SUSTAINABLE RURAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT

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CHAPTER 3: TOURISM ROUTES AND NICHE MARKETS

INTRODUCTION

The history of travelling by following routes, started as part of trading systems and religious pilgrimages. As a result of increased demand, the construction of roads became a great enabler for travelling. As time passed, the invention of motor vehicles and motor coaches increased the stress of travelling and roads were built for reasons other than tourism and recreation (Flognfeldt, 2005). Route tourism is a market driven approach for tourism destination development. The concept of route tourism differs across various parts of the world and some terminology such as ‘themed routes’, ‘trails’, and ‘scenic-by- ways’ is being used globally (Rogerson, 2007). Trails usually apply to short distances, where tourists can experience the attractions either on foot, bicycle or horseback The concept of route development is known particularly for its substantial involvement with local  communities  as  well  as  economic,  environmental  and  cultural  conservation activities. Successful route developments spread economic benefits geographically by developing tourist attractions and services such as restaurants and shops along themed tourism routes, which potentially leads to a longer length of stay and an increased spend by  tourists.  These  routes  provide  additional  employment  and  income  for  local communities to operate tour packages as well as a greater destination awareness brought about by increased aggressive marketing initiatives (Snowball & Courtney, 2010).
This chapter discusses tourism routes that are especially, niche market-based. The chapter starts by discussing the rationale underpinning tourism routes in rural areas together with its most familiar feature, drive tourism. Tourism routes are observed more specifically within the context of developing countries. Furthermore, tourism routes are perceived  to  serve  as  a  vehicle  to  develop  a  sustainable  tourism  destination  with emphasis on a particular tourism niche product. It is important to observe the tools and success factors that ensure the successful implementation of these tourism products.

TOURISM ROUTE DEVELOPMENT

The rural economy has changed in character for two primary reasons. The first reason is because of the depopulation which has occurred in rural areas and the transformation that  has  taken  place  in  the  marketing  system  of  crop  production,  in  terms  of  the accelerating rate industrialisation of agriculture. The second reason is neo-localism, which is defined as the strong desire of local communities to re-embrace the authenticity and uniqueness of their region (Ramsey & Everitt, 2007). Over the past years, tourism routes  have  gained  momentum  in  attracting  tourists  to  certain  attractions  and destinations. The crucial purpose of themed route based tourism is to ensure that all products and services are connected and possibly cause visitors to spend more and stay longer at a destination (Hashemi & Jusoh, 2015; Ramsey & Everitt, 2007). Tourism route development is complicated but must be led by policy, proper planning and effective management for the route to have positive impacts on local communities, the environment and its economy.
Emerging LED strategies are related to the development of route tourism in rural areas. Due to the remote and spatial nature of rural areas, route tourism has the ability, by functioning  as  an  anchor,  to  market  tourism  offerings  collectively  in  order  for  the destination  to  compete  more  effectively  with  larger  and  more  established  tourism destinations (Visser & Rogerson, 2004). Rural tourism routes also contribute to the relief of poverty through the creation of job opportunities for the unskilled, youth, women and small businesses, and relates the injunction stipulated by SDG 5 (Rogerson, 2006). The success and sustainability of rural route tourism is dependent on how well private businesses promote the route and the developing role of the public sector. The public sector facilitates tourism through the development and marketing of the route by providing infrastructure, upgrading the roads and signage, establishing well-functioning tourism offices, developing the area, supporting and maintaining public and community owned tourism resources, facilitating a unified marketing and branding strategy for the route as well as treating the route as part of the entire destination’s tourism offering but not as a competitor (McLaren & Heath, 2012).
Route-based  tourism  demands  that  communities  and  interested  stakeholders  work together to market a regional theme, as they know that their attractions are small-scale and are a  vast distance from  cities and major markets (Ramsey & Everitt, 2007). According  to  Atkinson  (2008:  xx);  Bialostocka  (2013:2);  Greffe  (1994:23);  Lourens (2007:475); Meyer (2004:3); and Viljoen et al., (2010:68) tourism routes are defined as “… an initiative to bring together a variety of activities and attractions under a unified theme  and  thus  stimulate  entrepreneurial  opportunity  through  the  development  of ancillary products and services”. Tourism routes attract visitors away from the usual tourism nodes to rural and small town areas. This mechanism is a great way for towns to develop partnerships and foster co-operation, instead of competing with one another (Donaldson, 2007; Meyer, 2004; McLaren & Heath, 2012; Rogerson, 2007; Stoddart & Rogerson, 2009). Furthermore, a synergised approach will strengthen regional ties and allow for a greater spread of the visitor’s spend and bed nights (Hashemi & Jusoh, 2015).
A study  conducted  by  the  University  of  Zululand  (2012)  restated  the  reasons  for developing tourism routes (Chantamool et al., 2015; Laws, 1995; Lourens, 2007; Marques & Santos, 2014). These reasons are indicated in Table 4 below, which also highlight the reasons for the development of tourism routes.
Potential negative impacts relating to the development of a tourism route should be considered in relation to the economic, environmental and social aspects of tourism product development. Elements that can deter the development process are a lack of skills, inexperience and misuse of human and natural resources as well as an absence of research pertaining to best practice in route tourism, all of which lead to poor and unsustainable development (University of Zululand, 2012). Interest in the development of tourism routes, as the main vehicle for tourism industry growth, is increasing. Various tourism routes are being established and planned in developing countries, especially in South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Swaziland. Some of these tourism routes are cross-boundary routes that  link several countries. Route tourism planning even stretches to the Indian Ocean Island of Reunion where the spice route links attractions and producers associated with the spice theme to the slave routes in West Africa (Stoddart & Rogerson, 2009).
The African route tourism initiative of the African Dream Project was organised by Open Africa. The African Dream Project developed tourism routes across Africa under the umbrella concept of Afrikatourism. Afrikatourism is the term used to market the concept of tourism routes and projects with a noticeably and exclusively African appeal. Their mission is “… to turn Africa’s natural and cultural resources into one of the most valuable products on Earth, based on the business principle of supply and demand, which dictates that whatever is rare is valuable” (Meyer, 2004:7). Open Africa also has a vision “… to link the splendours of Africa in a continuous network of Afrikatourism routes, from Cape to Cairo” (Briedenhann & Wickens, 2004:73; Meyer, 2004:7). In 2002, the African Dream Project had 32 routes, covering 11623 kilometres across five countries, 80 participative towns and 791 establishments. This project had 5798 direct full-time jobs in season and 2344 part-time out of season jobs. Team Africa, which is the project driver, has 2331 individual, corporate, institutional, professional and partner members (Biggs & Purnell, 2003). In 2017, Open Africa had 58 routes in six (6) different African countries, with 2670 participating businesses providing a total of 28 490 jobs (Open Africa online). South Africa represents the highest number of tourism route initiatives on the African continent. Open Africa has been actively developing tourism routes embodying the key notion of pro-poor impacts.  This  NGO  is  known  to  support  communities  and  establish  links  between  emerging entrepreneurs and small businesses. Open Africa obtains donor funds to launch new route initiatives that include four main components, namely, stakeholder meetings, workshops and data gathering, route aftercare and networking and the marketing and branding of the tourism routes. The four components of the route methodology and the steps followed by Open Africa entails setting the parameters of the route, identifying the key towns and attractions, facilitating workshops in the various towns and then launching the route at a formal function and lastly, monitoring and evaluating the tourism routes according to the economic, social and environmental indicators as reflected in the ‘triple bottom line’ principle (Viljoen et al., 2010).
Open Africa noted that the most critical part of implementing their route development methodology was the buy-in from local communities. The routes will eventually be managed by the residents or a stable institution, such as the local municipality or local tourism association, as tourism will only be able to sustain itself in areas where local communities are willing and active participants (Viljoen et al., 2010). Open Africa, with its extensive experience in route development, recorded a number of challenges that need to be overcome if route development is to be successful.
The first challenge is the fact that diversity exists in terms of social status and unequal power relations amongst the various key stakeholders as businesses range from the very well established to the struggling emerging entrepreneur at the roadside. The second challenge relates to the number of illiterate people and the lack of skills found in poor communities. For this reason, the poor find it difficult to participate and become part of the decision making process. Thirdly, the poor often do not understand the value of tourism and tourists’ behaviour in relation to their own interests. Without local community input and buy-in, the establishment of tourism routes becomes very difficult (Viljoen et al., 2010). Lastly, language barriers and vast distances remain a huge challenge (Atkinson 2009). Local communities in the rural areas are not comfortable communicating in English and this hinders overall interaction and cooperation. Geographical distance in rural areas is also a challenge as routes are taxing in terms of time and effort, especially, today, where people are leading demanding and busy lives (Viljoen et al., 2010).
In order to overcome the challenges of the route, it is necessary to include all the main players, appoint an active chairperson representing the route, effectively market the route, obtain in-depth knowledge about the route offerings of other participants, continually communicate with all the partners, erect proper route signage, embrace disadvantaged communities and mobilise their members. Route stakeholders should collectively identify their main attractions, the route name and branding thereof (McLaren & Heath, 2012).
The  South  African  government  perceives  niche  markets  as  a  unique  leverage  to inclusively develop a destination. Micro-enterprise development is vital for pro-poor as SMME development is encouraged, thereby adding value to existing routes and creating new business opportunities (Snowball & Courtney, 2010). Many tourists are well-informed and  familiar  with  a  destination  and  arrive  with  clear  expectations,  while  the  local communities know very little about the tourists and are unaware of their expectations (Zoomers, 2008). According to Stoddart and Rogerson (2009), the HSRC suggests that a  tourism  route  is  an  imperative  catalyst  for  community-based  local  economic development, especially for poorer communities in remote rural areas. According to Meyer (2004), tourism routes can provide the following benefits to a destination:

• Wide-spread economic benefits to the community through the development of tourist facilities and services, such as restaurants, arts and crafts stands and curio shops, along the route that encourage tourists to stop at these points and buy the products;

• Additional employment and income can be provided through the provision of local products and services, both directly and indirectly, within the tourism value chain, such as transportation, accommodation, attractions and activities;

• Enlarging the target markets and extending the average length of stay of visitors by providing a variety of experiences and activities throughout the tourism route.

Briedenhahn and Wiekens (2004:72) and Lourens (2007) mention that tourism route development is a “… vehicle for the stimulation of economic development through tourism. The challenge facing the developers of themed tourism routes is their need to understand the  needs  of  the  relevant  niche  market.  The  future  of  the  route  is  dependent  on understanding the limits to which the market can consume a particular product. In order to remain a viable tourism destination, the tourism route should not over- or under-supply its  offerings  (Olsen,  2003).  Additional  challenges  facing  developers  are  a  poor conceptualisation  of  land-use  planning  and  the  formulation  of  regional  strategic development plans, without having any clarity about the role played by traditional leaders versus that of elected officials. In order for a tourism route to be sustainable, the planning thereof should be linked to regional, provincial and national tourism plans. For this very reason, the Tourism Act No. 3 of 2014 emphasises the importance of the geographical spread of tourism beneficiation, especially in the rural and peripheral areas of the country (Snowball & Courtney, 2010).

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
1.3 PURPOSE STATEMENT
1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
1.5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1.5.1 Sampling
1.5.2 Data Analysis and Results
1.6 ACADEMIC CONTRIBUTION OF THE STUDY
1.7 TOURISM INDUSTRY RELEVANCE
1.8 DELIMITATIONS
1.9 OUTLINE OF THE THESIS
CHAPTER 2: SUSTAINABLE RURAL TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
2.1 INTRODUCTION
2.2 SUSTAINABILITY IN THE RURAL TOURISM CONTEXT
2.3 POLICY AND GOVERNANCE
2.3.1 Tourism Industry Related Policies in South Africa
2.3.2 Science and Astronomy Related Policies in South Africa
2.4 SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS OF A SUSTAINABLE RURAL DESTINATION
2.5 LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
2.6 A COLLABORATIVE STAKEHOLDER APPROACH
2.7 COMMUNITY-BASED TOURISM
2.7.1 Community Participation
2.7.1 A Pro-Poor Tourism Approach
2.8 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 3: TOURISM ROUTES AND NICHE MARKETS 
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 TOURISM ROUTE DEVELOPMENT
3.3 DRIVE TOURISM
3.3.1 Characteristics of Drive Tourists
3.3.2 Route Infrastructure contribution to drive tourism
3.3.3 Benchmark: Drive Tourism Project in Queensland, Australia
3.4 NICHE MARKET-BASED TOURISM ROUTES
3.4.1 The Wine Route
3.4.2 Midlands Meander
3.4.3 Magaliesberg Meander
3.4.4 Camino De Santiago
3.4.5 Astro-Chile
3.4.6 The EU Sky Route
3.5 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 4: ASTRONOMY IN THE TOURISM CONTEXT 
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 GLOBAL SIGNIFICANCE OF ASTRONOMICAL HERITAGE SITES
4.2.1 Tangible and Intangible Astronomical Heritage Sites
4.3 SPACE TOURISM
4.4 ASTRO TOURISM
4.4.1 Light Pollution and the Astro Dark Sky
4.4.2 Impacts of Light Pollution
4.5 INTRODUCTION TO THE CASE STUDY
4.5.1 Historical Background of Astronomy in South Africa
4.5.2 Governmental Developments
4.5.3 Square Kilometre Array
4.5.4 Southern Africa Large Telescope (SALT)
4.5.5 SALT and SKA Tourism Development Initiatives
4.6 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 5: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 PHILOSOPHY: INTERPRETIVISM
5.3 RESEARCH STRATEGY: CASE STUDY
5.4 METHODOLOGICAL CHOICE: MIXED METHOD RESEARCH
5.5 QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
5.6 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
5.7 QUALITY AND RIGOUR OF THE RESEARCH DESIGN
5.8 RESEARCH ETHICS
5.9 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 6: RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
6.1 INTRODUCTION
6.2 QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH ANALYSIS
6.3 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ANALYSIS
6.4 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 7: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 
7.1 INTRODUCTION
7.2 INTEGRATION OF THE MAIN FINDINGS IN THE LITERATURE
7.3 PROPOSED ASTRO TOURISM ROUTE DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK
7.4 CONTRIBUTION OF THIS THESIS
7.5 RESEARCH LIMITATIONS
7.6 SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
7.7 CONCLUDING REMARKS
LIST OF REFERENCES
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