Developing community-based tourism in South Africa: Addressing the missing link

Abstract

Tourism has been widely proposed as a tool contributing to development. Community-based tourism (CBT) has been specifically recognised as a tourism development approach aimed at facilitating the development of disadvantaged communities. However, realising this potential is often difficult and it may additionally be jeopardised by the lack of specific structures intended to facilitate the CBT development process. Moreover, government entities should be the protagonists in facilitating CBT development. The aim of this paper is to draw attention to a possible gap between policies and practice in order to more effectively facilitate CBT development for the benefit of disadvantaged communities in South Africa. While CBT organisations operate in various parts of the world, South Africa lacks this structure. This paper, therefore, proposes a specific structure, to fill the gap between policies and practices in the facilitation of CBT development.

Keywords: Community-based tourism; community development, Southern Africa, tourism, South Africa.