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Challenges of Geotourism in South Africa: A Case Study of the Kruger National Park

Author

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  • Khodani Matshusa

    (Department of Environmental Sciences, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa (UNISA), Johannesburg 1709, South Africa)

  • Llewellyn Leonard

    (Department of Environmental Sciences, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, University of South Africa (UNISA), Johannesburg 1709, South Africa)

  • Peta Thomas

    (Department of Business Management, College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg 2006, South Africa)

Abstract

As a new phenomenon, geotourism research is on the rise. Although South Africa has some interesting geoheritage sites, not much has been done to investigate the potential contribution of geotourism to the tourism sector, the protection of natural resources and employment generation, let alone the challenges that may be experienced in promoting geotourism. Therefore, this paper aims to describe the concept of geotourism and to identify the challenges of geotourism. It achieves this by looking at the case of the Kruger National Park, one of the largest game reserves in Africa, containing an abundance of geotourism sites. This research adopted a qualitative approach, with data collection involving semi-structured interviews with sixteen key informants to understand the challenges of geotourism. Manual content analysis was employed for analysing the data. A significant finding was that there were seven potential challenges in promoting and developing geotourism in the Kruger National Park: (1) a lack of packaging and marketing; (2) a lack of infrastructure; (3) security and access to geoheritage sites by tourists; (4) access to finance and markets; (5) destruction of geoheritage sites; (6) social challenges and (7) regulatory challenges. The results indicated that these challenges of geotourism can lead to negative perceptions about geotourism and can negatively impact the potential for geotourism development towards effective local social sustainability, especially for communities abutting the KNP. The major contribution of this study is its expansion of the geotourism academic literature through newly generated data on the challenges of geotourism in South Africa. Furthermore, this study theoretically contributes to the body of knowledge on geotourism and its challenges in Africa, particularly regarding the Kruger National Park.

Suggested Citation

  • Khodani Matshusa & Llewellyn Leonard & Peta Thomas, 2021. "Challenges of Geotourism in South Africa: A Case Study of the Kruger National Park," Resources, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-23, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jresou:v:10:y:2021:i:11:p:108-:d:661908
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Novellie, Peter & Biggs, Harry & Roux, Dirk, 2016. "National laws and policies can enable or confound adaptive governance: Examples from South African national parks," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 40-46.
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    5. Smit, Izak P.J. & Roux, Dirk J. & Swemmer, Louise K. & Boshoff, Nelius & Novellie, Peter, 2017. "Protected areas as outdoor classrooms and global laboratories: Intellectual ecosystem services flowing to-and-from a National Park," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 28(PB), pages 238-250.
    6. Hezron Mogaka Osano & Hilario Languitone, 2016. "Factors influencing access to finance by SMEs in Mozambique: case of SMEs in Maputo central business district," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 1-16, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Daminda Sumanapala & Isabelle D. Wolf, 2022. "Introducing Geotourism to Diversify the Visitor Experience in Protected Areas and Reduce Impacts on Overused Attractions," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-15, November.
    2. Khodani Matshusa & Llewellyn Leonard, 2023. "Geoheritage Threats in South African National Parks," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 4(1), pages 1-12, March.

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