.chuchu@up.ac.za http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:kamantha.govender@students.wits.ac.za mailto:tinashe.chuchu@up.ac.za e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 18, No. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 2 Dr. Eugine Tafadzwa Maziriri Department of Business Management University of the Free State PO Box 339. Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa Phone: [27] 51 401 7856 Email: MaziririET@ufs.ac.za Prof Maria Nascimento Cunha Department of Management Sciences Universidade de Aveiro 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal Email: zulmira.cunha@au.pt Ms. Kamantha Govender is a student in the Marketing Division of the School of Business Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand. Dr. Tinashe Chuchu (Ph.D.) is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Marketing Management at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. His research area of focus is Tourism Management, Customer Decision-making, Consumer Behaviour and Marketing Management. Dr. Eugine Tafadzwa Maziriri (Ph.D.) is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Business Management at the University of the Free State, South Africa. He has a keen interest in Consumer Behaviour and Business Management. He has also published numerous papers in peer-reviewed international and local accredited journals. Prof. Maria Nascimento Cunha (Ph.D.) is a Professor at the Universidade de Aveiro. She holds a Ph.D. in Marketing and a Post-PhD in Consumer Behaviour. She has also held several management roles at Nike and Escada Group. She currently teaches and researches in Educational Technology. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ mailto:zulmira.cunha@au.pt e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 18, No. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 3 Introduction Over the span of many years, domestic tourism has been considered necessary. Therefore, it is imperative to acknowledge that the practice of visiting places and tourism, in general, is also for local residents (Halvaksz, 2006; Smith, 1989; Tsing, 1993). Destination image is viewed as an attitudinal theory entailing the beliefs, notions, and perceptions that tourists possess of a destination (Hosany, Ekinci & Uysal, 2006). Therefore, destination image is central to the travellers’ approach in making decisions and influences their travel behaviour (Zhang, Fu, Cai & Lu, 2014). Destination image influences place attachment and the tourist's ultimate satisfaction with the trip (Prayag & Ryan, 2012). This satisfaction is also dependent on the tourist’s personal involvement in the travel experience (Prayag & Ryan, 2012). Support from local residents towards tourism is considered essential for biodiversity conservation (Walpole & Goodwin, 2001). The rise in competition in tourism has led destination marketing organisations to innovate their promotion of destinations to distinguish them from other destinations to portray them positively and draw tourists (Roodurmun & Juwaheer, 2010; Chen, & Phou, 2013). Some scholars, such as Ceurvorst and Lamborn (2018), suggested that local residents should have a louder voice in the designation and management of tourist attraction sites, such as national monuments. Tourist attitudes involve the general evaluation of a person performing a specific behaviour (Gumpo, Chuchu, Maziriri & Madinga, 2020). Studies that investigated visitor attitudes (Patroni, Day, Lee, Chan, Kim, Kerr, Newson & Simpson, 2018; Simpson, Newsome & Day, 2016) established that visitor attitudes as closely associated with place attachment. Tourists' attitudes (affective, cognitive, and behavioural) are directly influenced by the surrounding environment (Patroni et al., 2018). Therefore, these attitudes are a direct antecedent or precursor to intention (Patroni et al., 2018). Local tourism in South Africa has not received sufficient attention in terms of development and allocation of resources and therefore needs support from cities, provinces, and private companies (South Africa Tourism http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 18, No. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 4 Review, 2015). Destination image is considered a prominent challenge in tourism research (Nicoletta & Servidio, 2012). Hosany, Ekinci, and Uysal (2006) consider destination image to consist of tourists' beliefs, ideas, and perceptions toward a travel destination. Furthermore, destination image influences tourists' travel behaviour and decisions (Chuchu, Chiliya & Chinomona, 2018; Zhang, Fu, Cai & Lu, 2014). Also, destinations are noted as essential to tourism and travel; however, they are difficult to promote and manage (Stanković & Đukić, 2009). This statement was supported by Stepchenkova and Mills (2010), who suggested that assessing destination image is a complex process as it is subjective and open to interpretation. The motivation for the present research emerged from the need to investigate perceptions of local tourists toward domestic tourism. The South Africa Tourism Review (2015) stated that marketing local destinations to local residents is a major undertaking due to numerous problems that include economic challenges in South Africa. Additional problems faced by tourism in South Africa include travel visas, immigration regulations, and safety concerns (South Africa Tourism Review, 2015). Literature review and theoretical underpinning Destination image theory According to Beerli and Martin (2004), destination image is a topic that has become popular in academia. Image has been a crucial impact on the selection of holiday destinations (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999). “Destination image theory in tourism research was used to describe an induced-organic image dualism” (Gunn, 1972:1; Hunter, 2013:101). Hunter (2013) states, "recognizing that induced and organic image perspectives might be mutually independent, the theory was refined into a set of three constructs," which include:  Destination imagery which refers to the tourist landscape and its material objects and experiences (Hunter, 2013);  Perceived destination image when exposed to destination imagery; http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 18, No. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 5  Projected destination image as the purposive generation and packaging of imagery in print and electronic forms for marketing or commentary (Pritchard & Morgan, 2001; Hunter, 2013). Local tourists’ attitudes toward tourism Tourists attitudes towards a destination or attraction site have been discussed by numerous scholars (Ceurvorst & Lamborn, 2018; Vecco, Srakar & Piazzai, 2017; Simpson, Newsome & Day, 2016). If the attitude towards behaviour is encouraging, the individual’s willingness to engage in a particular behaviour rises (Ajzen, 1991; Govender, Chiliya, Chuchu, Maziriri & Ndoro, 2020). Intention to revisit a tourism destination explores a traveller's willingness to repeat visit the same place repeatedly (Stylos, Vassiliadis, Bellou & Andronikidis, 2016). Community attachment is known to drive local residents’ support for sustainable tourism (Lee, 2013). It can, therefore, not be denied that the tourism industry globally experiences major developments due to the impact that locals have made (Harun, Chiciudean, Sirwan, Arion & Muresan, 2018). The local residents' attitude is an essential element in successfully implementing tourism planning, management, and growth of a travel and holiday destination (Harun et al., 2018). Consumers' attitudes are generally motivated by experiencs associated with the services and products they buy (de Villiers, Chinomona & Chuchu, 2018). Visitor attitudes are directly influenced by miles (the distance that the visitors have to travel), place identity, place attachment (dependence), motorised access, and the environmental and economic impact made by the attraction site (Ceurvorst & Lamborn, 2018). This, therefore, suggests that visitor attitudes are somewhat dependent on convenience and accessibility to the attraction site. Visitors’ attitudes towards visiting an attraction or museum are positive if they anticipate the museum would sell or lose its artifacts (Vecco et al., 2017). In other words, this means that visitors are more likely to visit places or want to see something they feel will not http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 18, No. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 6 remain in existence for a long time. Local tourists’ attitudes influence their overall image perception of a destination (Lita, Surya, Ma’Ruf, & Syahrul, 2014). Also, the overall image of a destination that tourists hold directly leads to visit intention, word-of-mouth, and willingness to pay for services (Lita et al., 2014). Like any other tourists, local tourists prioritise accommodation, environment, transportation, and restaurants (Al Najdawi, Khaleefah, Shatnawi & Al Momani, 2017). It is, therefore, imperative that these conditions are met for successful local tourism to be achieved. The following section shows an illustration of the study’s proposed conceptual model. Conceptual model and hypothesis formulation Figure 1 illustrates the conceptual model reflecting the distinct paths and connections between the constructs under investigation. The subsequent sections then provide the formulation of the hypotheses for the present research. Figure 1: Conceptual Model Hypothesis formulation Destination image and local tourists’ willingness to visit a destination Past researchers have investigated the determinants that influence local residents' perceptions of the impacts resulting from large-scale events or developments in their http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 18, No. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 7 communities. Sociocultural impacts (Brunt & Courtney, 1999); socio-demographics (Williams & Lawson, 2001); and culture (Besculides, Lee, & McCormick, 2002), are some of the factors that have been examined. Since positive and negative impacts are likely to result, large-scale ventures should be undertaken through local enterprises and consistent with the values of host communities (Brunt & Courtney, 1999; Williams & Lawson, 2001; Besculides, Lee & McCormick, 2002; Duffield & Long, 1981). Perceptions are closely linked to the outward behaviour of people. If an individual has a positive perception of tourism, they will support tourism activities. Likewise, when local residents perceive tourism positively, they are likely to display a positive attitude towards tourists, which will lead to tourists having a favourable image of the destination, and tourists will be willing to visit and revisit the destination. H1: Destination image has a direct and positive relationship with local tourists’ willingness to visit a destination. Destination image and local residents’ attitudes towards tourism Engagement from the community is critical for tourism initiatives (Mokoena, Dhurup, et al., 2016; Thomas, 2013). In order for successful sustainable development in tourism to occur, the attitude of residents is an important predictor. For a tourism destination to be successfully managed, the attitudes of local residents are of the utmost importance. (Wang & Pfister, 2008; Rastegar, 2010; Sharma & Dyer, 2009; Mokoena, Dhurup & Surujlal, 2016). Since perceptions determine an individual’s behaviour towards an object or situation, if local residents have positive perceptions towards tourism, these perceptions will positively influence their attitudes and actions towards tourism. On the other hand, if local residents have negative perceptions towards tourism, they are most likely to reject tourism developmental plans and activities. Local residents may also act negatively towards tourists. The consequences of negative behaviour displayed may have detrimental effects on the local economy, as tourists may not revisit the destination or publicly share their negative experiences. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 18, No. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 8 H2: Destination image is directly and positively related to local residents’ attitudes towards tourism. Attitudes of local residents towards tourism and local tourists’ willingness to visit a destination According to Mbaiwa and Stronza (2008:1950), "the value local people place on tourists' visits was used as an indicator to measure attitudes of residents in study villages towards tourism development. Results indicate that a total of 94.4% of the households noted that they are happy to see tourists visiting the Okavango Delta. They support tourist visits because tourists bring income to their villages; tourists' visits promote rural development like the creation of roads; creation of employment opportunities; and tourists buy their crafts" (Mbaiwa & Stronza, 2008). Gursoy, Chi, and Dyer (2010) found that over time, the attitudes and perceptions of residents’ relative to tourism must be monitored and assessed as these attitudes may change. The behaviour that residents display towards tourists is a major contributing factor to tourists' willingness to visit a destination. If tourists feel uncomfortable, they will likely have a negative perception of the destination. It is also likely that tourists will spread negative information about the destination, which will lead to a decline in tourism. Declining tourism may have detrimental effects on a destination, and the most important effect is that tourism activities may not contribute to the local economy. Generally, tourists can spend more money at a destination when compared to local residents. The local economic boost may become non- existent from a lack of tourist activities. Thus, marketers must aim to have the full support from local residents for tourism-based activities. H3: Attitudes of local residents towards tourism has a positive relationship with local tourists’ willingness to visit a destination. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 18, No. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 9 Research methodology The research philosophy for this study was positivism. Hence, the study embraced a quantitative approach. Quantitative research is based on a positivist paradigm of measuring variables (Rahman, 2016). Therefore, a quantitative research approach was used for this study. The design was suitable for requesting the information concerning destination image, local tourists' willingness to visit a destination, and local residents' attitudes towards tourism. Due to the difficulty of obtaining a sampling frame consisting purely of participants identified as Johannesburg residents, convenience sampling was used. The target population was respondents who resided in Johannesburg and identified themselves as locals of the city. As a result, 270 willing participants identified as Johannesburg residents were intercepted in Braamfontein, a busy business district of Johannesburg. After data collection, the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 25, was utilised for calculating descriptive statistics. In terms of hypothesis testing, the Analysis of moment structures (AMOS) version 25 was used. Measurement instrument and questionnaire design All the constructs in this paper, except for the respondents ' demographic profile, were measured on a Likert rating scale of five points with endpoints of strongly disagree (1) and strongly agree (5). The multi-items were adopted from past investigations and modified to fit the setting of the present examination. The scale sources, scale items utilised, and Cronbach's alpha values for the scales are demonstrated in Table 1. Table 1: Measurement scales and their sources Construct and source Description Destination image: As adapted from Stylos et al. (2016)  Cape Town is one of my top choices for a holiday destination.  Local residents of Cape Town are hospitable.  Cape Town is clean.  Robben Island is a site I would visit when I am in Cape Town. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 18, No. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 10  I consider Robben Island a tourist destination that every tourist should visit. Local tourists’ willingness to visit a destination: As adapted from Stylos et al. (2016)  Tourists enjoy visiting Cape Town because of the many tourist destinations.  Tourists visit Robben Island because they want to experience South Africa’s heritage.  Cape Town has many different types of cuisine that caters to a variety of tourists.  Cape Town has world class accommodation that make tourists’ visits a pleasurable one.  Robben Island is a tourist destination that attracts tourists to Cape Town. Local residents’ attitudes towards tourism: As adapted from Lepp (2007)  Cape Town has great potential for tourism.  The impact of increased tourism affects my daily routine.  The impact of increased tourism affects my quality of life.  Tourism creates jobs within the community.  I enjoy interacting with tourists. Ethical considerations Permission was conceded by the deputy registrar of the University of the Witwatersrand. The researchers acquired the permission letter which permitted them to gather data from the respondents. Ethical clearance approval was confirmed, and this study acted as per the ethical benchmarks of scholastic research, which incorporate, in addition to other things, protecting the identities of respondents and guaranteeing secrecy of data given by the respondents. Data analysis Data were analysed using the Social Sciences Statistical Package (version 25.0) for descriptive statistics, while model fit and path modelling were carried out using a statistical software called AMOS (version 25.0). The next section contains the descriptive statistics related to the profile of the respondents. Research Results Demographic profile summary http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 18, No. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 11 Table 2 demonstrates the participants’ representation. It is observed that male and female participants were fairly distributed to a large extent, while 18 to 25-year olds across the genders were overwhelmingly the largest group of participants accounting for 60% of the sample. Most participants had undergraduate qualifications. This was about 44% of the sample, while the other five qualifications accounted for the remaining 56% of the sample collectively. Furthermore, about 57 % of the participants had been to Cape Town physically, while about 42% of participants indicated that they knew about Cape Town and its tourist attractions but only through popular media. Robben Island, one of Cape Town's most distinguished and popular attractions sites, was also part of the profiling for the study. About 70% of the participants admitted that they had not physically set foot on the island even though all the participants admitted to being fully knowledgeable and aware of the place. Table 2: Sample Profile Gender Frequency Percentage Male 127 47.0 % Female 142 52.6 % Not Specified 1 0.4 % Total 270 100 % Age Frequency Percentage 18-25 182 67.4 % 26-35 61 22.6 % 36-45 19 7.0 % 46-55 6 2.2 % 55+ 2 0.7 % Total 270 100 % Level of Study Frequency Percentage High school certificate 42 15.6 % Post-high school certificate 19 7.0 % Diploma 20 7.4 % Undergraduate 119 44.1 % Postgraduate 67 24.8 % Other 3 1.1 % Total 270 100 % Residential Environment Frequency Percentage Township 63 23.3 % Urban City 56 20.7 % Suburb 142 52.6 % Other 9 3.3 % http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 18, No. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 12 Total 270 100 % Have you visited/ lived in Cape Town Frequency Percentage Yes 156 57.8 % No 114 42.2 % Total 270 100 % Have you visited Robben Island? Frequency Percentage Yes 79 29.3 % No 191 70.7 % Total 270 100.0 The following section explores the model fit assessment for the study. This model fit is presented in Table 3. Table 3: Model Fit Results Model fit criteria Chi- square (χ2 /DF) CFI GFI NFI IFI TLI RMSEA Indicator value 1,499 0,975 0,931 0,931 0,976 0,965 0,043 Key: CFI: Comparative Fit Index; GFI: Goodness of fit index; NFI: Normed Fit index; RFI; Relative Fit Index; IFI: Incremental Fit Index; TLI: Tucker Lewis Index; RMSEA: Root Measure Standard Error Approximation Psychometric properties of measurement scales The assessment of the measurement scales' psychometric characteristics was performed through a CFA to determine the construct's reliability, validity, and model fit. Table 4 presents the outcomes of the CFA assessment. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 18, No. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 13 Table 4: Psychometric properties of measurement scales Research constructs Mean Value Cronbach’s test CR AVE Factor loadings Item total α DI DI1 2.315 0.619 0.807 0.834 0.515 0.678 DI2 2.604 0.454 0.550 DI3 2.278 0.592 0.678 DI4 2.081 0.661 0.686 DI5 2.026 0.658 0.749 ATT ATT 1 2.841 0.281 0.701 0.723 0.595 0.592 ATT 2 2.348 0.315 0.550 ATT 3 2.011 0.576 0.761 ATT 4 2.015 0.636 0.856 ATT 5 2.144 0.493 0.750 TWV TWV1 1.952 0.737 0.879 0.8983 0.521 0.815 TWV2 2.067 0.709 0.738 TWV3 2.137 0.716 0.757 TWV4 2.052 0.705 0.854 TWV4 1.981 0.697 0.710 Note: DI = Destination image, ATT = Attitudes of local residents towards tourism, LTWV = Local tourists’ willingness to visit a destination; SD= Standard Deviation; CR= Composite Reliability; AVE = Average Variance Extracted. According to Nunnally (1978), a measure's reliability is supported if Cronbach's Alpha is 0.7 or higher. The results, provided in Table 4, show that the Cronbach's Alpha value for each research variable was DI=0.807, ATT=0.701, and, for TWV=0.879. Cronbach’s Alpha scores indicate that each construct exhibits strong internal reliability (Lee, 2009). Since the Cronbach’s Alpha values of the constructs exceeded the recommended 0.70, this shows that all the variables were reasonably reliable. Table 4 shows the loading of each item on their construct. The lowest value for each respective item loading for the research constructs is 0.550; all the individual item loadings exceed the recommended value of 0.5 (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988). This indicates that all the measurement instruments are acceptable and reliable since all the individual items converged well, and more than 50% of each item's variance was shared with its respective construct (Fraering & Minor, 2006). CR and AVE for each construct were also computed and assessed to determine if they http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 18, No. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 14 met the required thresholds for reliability and validity. As per the results shown in Table 5, the lowest CR value (0.721) is well above the recommended 0.6 (Hulland, 1999), while the lowest obtained AVE value (0.416) is above the recommended 0.4 (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988). This indicates that convergent validity was achieved, further confirming the measurement instruments' excellent internal consistency and reliability. By and large, these results provided evidence for acceptable levels of research scale reliability" (Chinomona & Chinomona, 2013). According to Field (2013), discriminant validity refers to items measuring different concepts. Table 5, the Correlation Matrix, presents the results of the discriminant validity analysis. As depicted in Table 5, all the correlation coefficients of this study fell below 0.70, thereby confirming the theoretical uniqueness of each variable in this research (Field, 2013). Table 5: Correlation Matrix DI ATT LTWV DI 1 0.559** 0.639** ATT 0.559** 1 0.649** LTWV 0.639** 0.649** 1 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). DI; Destination image, ATT; Attitudes of local residents towards tourism, LTWV; Local tourists’ willingness to visit a destination, Model fit analysis According to Anderson and Gerbing (1988), model fit analysis is a process that assesses how well the model represents the data. In this study, model fit was tested by using the following indices: Chi-square/degrees of freedom, comparative fit index (CFI), incremental fit index (IFI), Tucker-Lewis index (TLI), normative fit index (NFI), goodness of fit (GFI) and random measure of standard error approximation (RMSEA). The acceptable thresholds should be equal to or higher than 0.90 for CFI, IFI, RFI, NFI, GFI and AGFI. For Chi-square/degrees of freedom, a ratio of 3:1 or less is recommended and RMSEA value should be equal to or less than 0.08 (Lysons & Farrington, 2012). The general model fit indices are presented in table 6. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 18, No. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 15 Table 6: Model fit statistics Fit indices Acceptable fit indices Measurement model fit Chi-square/degree of freedom (df) <3.0 1,499 Incremental fit index (IFI > 0.90 0,976 Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) > 0.90 0,965 Comparative fit index (CFI) > 0.90 0,975 Normative fit index (NFI) > 0.90 0,931 Goodness of fit (GFI) > 0.90 0,931 Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) < 0.08 0,043 The following section presents the results of hypothesis testing, first, the structural model (Figure 2) depicting outcomes of relationships and second, the hypothesis table results (Table 7). Figure 2: Structural Model DI; Destination image, ATT; Attitudes of local residents towards tourism, LTWV; Tourists’ willingness to visit a destination http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 18, No. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 16 Table 7: Hypotheses Results Proposed Hypothesis Estimate P Value Outcome DI ATT H1 0.31 *** Supported and significant @ p<0.01 DI LTWV H2 0.55 *** Supported and significant @ p<0.01 ATT LTWV H3 0.54 *** Supported and significant @ p<0.01 DI; Destination image, ATT; Attitudes of local residents towards tourism, LTWV; Local tourists’ willingness to visit a destination, *** = p<0.01 Discussion As observed in Table 7 above, all the proposed hypotheses are supported and significant. The first hypothesis (Destination image directly leads to attitudes of local residents towards tourism) was found to be both supported and significant at p<0.01 as indicated by ***. This finding suggests that the more positive a destination’s image is, the higher the likelihood of it positively influencing locals' attitudes towards tourism. The implication is that tourism marketers should increase efforts to project as much of a positive image of a destination as possible to persuade local tourists to visit domestic attraction sights. The second hypothesis was Destination image directly and positively influences local tourists’ willingness to visit a destination. This relationship is also supported and significant. This meant that the likelihood of local tourists engaging in domestic tourism is dependent on how they perceived the destination. It should also be noted that this relationship was the strongest of all relationships with an estimate of 0.55. Last, the third hypothesis was Attitudes of local residents towards tourism and local tourists' willingness to visit destinations. This relationship was found to be both supported and significant, as it had an estimate of 0.54. This finding suggested that if attitudes towards domestic tourism were positive, locals' likelihood of engaging in local tourism would also be higher. The implication is that players in the Cape Town tourism space are tasked with ensuring that they reinforce positive elements about the http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 18, No. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 17 city so that prospective local tourists maintain positive attitudes toward tourism in Cape Town. The following section details the managerial implications that emerged from the findings. Managerial implications of the study Managerial implications of the study suggest that destination marketing organisations (DMOs) responsible for promoting Cape Town as a tourist attraction should invest in finding ways of making the experiences at the city more relevant to the local audience. This is because, based on the study's results, the association between destination image and local tourists' willingness to visit Cape Town was very low, as indicated by an estimate of 0.31. In fact, of all the associations, this was the weakest. In other words, the implication is that local tourists in South Africa did not generally identify with the destination. An opportunity, therefore, arises for DMOs in Cape Town and South Africa, at large, to make use of local and cultural messaging in their marketing campaigns. This, therefore, means that when Cape Town is being advertised to local tourists, the audience must feel the communication "speaks to them." This would mean the increased use of the vernacular (local language) to which the tourists can relate. The campaigns could also utilise diversity, reflecting the demographics of the country as this would help the local tourists “see themselves” in the advertising. Another important managerial implication arising from the study's findings is that tourism organisations, particularly the local Cape Town Tourism Authority, should make increased efforts in improving the image of the city as a desirable travel destination. This is because participants in the research closely associated destination image with attitudes towards local tourism. In other words, this was the strongest of all the relationships in the conceptual model as indicated by the estimate of 0.55. Improving destination image could involve making concerted efforts in curbing crime, substance abuse, and other social ills that might project a negative image of the destination. The implication is that the Cape Town Tourism Authority would have to partner and support Non-Governmental Organisations that work in its http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 18, No. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 18 communities and invest more in social programmes that prevent anti-social behaviour, especially with the youth. Conclusions The present study sought to investigate local tourists' perceptions of Cape Town as a travel and holiday destination. It was found that destination image and attitudes of locals towards tourism both influenced the local tourists’ willingness to visit destinations, in this case, Cape Town. However, the study also highlighted the challenges South African Tourism has faced and, most notably, the difficulty in marketing destinations domestically. The following section discusses the recommendations and provides suggestions for future research emerging from the study's findings. Recommendations and suggestions for future research Like any study, this research faced challenges that could be addressed in additional research in the area. First, this study assessed local residents of South Africa’s perceptions towards one of its key travel destinations, Cape Town. In terms of the project's practicality, fieldwork involved intercepting local tourists in Johannesburg who stated that they had visited Cape Town in the past. This was due to financial and logistical challenges. It would be interesting for further research to investigate perceptions toward Cape Town with participants who are actually experiencing Cape Town at the moment of data collection. This would allow the participants to use all five senses (i.e., sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound) when answering a survey on their tourist experiences in Cape Town. Their feedback could be more relevant as this would be a more precise measurement of the emotions and perceptions of the local tourists. Theoretically, adjustments to the conceptual model may be recommended, for example, a change in causality. Therefore, this means that instead of testing the influence of local tourists' attitudes on their willingness to visit destinations, further research could test the alternative. http://ertr.tamu.edu/ e-Review of Tourism Research (eRTR), Vol. 18, No. 1, 2020 http://ertr.tamu.edu 19 This means that the research would now test whether tourists' willingness to visit destinations would directly influence their attitudes towards tourism in general. Modifications to the conceptual model could include additional constructs that were not part of the study in question, for instance, revisit intention. It is probably important to know if these local tourists would be willing to revisit Cape Town, based on their experiences there or not. 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