Focus on community-based tourism

The growing community-based tourism sector is offering jobs and hope for sustainable development in African villages, say government and tourism industry officials. "Community-based tourism shows that Africa is not about scenery and animals only, but people and culture," says Margaret Taylor of the Regional Tourism Authority of Southern Africa (RETOSA). RETOSA is made up of the 14 national tourism authorities in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Tourism revenues dropped an average 10 percent across the region in the past year, dimming some governments' hopes of improving their gross domestic product by attracting foreign currency spenders. A coast-to-coast regional tourism initiative was launched last week, however, aimed at developing a tourism corridor from Walvis Bay, at Namibia’s Atlantic shore, to Maputo, Mozambique, on the Indian Ocean. Centred along the Trans-Kalahari Highway, the initiative hopes to duplicate for tourists the experience of travelling the Explorer Highway in Australia or Route 66 in the United States. "Those established routes offer more than scenery, but a way for travellers to experience the colourful local life of the communities they pass through," says Swaziland’s Acting Tourism Minister Musa Mdluli. "People, Culture and Crafts," is the central theme the initiative’s managers plan to exploit. An example of community-based tourism is the Mlawula Nature Reserve, created by Swazi villagers who open their homes to visitors for a unique opportunity to experience traditional life. Another is the Warmbad Museum in Namibia, the third community museum in the country launched by the Namibian Community Based Tourism Association (NACOBTA). The Bondelswarts people, a sub-group of the Nama tribe of Namibia, manage the museum which displays the culture and history of their area. NACOBTA Business Advice Coordinator Michael Jimmy says the museum will provide tourists with an understanding of the Nama people, while raising revenue for the community. Zimbabwe, in an effort to boost its tourism industry, announced a US $3 million marketing campaign this week to promote the country. The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority wants to overcome fears of political violence that have kept tourists away for the past two years, and will use brochures to highlight the country’s cultural heritage. The tourism authority is supporting community-owned initiatives to move business away from established sites that may be overly familiar to visitors. Swaziland’s Mlawula Nature Reserve could be the template for any community-based tourism project. The village of Mlawula, in Swaziland’s eastern lowveld, was hard pressed for development ideas. The semi-arid land was ill-suited to large-scale agriculture. A sparse population that could provide few factory workers made industry unlikely. There were no minerals to be mined, and the electricity and cellular telephone grid had yet to be extended to the rural area. Then Mlawula discovered its most valuable asset was itself, after some German hikers paid to stay in their huts, eat the local cuisine, and even help plough the fields with a team of oxen. At the same time, the area headman, Chief Nyoni, was advancing a local nature reserve project on the outskirts of the village. The ministries of tourism and economic planning got involved, and foreign donor funding was lined up for seed money to start the park. A grant was secured to construct a guest lodge and rudimentary facilities. Darron Raw, a tourism consultant, was brought in by the government to offer marketing advice. An advocate of cultural tourism, he saw that Mlawula’s unspoiled rural landscape had not changed since the 19th century, and was a natural location to bring tourists to the Swazi people. "Guests stay at the Mlawula camp, but they are taken by guides to the village. They stop by homesteads, and see how the people live. There’s nothing contrived about it, and the villagers are aware that visitors are coming. They know that the community receives all the proceeds from park admissions." "Mlawula may be a small community, but they are on the cutting edge of thinking," says nature conservationist Ted Reilly, Executive Director of Big Game Parks of Swaziland. "Tourism is the one industry with the biggest future. The mines are exhausted. Industry depletes natural resources and it pollutes. But tourism, if properly managed, is one industry that leaves the environment untouched. Consumers come, pay money, and leave with nothing but happy memories and keepsake photos." Reilly and other tourism veterans offer technical advice to the Mlawula community. They are encouraging other villages in different areas of Swaziland to follow Mlawula's example: create a central visitor area with amenities, provide access to neighbouring homesteads, and welcome visitors with a sampling of traditional life. "African tourism began with the safari – the Big White Hunter leading a retinue of native porters as he guns down lions – then progressed to the luxury game parks and Landrover nature reserve tours most visitors take," recounts Richard Motsa, a tour guide at Hlane Royal Game Park in Swaziland. "Now more visitors want to get involved. They don’t want to just be tourists, they want to be participants."