Interim Report of the Factors Influencing the Success of Community Tourism in South Africa

Tourism has become a commercial business, which has obvious benefits to the said economy, the environment and society. Often, the positive economic impacts persuade governments, companies and individuals to get involved with the development of tourism. Tourism creates jobs, both

Dr. O. P. Kandari and Ashish Chandra (2004) worked on “Tourism Development Principles and Practices . He noted that planning and assessment are important parts of sustainable development of tourism. He focused on issues of tourism development, particularly from economic, ethnic and environmental perspectives and also explained the Goals and strategies for effective tourism practices, I identified and key issues of carrying capacity and community participation. He also stated that role of tourism in rural development is fundamentally an economic one and can help to sustain and improve the quality of life in rural areas. M.A. Khan (2005) „Principles of Tourism Development which deals with hotel industry and

Making tourism more sustainable is not just about controlling and managing the negative impacts of the industry. Tourism is in a very special position to benefit local communities, economically and socially, and to raise awareness and support for conservation of the environment.

Tourism has always been apart of us in different ways, shapes, and forms. It has greatly evolved due to technology and transportation advances, which have made traveling efficient and quick and given us the proper resources to be prepared prior to “adventuring” away from home.

Moreover, tourism and the environment are balancing sectors in terms of vision and goals. The environment is the right climate for sustainable tourism development, and sustainable tourism focuses on environmental planning. Perhaps the most important element on which eco-tourism is based is not to disturb the ecological balance resulting from human actions, which are represented by the behavior of tourists in the case of ecotourism and the pollution it may cause. In addition, natural areas form the basis for ecotourism from marine tourism and land tourism, and recent studies have shown that eco-tourism generates direct financial resources. What is more, the main objective of ecotourism is to promote and improve the standards of living of the local community (Kuhdairi, 2012)

Tourism plays a significant role in sustainable development and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Tourism Organization (WTO) wish to encourage all countries to make sure that their policies and actions for its development and management fully embrace the principles of sustainability. Likewise, policies to promote sustainable development should take full account of the opportunities offered by tourism. Various international conventions and declarations have put forward principles and guidelines for sustainable tourism and the importance of tourism and its sustainability was underlined at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development. Many countries declare that they are pursuing, or wish to pursue, policies for ‘sustainable tourism’. Despite this interest, there remains a degree of uncertainty over the scope and priorities for making tourism more sustainable and only partial appreciation of how to put this into practice (Making Tourism More Sustainable, 2005).

The tourism industry is one that generally looks to dominates places where there is poverty and the economy is not very strong (Gentry 2007). This is because, in order to really have a successful resort for example, it is key that one, there is cheap labour, two, not very much taxes and three, low government regulation. This is because with these things in place, it becomes very easy for foreigners with not much money to come in and feel and be treated as kings. This concept and belief, is what has been a major contributor as to why people choose to leave their "9 to 5 's", and go on vacation. With this in mind, it has resulted in major changes on how we see work, and not just for ourselves but for the people working at and around the resorts we tour at.

This chapter will present the studies related to growth and development of the tourism industry which is pro-poor tourism. The review of the literature for this study focuses on benefits, image-building and pro-poor tourism itself. An extensive literature review has been conducted in order to shed some light on the various sectors and concepts which may influence these phenomena called pro-poor tourism. It discussed recent trends within the pro-poor that support the growth and development of tourism. This examined the perceived benefits of tourism to the poor community and how image-building help to give poor communities some benefits.

Rhetorically sensitive fund-raisers may present the exigence and constraints to their audience. In the case of ecotourism, the audience consists of foreign tourists who bring new money to circulate throughout the struggling South African communities. If leaders do not make a convincing

Due to the importance of tourism to the economy of Australia, it is essential that the stakeholders ensure sustainability in tourism, leisure and event management to promote the sector. Good tourism policies, efficient relationship between the sector and the local community as well as environment conservation policies should be enhanced to boost this vital sector. This report aims at highlighting the need for sustainability in tourism, leisure and event management the South Bank in Australia.

The concept grew out of dissatisfaction with entrenched policies of continuous economic growth and unequal distribution of benefits and costs ( Bramwell and Lane, 1993; Hardy, Beeton, and Pearson,2002). Similarly, sustainable development for tourism industry is found to be difficult to define( Swarbrooke,1999), The term could be defined as a form of tourism sustained over a period time(Butler,1999). Accordingly, tourism industry that meets the needs of today’s tourists without taking away from the future generations the resource necessary to fulfill their own needs. Thus, the controversy exists over a definition for sustainable tourism development.

Most countries in the world rely on tourism to help their economy. The tourism sector is expanding at a fast pace, which results in creating more job opportunities, monetary improvement, external transaction and foreign investment. “When there is large contrast between the culture of the receiving society and the origin culture, then it is likely that the impacts will be greatest’’. (Burns and Holden, 1995). The socio-cultural impacts of tourism are the effects on regional society of having direct and indirect relations with the tourist and its management. There is a variation that occur in the structure of society, expression & style, custom and ethics, heritage; as a visitor takes back some of the new habits, a way of life when they

The Travel and Tourism industry is still one of the largest single businesses in world commerce and its importance is widely recognized. The tourism industry is now one of the largest sectors earning foreign exchange. In the face of many benefits, many countries have started assigning due weight age to the tourism industry in their national development agenda. Tourism is an industry that operates on a massively broad scale: it embraces activities ranging from the smallest sea-side hotel; to air-lines, multi-national hotel chains and major international tour operators. Originally, non-traditional industries such as tourism emerged as a solution to strike a balance between ecology and industry

Eco tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in the South Africa. The members of the tourism industry have the social and economic responsibilities towards the society. Experience tourism based environment including the benefit of the local communities for their living hood. The economic tourism management implementing the planning for eco-tourism improvement and trying hard to maximize the society welfare through the eco-tourism.

Planning and development are both extremely important factors within the tourism industry and can have both positive and negative effects on the environment, local communities and tourist destinations. “Destination planning aims to limit the negative impacts of cultural tourism upon the history and lifestyles of the local community. An understanding of sustainable tourist development allows for the development of culture without loss of its authentic identity” (Maidment. T. 2012). This statement discusses the importance of planning to avoid having any negative impacts on environments and communities. Because the effects of tourism are so severe to destinations, many natural and cultural resources have been destroyed, therefore tourism planning is vital to preserve and maintain these places for future generations.