IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/buogeo/v48y2020i48p47-63n4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Using Municipal Tourism Assets for Leveraging Local Economic Development in South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Rogerson Christian M.

    (University of Johannesburg, School of Tourism and Hospitality, Bunting Road Campus, Bunting Road, Auckland Park, 2006, Johannesburg, South Africa; phone +27-11-559-1167)

Abstract

Tourism development can be a vital component of place-based development initiatives in the global South. The nexus of tourism and place-based development thinking in the global South and of the role of local governments is only beginning to be investigated by tourism scholars. This article explores the record of using tourism assets in one South African local municipality for leveraging local economic development. Evidence is drawn from the experience of the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality in South Africa's Eastern Cape province. The research results point to an unimpressive record on the part of local government in directing the use of local assets for assisting tourism development. Several challenges are revealed to explain the underperformance of potentially valuable local assets in this municipality. Institutional and governance shortcomings, including widespread corruption, underpin the observed weaknesses both in the everyday workings of local government in relation to service delivery and infrastructure support as well as its inability to implement plans for local economic development. Well-meaning policies proposed for tourism development are not implemented variously for reasons of funding, lack of local support, lack of entrepreneurialism by the municipality and lack of ability to implement because of capacity issues. Potential state assets which could bolster tourism and local development outcomes are not being realized and in many cases the assets themselves are in a state of deterioration because of neglect.

Suggested Citation

  • Rogerson Christian M., 2020. "Using Municipal Tourism Assets for Leveraging Local Economic Development in South Africa," Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, Sciendo, vol. 48(48), pages 47-63, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:vrs:buogeo:v:48:y:2020:i:48:p:47-63:n:4
    DOI: 10.2478/bog-2020-0013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2478/bog-2020-0013
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2478/bog-2020-0013?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andy Pike & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & John Tomaney, 2017. "Shifting horizons in local and regional development," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(1), pages 46-57, January.
    2. Fabrizio Barca & Philip McCann & Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose, 2012. "The Case For Regional Development Intervention: Place‐Based Versus Place‐Neutral Approaches," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 134-152, February.
    3. Benjamin Faber & Cecile Gaubert, 2019. "Tourism and Economic Development: Evidence from Mexico's Coastline," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(6), pages 2245-2293, June.
    4. Anthony J. Venables & Gilles Duranton, 2019. "Place-Based Policies: principles and developing country applications," Economics Series Working Papers 893, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    5. David Bailey & Christos Pitelis & Philip R Tomlinson, 2018. "A place-based developmental regional industrial strategy for sustainable capture of co-created value," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 42(6), pages 1521-1542.
    6. Christian Rogerson & Jayne Rogerson, 2010. "Local economic development in Africa: Global context and research directions," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4), pages 465-480.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Basco, Rodrigo & Stough, Roger & Suwala, Lech, 2021. "Family Business and Regional Development," EconStor Books, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 232284.
    2. Seyed Peyman Asadi & Ahmad Jafari Samimi, 2019. "Lagging-behind Areas as a Challenge to the Regional Development Strategy: What Insights can New and Evolutionary Economic Geography Offer?," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1923, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jul 2019.
    3. David Clelland, 2020. "Beyond the city region? Uneven governance and the evolution of regional economic development in Scotland," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 35(1), pages 7-26, February.
    4. Steve Fothergill & Tony Gore & Peter Wells, 2019. "Industrial strategy and the UK regions: sectorally narrow and spatially blind," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 12(3), pages 445-466.
    5. Simona Iammarino, 2018. "FDI and regional development policy," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 1(3), pages 157-183, December.
    6. Andrew Johnston & Peter Wells, 2020. "Assessing the role of universities in a place-based Industrial Strategy: Evidence from the UK," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 35(4), pages 384-402, June.
    7. Tobias Franz, 2019. "Why ‘Good Governance’ Fails: Lessons from Regional Economic Development in Colombia," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 776-785, July.
    8. Marco Bellandi & Silvia Lombardi & Erica Santini, 2020. "Traditional manufacturing areas and the emergence of product-service systems: the case of Italy," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 47(2), pages 311-331, June.
    9. Lawrence Faith & Rogerson Christian M., 2018. "Local economic development agencies and place-based development: Evidence from South Africa," Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, Sciendo, vol. 41(41), pages 29-43, September.
    10. Eduardo I Palavicini Corona, 2021. "Globalisation and local economic development: Place-based and bottom-up public policies in Switzerland and Mexico," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 36(2), pages 98-114, March.
    11. David Morris & Enrico Vanino & Carlo Corradini, 2020. "Effect of regional skill gaps and skill shortages on firm productivity," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(5), pages 933-952, August.
    12. Muringani, Jonathan & Dahl Fitjar, Rune & Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés, 2019. "Decentralisation, quality of government and economic growth in the regions of the EU," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 91023, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Cristina Vaquero-Piñeiro, 2020. "A voyage in the role of territory: are territories capable of instilling their peculiarities in local production systems," Departmental Working Papers of Economics - University 'Roma Tre' 0251, Department of Economics - University Roma Tre.
    14. Etienne Nel & Christian M Rogerson, 2016. "Re-engaging with spatial economic development: The recent experience of regional and local economic development in South Africa," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 31(1-2), pages 3-8, February.
    15. Enghin Atalay & Ali Hortacsu & Mustafa Runyun & Chad Syverson & Mehmet Fatih Ulu, 2023. "Micro- and Macroeconomic Impacts of a Place-Based Industrial Policy," Working Papers 23-12, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    16. Oladunjoye, Opeyemi Nathaniel & Areyemi, Victor Olaife, 2021. "Tourism, Globalization and Economic Growth in Nigeria," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 9(2), April.
    17. Ellalee, Haider & Alali, Walid Y., 2018. "FDI, Industrial Policy and Employment Impacts on Brexit," MPRA Paper 117507, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 20 Oct 2018.
    18. Anna ARENT & Matylda BOJAR & Francisco DINIZ & Nelson DUARTE, 2015. "The Role Of Smes In Sustainable Regional Development And Local Business Integration: The Case Of Lublin Region (Poland)," Regional Science Inquiry, Hellenic Association of Regional Scientists, vol. 0(2), pages 23-34, December.
    19. Lee Pugalis & Gill Bentley, 2014. "Place-based development strategies: Possibilities, dilemmas and ongoing debates," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 29(4-5), pages 561-572, June.
    20. Diogo Ferraz & Fernanda P. S. Falguera & Enzo B. Mariano & Dominik Hartmann, 2021. "Linking Economic Complexity, Diversification, and Industrial Policy with Sustainable Development: A Structured Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-29, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vrs:buogeo:v:48:y:2020:i:48:p:47-63:n:4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.