Peripheral Tourism Trajectories: Evidence From the King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality, South Africa

Abstract

Ge eo oJ Jo ou ur rn na al l o of f T To ou ur ri is sm m a an nd d G Ge eo os si it te es s Year X XI II I, vol. 26, no. 3

Using Municipal Tourism Assets for Leveraging Local Economic Development in South Africa

“…Overall, Mthatha might be described as one of many South African localities which in terms of the recent trajectory of national development to a large extent have been 'left behind' or are 'places that don't matter' . In the wake of the fragile state of the municipal economy the making of place-based initiatives is therefore essential (Rogerson, 2019c). Nevertheless, the capacity for evolving such initiatives is con- Fig.…”

“…Tourism has been recorded in the area of what is now KSD municipality as far back as the 19 th century (Rogerson, 2019c). Spatially, the contemporary tourism economy in the municipality exhibits two distinct clusters namely that around Mthatha dominated by business tourism and a second focused upon the coastal node of Coffee Bay and firmly anchored on leisure tourism.…”

“…It is evident that during a period marked by a considerable expansion as a whole of the tourism economy for South Africa the performance of the local tourism sector of KSDM was poor. Between 2001 and 2018 the total number of tourist trips to KSDM fell from 250 000 trips in 2001 to 152 000 by 2018 with the most rapid decline occurring since the 2008 financial crisis and the subsequent impact of recession and stagnation of South Africa's national economy (Rogerson, 2019c). By comparison to the contribution of tourism to the GDP of Eastern Cape Province and to South Africa as a whole, the tourism economy of KSDM is 'underperforming'.…”

Tourism as a Vehicle for Local Economic Development in Small Towns? When Things Go Wrong: The Case of Aliwal North, South Africa

“…They claim that national government initiates economic development through targeted policy interventions and infrastructural developments but conclude that in practice it is the private sector that is responsible for delivering economic growth and poverty alleviation in a locality (Reddy & Wallis, 2012). This practice, noted by Reddy and Wallis, represents a market-led approach to LED and has been the reality of many African countries, including South Africa (Reddy & Wallis, 2012;Rogerson, 2014Rogerson, , 2019aRogerson, , 2019b.…”

“…Tourism has become one of the fastest growing and largest economic sectors globally (Sharpley & Harrison, 2019). It has furthermore been associated with the creation of jobs and economic revitalisation of localities facing stagnation (Binns & Nel, 2002;Meyer & Meyer, 2015;Rogerson, 2019a). A significant number of destinations worldwide, including South Africa, have realised tourism's potential as a driver of socioeconomic progress (Brida & Pulina, 2010), which has been recognised in a range of policy documents (Republic of South Africa, 2010Africa, , 2017.…”