Guest Houses, Drought and Water Management Strategies in the Cape Winelands, South Africa

Tourism is a dynamic system essentially connected to all aspects of human and natural environments. Among these tourism systems and products, providers of tourist accommodation stand out. Within this context, water provision is crucial for tourist accommodation. Unfortunately, climate variability, and therefore, water availability, can and does impact tourism systems and tourism products, perhaps disproportionately so. In South Africa generally, and in an established tourism destination region such as the Cape Winelands in particular, guest houses are key role-players in the tourist industry. Nonetheless, from 2015 to 2018, this destination region experienced a crippling long-lasting drought, leading to fears of an imminent “Day Zero” – a point at which taps run dry. This would have been calamitous for tourism. To avert this, various water management strategies were implemented by Stellenbosch guest houses – the focal point of the Cape Winelands tourism region – to cope with and adapt to the drought. This study sought to examine the water management strategies manifested in the study region. It is concluded that various strategies were followed, and some appear to be permanent, rather than once-off responses. While these strategies might lead to more responsible water management strategies in tourist accommodation going forward, it appears that adopting sustainable water use practices was only done under duress and serious resistance from some guests resulted. It may be that water supply augmentation is the only way to preserve the tourism industry.