South Africa Hotel Guide to SA Hotel Board (official body) graded Hotels, 1975, softcover, landscape format, 262 pages, landscape format, 23 cms x 14.1 cms x 1.4 cms, condition; very good
In the 1960s and 1970s, the South African government had a clear strategy: promote tourism and develop stunning new hotels.
The goal?
-improve South Africas international reputation
-gain global acceptance of its apartheid policies
-and of course get some tourist money flowing into the economy
Tourist attractions and beautiful hotels painted a picture of South Africa that was incredibly far removed from the dark realities of apartheid. And so a careful crafting of the countrys image took place a strategic move at a time when South Africas international reputation was increasingly under fire from the very countries they were trying to get tourists from.
Even though they were pretty slow to act, countries in the West were starting to publicly oppose the regime and impose economic sanctions on South Africa.Lovely new hotels acted as a smokescreen, masking the brutal realities of apartheid behind a shiny veneer of luxury and hospitality. Inviting tourists into these spaces, the apartheid government was hoping to lure foreign tourists and investors, all while hiding the systemic injustices happening within the country.
Almost all South Africas newly developed hotels from the mid-1960s onwards were intended for and accessible to white guests only. And then theres the fact that most South African hotels during this time by design and legislation were racially segregated spaces. Every single hotel developed during the apartheid era had to adhere to apartheid laws. This meant that the many new hotels popping up across the coast and cities in South Africa were built for, and accessible only to white patrons.The iconic Beverly Hills Hotel in Durban and Sun City Resort are examples of some of the hotels built back then that are still around now. (africanstaysdotcom)
