Pathways to the past : tourism and heritage in the Little Karoo

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The rapid growth of tourism, particularly heritage tourism, in South Africa is leading to adetrimental impact on heritage resources. Part of the problem lies in the lack of knowledge visitorshave of the significance and vulnerability of the resources they are engaging with. Another part ofthe problem is the inherent conflict between the heritage tourism sector and the heritagemanagement sector. Whilst sharing the same resource base, each sector has very different aims.Tourism seeks to exploit heritage resources, whilst heritage management seeks to conserve them.These problems are not necessarily restricted to South Africa and the study of its nature andextent is here limited to the Little Karoo. The Little Karoo is defined in this dissertation as the areain the Western Cape bounded by the Langeberg and Outeniqua Mountains in the south, and theSwartberg in the north. It includes the towns of Montagu, Barrydale, Ladismith, Amalienstein, Zoar,Calitzdorp, Van Wyksdorp, Oudtshoorn, Dysselsdorp, De Rust and Herold. Of importance to thisresearch is the fact that the Little Karoo can be accessed by a variety of passes, poorts and kloofs.This study has been undertaken in order to explore a non-empirical solution to the problem ofthe human impact on heritage resources through their thematic interpretation and presentation. Thisresearch also aims to improve the relationship between the tourism and heritage industries byintroducing a shared terminology in the form of a model or framework. This framework is a way oforganising and presenting the heritage story in such a way that both heritage tourism and heritagemanagers (and other stakeholders) can understand.The aim of the study is to devise a mechanism with which to identify, organise, interpret andpresent heritage resources in a thematic manner. The resulting thematic framework will hopefullyenrich the heritage experience of visitors to heritage sites while providing guidance as to thevulnerability of heritage resources. A secondary objective is to develop common terminology for theheritage tourism and heritage management communities. The intent is to improve the relationshipbetween these two sectors and thereby mitigate further damage to heritage resources.Data for this study was collected from several empirical sources. Extant and primary data wasaccessed. Extant data came from the pertinent published sources, while primary data was collectedvia a combination of personal and group face-to-face semi-structured interviews and personalobservation of heritage sites in the Little Karoo during 2003 and 2004.The main outcome of this research was the development of a South African Heritage TourismThematic Framework (SAHTTF). The SAHTTF is, in part, based on and inspired by frameworksfrom the United States, Australia, Canada and South Africa. There are three tiers within theframework: theme groups, themes and sub-themes. The framework is intended to be flexible and the three tiers can be mixed and matched in whatever way best serves the story of the heritage resourcein question. The five theme groups are: Development of the environment; Peopling our land; Way oflife; Governing South Africa and Developing South Africa. The whole story of South Africa can beorganised and presented using this framework. However, in order to keep this study withinreasonable limits, the focus of the story was limited to the heritage story of the Little Karoo. Thecase studies of the Cango Caves, Cogmans Kloof, Swartberg Pass and Seweweeks Poort tested theeffectiveness of the SAHTTF.It is recommended that the SAHTTF be presented to the heritage tourism and heritagemanagement sectors for further evaluation and testing. This research has proved that the SAHTTFcan be an effective tool in the identification, organization, interpretation and presentation of heritageresources.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University