Application of the Delphi Technique to Rural Tourism Project Evaluation

This paper details the merit, challenges and shortcomings of the Delphi Technique as a means of obtaining data for a project aimed at formulating an evaluation framework for application in the development and management of rural tourism projects. Participation in the Delphi Survey was sought from expert panellists in both South Africa and Britain from four different stakeholder sectors of expertise – academics, the public sector, consultants and the operational sector. No single research method could have elicited the comprehensive information sought by this study. Whilst the Delphi Technique was considered the most effective means of soliciting group input and opinion forming by a panel of experts utilising a manageable method, it was unable to facilitate the in-depth discussion and enriched text required to gain a fuller understanding of significant and contentious issues.     

Making the connections between transport disadvantage and the social exclusion of low income populations in the Tshwane Region of South Africa

To date, the majority of studies which consider transport from a social exclusion perspective have been conducted in the context of the developed world where both income poverty and lack of transport are relative rather absolute states. In a unique departure from these previous studies, this paper explores the relationship between transport and social disadvantage in the development context, the key difference being that income poverty is absolute and where there is much lower access to both private and public transportation generally. Thus, it seeks to explore whether the concept of social exclusion remains valid, when it is the majority of the population that is experiencing transport and income poverty compared with the minority who do so in advanced economies.The paper is based on a scoping study for the Republic of South Africa Department of Transport (RSA DOT), which primarily involved focus group discussions with a range of socially deprived urban and peri-urban population groups living in the Tshwane region of South Africa. In a second departure from previous studies which consider transport and social disadvantage in the development context, the study takes a primarily urban focus. The rationale for this is that theoretically low income urban settlements do not suffer from the lack of transport infrastructure and motorised transport services in the way that more remote rural areas do. The policy issue is therefore less a question of addressing a deficit in supply and more one of addressing particular aspects of public transit service failure, which are more readily amenable to relatively low cost, manageable, small-scale national and local policy interventions.A primary aim for the study was to reinvigorate cross-government debate of these issues in the hope of breaking South African government’s long-standing and persistent policy inertia in the delivery of equitable and socially sustainable urban transport systems.     

South Africa has Second Homes Too! An Exploration of the Unexplored

The aim of this investigation is to make a contribution towards addressing the paucity of academic reflection on second home development in South Africa. More specifically, the paper aims to provide some preliminary insights into the question of what types of second homes there are in South Africa and what impacts second home development holds for different types of urban settlements. The examples drawn upon in this investigation cover diverse urban settings. These case studies include (1) a small rural town in the eastern Free State province – Clarens; (2) a small coastal village in KwaZulu-Natal – Zinkwazi; and (3) a neighbourhood in the Cape Town Metropolitan area – De Waterkant. While the case studies elucidate unique development characteristics and impacts, the investigations also highlight some commonalities. In particular, it is firstly argued that second home development in South Africa demonstrates similarities to developments found internationally; and secondly, that the near-generic impacts of second homes found elsewhere are echoed in the South African context too. Here, in particular, the generation of employment and property price appreciation stand out as key similarities.     

Applying relative deprivation theory to study the attitudes of host community residents towards tourism: the case study of the Zhangjiang National Park,China

Host community is one of the most important stakeholders involved in tourism development. Their attitudes and supports for tourism are highly significant to underpin the sustainable development of the industry. However, host community has not been attached adequate importance, and is usually marginalised to be a salient disadvantaged group in the process of tourism development. Although relative deprivation theory (RDT) provides a powerful theoretical tool to analyse the attitudes of disadvantaged social groups, the theory has rarely been documented in tourism literature. This paper takes the case of tourism development in the Zhangjiang National Park, China, and applies RDT to empirically examine how and why host residents suffer from the relative deprivation problem resulting from tourism development and attempts to unveil its influence on their attitudes towards tourism development. The study indicates that there exists a close and negative correlation between the locals' relative deprivation and their attitudes towards tourism development. The more host residents suffer from relative deprivation, the more negative their attitudes towards tourism are, and vice versa. Furthermore, the Relative Deprivation Index proposed in this study proves to be simple and effective in quantitatively depicting the spatial differences/heterogeneity of relative deprivation issues in the case study area.     

Should I stay or should I go? Negotiating township tours in post-apartheid South Africa

This article focuses on township tours outside Cape Town and Johannesburg during the past decade. By examining the subjectivities of guides and tourists, as well as public discourses about townships, I argue that township tours are ethically problematic and ambiguous, but do not go uncontested. Questions about voyeurism and development are negotiated during the tours in a number of ways. First, the morality of witnessing townships – not through the modality of vision, but through participating in contact zones – is asserted. Second, public discourses that valourize the creativity of the poor, and which harness history as a force for reconciliation and development, inform the tours. Third, tour guides attempt to reform charity and to highlight ethical consumption. An ethnographic and discursive analysis leads me to conclude that township tours are part of a larger post-apartheid project of re-imagining and remaking marginalized urban spaces.