Community-based Sustainable Tourism on Commonages : an Alternative to Traditional Land Reform in Namaqualand, Northern Cape Province
Keywords:
Tourism, land reform, sustainable development, land redistribution, sustainable tourism, ecotourism, South Africa, Brazil, Namibia, ZimbabweSynopsis
Since 1994, the South African Government has developed two strategic policies that embrace the principles of sustainable development: Tourism and Land Reform. Both policies seek redress and economic development for previously disadvantaged black people, but both policies were not integrated to form part of a sustainable development strategy for communities. In terms of the land redistribution programme (as one leg of the land reform programme), the commonage sub-programme has primarily advocated an agrarian style development despite the decline in contribution of agriculture to the Gross Domestic Product. By promoting one development option, other livelihood opportunities such as tourism have not been explored. The White Paper on Tourism (1996) has also recognised the limited integration of local communities and previously neglected groups as an impediment to sustainable tourism development in South Africa. The aim of this study is to provide integrated planning guidelines for sustainable tourism development for commonages in Namaqualand. The study poses the question: What role could sustainable tourism play in commonage projects? In an attempt to fulfil the aim of the study and answer the research question, nine objectives were devised to guide the direction of the study. The objectives primarily focussed on conceptualising land redistribution and sustainable tourism through various local and international case studies in order to draw commonalities and identify negative and positive impacts of these approaches. ln so doing, the sustainability of a purely agrarian focus of land reform policies across the global spectrum was brought into question.
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