Ontwikkeling van volhoubare toerisme as oplossing vir landelike armoede in Suider-Afrika

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:More than half of the population of Southern Africa live in rural areas and lead amarginal existence. They are dependant on natural resources that are to their disposalfor their survival. The resources that they use are renewable but are currentlyexploited faster that it can be replaced. The pressure that the rural populations areplacing on nature cannot be sustained.The concept of sustainable development came into being in 1987. The principle ofthis new concept was to permit development as to meet the needs of the presentwithout compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.Sustainable development proposes a lifestyle that preserve nature as well as social andcultural characteristics of a community.The tourism industry of Southern Africa has great potential and is still growing.Ecotourism, the idea of nature based tourism that will benefit both the socio-economiccircumstances of the community and conservation, have increased in the past tenyears. If ecotourism is managed correctly, it can be the answer to poverty in manyrural communities and at the same time conserving nature.There are organisations that concentrate on sustainable rural development and thatintroduce communities to the potentials and benefits of the tourism industry. Thereare already communities that adopted this new paradigm with great success.The aim of this study is to make people conscious to the problem of rural poverty andthe impacts it has had on the environment already. Secondly the study also presents asolution to rural poverty by the development of tourism in rural communities.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University