A 'Rite of Passage' Youth Festival in South Africa: The Origins, Attendees and Organization of Matric Vac

Abstract

Festival tourism studies are dominated by works relating to North America, Europe and Australia. This paper examines an aspect of festival tourism in the setting of the global South. One rising destination for hosting an array of cultural and other festivals linked to local economic and community development is South Africa The specific objectives of this article are to provide an exploratory analysis of the origins, organization and attendees of one particular South African rite of passage youth festival, namely the matriculation vacation or ‘matric vac’. This annual post-school rite of passage festival parallels other youth tourism festivals occurring in USA and Australia. It is shown this festival is a post-school rite of passage for mainly affluent, white youth in South Africa and focused geographically at a small number of coastal destinations where common themes are the provision of beach entertainment, organized parties, night clubbing and live music acts. Of significance are seemingly important differences between the organizational dynamics of this South African youth festival as compared to Schoolies Week in Australia or Spring Break in USA. The local South African festival organizers have introduced several mitigation or containment strategies in order to ensure maximum safety and security of attendees as well as to counter any potential resident resistance towards the hosting of such local events.