Tourism Strategies and Local Responses in Southern Africa

Tourism growth is one of the primary drivers of economic development and is a core strategy at local and national levels to improve the lives of local communities. However, tourism can bring both advantages and disadvantages to communities and not all national strategies are applicable or suitable at the grassroots level of tourism management in private, community-based and public sectors. Tourism is used as a main instrument of nation building in many postcolonial countries such as Namibia, South Africa, Botswana and Madagascar. Using case studies from these areas, this book examines the strategic objectives for tourism growth and how nationally-set objectives such as economic growth, increased employment, poverty reduction, black economic empowerment, environmental sustainability and reduction of regional inequalities work at the grassroots level. This book will challenge ongoing practices and provide new innovations for tourism development applicable to other developing countries.