Developing a stakeholder involvement framework towards sustainable tourism route development in South Africa

Abstract

Tourism routes have increasingly been adopted as an economic development strategy in rural and underdeveloped communities. This is also evident in developing countries such as South Africa. The existence and success of tourism routes are mainly influenced by the active involvement of stakeholders such as tourism planners (the government), residents, and tourism and non-tourism business providers. Unfortunately, there are notable gaps in the understanding of tourism route development evident from the literature: a lack of community consideration during the development of a tourism product, a lack of collaboration between industry, government, and community, a lack of stakeholder engagements, and continuous collaboration. The tourism route planners (government) need to consider the residents' views and opinions before planning and developing potential tourism routes. The residents should form part in planning, developing, marketing, and managing tourism routes within their communities' boundaries. Tourism providers need to be aware of the products and services necessary for developing and successfully launching tourism routes as they are at the centre stage of the route development as some of them are the rightful owners of products and services to be included in the tourism route. This study contributes to the literature on stakeholder involvement during tourism route planning, development, and management by developing a stakeholder involvement framework towards sustainable tourism route development in South Africa. The Eagle tourism route in the Free State Province was the case study. The study’s goal was achieved through five objectives. The first two objectives were achieved through a critical review of the existing literature. The first analysis reviewed tourism routes, the key factors of their success, and sustainable tourism in addressing economic, environmental, and social responsibility during route development. The second review explored stakeholder involvement in tourism route development. The third objective established route planners’ (government) perceptions of the Eagle Tourism Route’s planning, development and management and how, according to them, the residents who live in communities along this route form part as stakeholders through interviews (qualitative approach). This ix objective links to Phase 1 of the data collection. During this qualitative phase of the study, five Free State Gambling, Tourism and Liquor Authority (FSGLTA) officials were interviewed from October to December 2019. The data was transcribed into text, and thematic content analysis was applied to identify the codes and sub-themes. The themes and sub-themes revealed how FSGLTA officials involved tourism stakeholders in the planning, developing, and managing tourism routes in the Free State (Eagle tourism route). Contrasting views were revealed, especially regarding the involvement of residents and other stakeholders in the development, management and marketing of the tourism route. The results informed and guided the development of the data collection tools in Phase 2. The fourth objective focused on the second phase of the data collection, where a concurrent triangulation strategy was applied, which involved simultaneous quantitative and qualitative phases of data collection, analysis, and result comparisons. This research strategy was employed to understand the involvement of permanent residents and tourism business providers in Paul Roux, Rosendal, Fouriesburg, Bethlehem and Clarens in Dihlabeng District Municipality in the planning, development, and management of the tourism route. Interviews were conducted among community members (n = 25) living in the towns or settlements that form part of the tourism route, while questionnaires were distributed to tourism business providers (n = 241). The comparison of the results included the critical aspects to be considered when routes are developed and the expected benefits of the tourism routes for both the residents and tourism business providers. The fifth objective was achieved through drawing conclusions and making recommendations regarding stakeholder involvement in tourism development. Based on the empirical results, the study proposes a practical stakeholder involvement framework towards tourism route development. The framework is conceptualised based on the review of seminal works and the empirical findings of this study. The framework proposes that the tourism route planners (government) adopt three phases and eight steps throughout the phases. Phase 1 Stakeholder analysis consists of two steps: Step 1 Identification of stakeholders and Step 2 Initial communication and invitations. Phase 2 Planning and cooperation consist of three steps: Step 3 Stakeholder engagement, Step 4 Route consolidation and Step 5 Stakeholder collaboration. Steps 4 and 5 operate x interchangeably and back and forth when necessary. Lastly, Phase 3 Implementation consists of three steps: Step 6 Tourism route launch/relaunch, Step 7 Tourism route marketing and Step 8 Tourism route review. The steps in the framework are circulatory, implying that after a particular period, the tourism routes must be assessed and evaluated, and if necessary, all eight steps need to be followed again based on the tourism routes’ performance. The findings of this study are significant to the literature on the government as tourism route planners (enablers), the involvement of communities residing within the tourism routes and tourism businesses operating within the tourism routes. This study has the following theoretical and practical contributions. Firstly, the study fills the gap in stakeholder analysis by identifying stakeholders and including communication and invitation of stakeholders as critical phases and steps in the framework. Secondly, the study fills the stakeholder engagement gap, which is the tourism route planners' responsibility and the gap in route consolidation through stakeholder collaboration. This study contributes to new information and guidance on launching a new tourism route or re-launching an existing tourism route and a tourism route review. Finally, the study contributes to a thorough understanding of the steps to take should the need for a tourism route review occur. The review occurs when tourism route planners and other stakeholders consider the route redundant or operating counter to how it was planned - such reviews should occur periodically (e.g., every 3rd year). Overall, the study provides an integrated step-by-step guide to tourism route planners (government) on the planning, development, marketing, and managing of tourism routes. The stakeholder involvement framework developed in this study is beneficial (especially from a developing country perspective) to the general tourism industry, academic institutions, local tourism route developers, FSGLTA, other provincial and national tourism authorities, and scholars and researchers.