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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
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| Title: | The local economic development impacts of backpacker tourism: evidence from the South African experience |
| Author: | Visser, Gustav |
| Year: | 2003 |
| Periodical: | Urban Forum |
| Volume: | 14 |
| Issue: | 2-3 |
| Pages: | 264-293 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | South Africa |
| Subjects: | urban development local government tourism |
| External link: | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12132-003-0014-9 |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the role of backpacker tourism in the local tourist system in South Africa, particularly its potential role in local development. It draws on the results of a 2002 pilot study based on interviews with 36 backpacker establishments and tourism experts as well as literature research. The first section pays attention to international debates concerning tourism-led economic development, as well as the backpacker sector and its contribution to local development. The second section turns to South Africa, providing a description of the spatio-temporal development of backpacker establishments locally. In the third section, backpacker hostels as economic units are analysed, and in the fourth, the backpacker as a tourist type is investigated. The final section considers the impact of backpackers and backpacker hostels on a broader canvas, focusing in particular on their contribution to local economic development in the areas in which they are located. It is evident from the survey that the backpacker industry is in a growth phase and has been established, as well as managed, by South African entrepreneurs. However, the main beneficiaries of backpacker tourism currently are white small, medium and micro enterprises and it is less evident that backpacker tourism will assist a form of tourism development that will be beneficial for those communities that are in greatest need of developmental forms of tourism. Bibliogr., notes. [ASC Leiden abstract] |