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Tourism as a local development strategy in South Africa
Author(s) -
Binns Tony,
Nel Etienne
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
geographical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.071
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1475-4959
pISSN - 0016-7398
DOI - 10.1111/1475-4959.00051
Subject(s) - tourism , poverty , economic growth , context (archaeology) , local economic development , development economics , resource (disambiguation) , promotion (chess) , local government , ecotourism , government (linguistics) , inequality , tourism geography , political science , geography , economics , politics , archaeology , computer network , mathematical analysis , linguistics , philosophy , mathematics , public administration , computer science , law
The promotion of tourism has been identified as a key strategy that can lead to economic upliftment, community development and poverty relief in the developing world. In the last few years, tourism has also emerged as a significant development option in post–apartheid South Africa. In the context of some current debates on tourism in poor countries, the paper examines how economic, social and environmental resources are being utilized to promote tourism as a local economic development strategy in South Africa, and more specifically it focuses on current local government endeavours in this regard and two communities that have suffered the loss of their economic resource base. Tourism–based development initiatives, one in KwaZulu–Natal and one in the Western Cape, are evaluated in the context of generating economic growth, alleviating poverty and addressing the apartheid legacy of discrimination and inequality. The significance of the dynamics of development processes involved in these initiatives has much wider relevance for local economic development, both within South Africa and elsewhere.