Community perceptions on tourism development in South Africa: The case of developing a tourism route in the City of Mbombela Local Municipality, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa

Tourism is used as a community development tool. It has been incorporated into national development plans. In South Africa, it is incorporated into local economic development (LED) plans. The LED strategy for the City of Mbombela Local Municipality includes the development of a tourism route in the former Umjindi Local Municipality. Through the application of the descriptive research design, we use the Likert scale to investigate perceptions of the community around the area where the tourism route is proposed. A sampling frame was developed by listing all the 224 households who live in the section of the road covered by the tourism route. From the 224 households in the sampling frame, a simple random sample of 89 households was drawn using the SPSS random number generator. A structured questionnaire was used to solicit the perceptions of respondents concerning the economic, socio-cultural, environmental and infrastructural attributes of the tourism route. Although they need to be interpreted directionally, most of the economic, socio-cultural and environmental attributes were significant. Of the infrastructure attributes electricity and water supply were significant. Generally, respondents had positive perceptions of the tourism route. Therefore, we strongly recommend the development of the tourism route with the caveat that sustainability issues need to be paid attention to.