Putting money together: How tourism stokvels can improve living standards in South Africa

Resumo

The Stokvel system is a leading strategy for poverty alleviation in South Africa. It has the potential to transform the tourism industry and provide much-needed funding to small, medium and micro tourism enterprises. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, investment is slow in the tourism industry, and therefore stokvels are investigated as an alternative source of financing `by the people for the people'. Tourism stokvel investment is postulated as an alternative form of investment for tourism transformation through employment opportunities and poverty reduction efforts in destinations. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate how the dimensions of tourism stokvel social entrepreneurship significantly mediate the relationship between dimensions of tourism stokvel investment and dimensions of tourism social transformation. Quantitative data were collected from 201 respondents across SA using a self-administered online questionnaire. Through structural equation modelling the results of the mediation analysis controlling for Opportunity, Social Capital, Economic Development and Improved Living Standards indicated the existence of two mediation models. Opportunities exist for tourism investors and stokvel members to support small, medium and micro tourism enterprises through social capital and to stimulate economic development to improve the living standards of South Africans.