Cultural tourism is a vehicle for economic growth. Cultural representations are made in order to make the cultural tourism sector a more vibrant one. Given this argument, research in cultural tourism should take a critical stance in the analysis of cultural representations. An understanding of the meaning of culture is necessary to analyse the comparison of daily life with cultural representations. Observing the daily lives of host communities creates a conductive environment for realising and understanding the gaps between tourists experiences and the daily realities of the host communities. This research analysed how people represent their culture to tourists through the sale of crafts and dance performances. The research was carried out in Leboeng village, on the border between Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces, near the small town of Ohrigstad.

This dissertation involves a longitudinal study of the promotional materials of !Xaus Lodge, a community-owned lodge in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. The study engages with stakeholders of the Lodge in order to assess its promotional materials in terms of marketing, identity and development issues. The Circuit of Culture (Du Gay et al. 1997) covers and examines the process of meaning-making which forms the basis for understanding the textual and reception analyses. This, along with pertinent tourism theories, which discuss issues such as the concept of ‘authenticity’, the notion of the ‘other’ and various modes of representation, form the basis of the theory pervading the dissertation. The textual analysis is based on Tomaselli’s Phaneroscopic Table (1996), through which the promotional materials are examined. The reception analysis thematically discusses target market and past visitors’ opinions about the materials and the Lodge, facilitated through the process of coding. The informants’ opinions were collected through a number of focus groups conducted with the target market of !Xaus Lodge and through online questionnaires sent to past visitors. A comparison between the textual and reception analyses is conducted in order to identify similarities found and explain divergences. The analyses refer to all aspects of the promotional materials, but tend to concentrate on ≠Khomani representation within the materials and the feedback about the ≠Khomani cultural tourism experience at the Lodge. At the moment, the ≠Khomani express a romantic identity which relates well to similar expectations of many tourists, but the ‘reality’ of ≠Khomani society does not allow these !Xaus employees to meet the idealistic expectations of some visitors. / Thesis (M.A.)-University KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Cultural tourism is a vehicle for economic growth. Cultural representations are made in order to make the cultural tourism sector a more vibrant one. Given this argument, research in cultural tourism should take a critical stance in the analysis of cultural representations. An understanding of the meaning of culture is necessary to analyse the comparison of daily life with cultural representations. Observing the daily lives of host communities creates a conductive environment for realising and understanding the gaps between tourists experiences and the daily realities of the host communities. This research analysed how people represent their culture to tourists through the sale of crafts and dance performances. The research was carried out in Leboeng village, on the border between Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces, near the small town of Ohrigstad.

Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the subject Isizulu Namagugu at the University of Zululand, 2002. / This study comes from the direction of investigating and arriving at an option that can be looked as an alternative for the economic development of the area of e’Ndondakusuka. Different researches have been conducted in the area since the introduction of RDP policy. The then Mandeni, was seen as having social and economic depression, and investigations were conducted in order to look at the v part of it. The area's council started to initiate discussions that resulted to workshops, workshops that led to implementation strategies being recommended for the area. Cultural and Historical tourism was seen as one of the ways to explore in order to provide solutions to the declining social and economic facets of the area. This study, therefore has established its route and baseline measure along the lines of the above but highlighting the Anglo-Zulu War as means to an end. The route starts by outlining e'Ndondakusuka sub-cluster of historical sites the Kraal / umuzi, the Cultural centre and a Conference centre as core facilities on the same site and ends at Ulundi. The reason for it to end there is that the significance of these wars was based on the British soldiers following Cetshwayo to Ulundi. The road R66, which starts from R102 around Gingindlovu, passing through Eshowe, Melmoth and joined by Ulundi road, is the baseline of the Anglo-Zulu War route. Options in terms of how the route could be made to attract crafters in order for them to find markets, have been emphasized. Options in terms of how inland tourism could be made to interchange with the coastal tourism, have been made mention of. Because the route is mainly grounded around and on Anglo-Zulu War significance, it is therefore seen as of both national and international attraction

This paper seeks to explore a number of issues in relation to tourism, particularly cultural tours, in Cape Town from the apartheid era to the new political dispensation in South Africa. Cultural tourism is not merely about commerial activities. It is an ideological framing of history of people, nature, and culture, a framing that has power to reshape culture and nature for its own needs. In the South African context, this can be seen from the early decades of the twentieth century, but for the purposes of this study it will focus from the 1950s onwards to the present political period. The dominant ideology and political conditions at a given time shape cultural tourism.

This paper seeks to explore a number of issues in relation to tourism, particularly cultural tours, in Cape Town from the apartheid era to the new political dispensation in South Africa. Cultural tourism is not merely about commerial activities. It is an ideological framing of history of people, nature, and culture, a framing that has power to reshape culture and nature for its own needs. In the South African context, this can be seen from the early decades of the twentieth century, but for the purposes of this study it will focus from the 1950s onwards to the present political period. The dominant ideology and political conditions at a given time shape cultural tourism.

A growing number of studies concerning cultural villages have in most instances tended to focus on the cultural village as almost legitimately self-explanatory and have not been particularly concerned with either how a particular history is produced in and through these villages, or with the ways that particular discourses and practices associated with heritage, tourism, community and development intersect in the production of these meanings. As such Mgwali Cultural Village seemed to promise something different in the form of cultural villages. The thesis argues that Mgwali Cultural Village is unique in the history of cultural villages in that it moves away from presenting a cultural village in Africa as tribal and primitive. It does this by opening up spaces for other aspects such as Christianity and resistance politics, story of Tiyo Soga rather than focusing and confining itself only to aspects cultural portraying Africans and traditional. It is imperative that cultural villages ought to be understood within a broader framework and context where its definition and presentation is not trapped into an anthropological paradigm thinking of exploring and discovering something new by tourists which they are not familiar with. However, the thesis also argues that much as Mgwali Cultural Village promised something new from the known through depiction of other aspects, those histories seem to be absent or marginal at the Cultural Village. The only aspects that are fore grounded are traditions and culture thus freezing Mgwali as a village and its people in time as if they have not evolved and its cultures are static and not dynamic. The thesis therefore explores all those contradictions, silences, or absence thereof of other stories and histories.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Centre for Recreation and Tourism at the University of Zululand, 2007. / It has been observed that the tourism industry is facing many challenges in KwaZulu-Natal. First and foremost, the ownership of tourism resources still does not reflect the demographics of the population of the province. Second, indigenous Zulu culture remains under-packaged for tourism purposes. The little that is packaged generally lacks cultural authenticity and the dignity associated with it. This research study has therefore, identified that Zulu culture is one of the most important reasons for patronage of foreign tourists. This was evident in comments coming from the filling-in of visitors' records at each of the tourist attractions. It became apparent that there is a general desire out there to learn more about Zulu culture and heritage. The fundamental objectives of this research inquiry are three-fold: (a) to identify the levels of engagement in systematic alignment between policy formulation and policy implementation in the tourism sector in KwaZulu-Natal; (b) to reveal the various recreation and tourism practices taking place and experienced at the three case-study sites of Impi YaseNcome Museum, the Spirit of eMakhosini Valley and the Inanda Heritage Route, all in KwaZulu-Natal; and (c) to determine the extent to which international benchmarking in tourism policy formulation has been adopted in the study area. To achieve these objectives the research adopted both a qualitative and quantitative approach, each of these approaches was expected to address the intangible and tangible aspects of the tourism attractions and resources in the study area. Analysing the materia! and non-materials facets of tourism is a challenge on its own, because the fields of recreation and tourism, are a fairly virgin field of study. The qualitative and quantitative approaches as applied in the empirical investigation of cultural and heritage tourism phenomena, are utilised and married in chapters five and six of this thesis. The findings of the study reveal that, although the tourism promotion strategies in KwaZulu-Natal centre around the concept of the Zulu Kingdom brand, there is general under-development of the very tourist attractions which would maximise the presence of Zulu culture on the ground. At Impi YaseNcome Museum, there is a static permanent exhibition. At the Spirit of eMakhosini, there is a misrepresentation of Zulu symbolism to be antiquated. The Inanda Heritage Route was found to be exceedingly underdeveloped. Considering that the study has found a deficiency in the systematic alignment between policy formulation and policy implementation in KwaZulu-Natal, it has nonetheless succeeded to put forward a theoretical model that seeks to align policy and practice in the context of achieving a broad based black economic development in the tourism sector. The model proposes the integration of policy, resources and the industry towards developing the community. The study has focused on the development and promotion of cultural tourism in KwaZulu-Natal, for the benefit of communities, through utilising cultural, heritage and historical resources. Moreover, the study has strongly recommended that the economic and development value of cultural tourism ought to be taken seriously by those involved with tourism policy development in the province, so as to be of benefit to one and all. In this regard the study raises many possibilities for further research. / University of Zululand

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of Master’s Degree in Technology: Tourism and Hospitality, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2016. / The primary aim of the study is to evaluate the community-based tourism model adopted by the Zulu-Mpophomeni Tourism Experience (ZMTE). ZMTE is a community-based tourism initiative that aims to provide visitors with a combined experience encompassing the elements of culture, history and nature. It is fully owned and managed by the Mpophomeni local residents. ZMTE is made up of different service providers including cultural and township tours, accommodation, restaurants as well as arts and crafts, which are all locally owned and managed. The inception of ZMTE was influenced by the growth in demand for authentic cultural and township experience by international markets as well as the immediate need to improve the livelihood of the local community. However, increased tourism activity results in a number of positive and negative implications to the area of Mpophomeni and its residents, primarily because the local community forms part of the tourism product. ZMTE is selected as a significant area of study due to its great potential for growth and has generated increased interest from different stakeholders within the tourism industry as well as the Mpophomeni local community. Its inception has largely improved tourism in the area of Mpophomeni and the province of KwaZulu-Natal in particular (KwaZulu-Natal Tourism Authority: 2012). The study findings are based on a sample of 280 Mpophomeni local community members, one managing director of the ZMTE and six establishments that are service providers of the ZMTE. The study adopted both quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection. Semi-structured questionnaires were used to obtain data from the Mpophomeni local community. Face- to-face interviews were conducted to obtain data from ZMTE service providers and one managing director of this project. The results suggest the ZMTE is not beneficial to the majority of the local people and a lot still needs to be done in order to improve its viability. The major factor contributing to the lack of positive contribution of the ZMTE to the local community is due to the lack of knowledge about approaches that the local people can adopt in order to be part of the ZMTE and benefit from it. Findings derived from this study will unveil the CBT model adopted by the ZMTE. This will enable to revelation of areas that require improvement within the ZMTE so that benefits and opportunities are exploited. / M

The thesis is an ethnographic exploration of the visual performances of the (≠Khomani) Bushmen of the Northern Cape and the Zulu from KwaZulu-Natal of South Africa. I investigate how the ≠Khomani and the Zulu involved in the cultural tourism industry are using archetypical tropes of ethnicity, and how they recreate these in the process of formulating context-specific identities in contemporary South Africa. The Bushmen and Zulu iconography that is ubiquitous is read against the modern day quotidian lives of the people concerned. The role and participation of tourists and researchers (anthro-tourists) in the performative culture of cultural tourism is investigated. An opportunity is also taken to critique the artistic creations of Vetkat Kruiper which partly arise because of the need to satisfy a tourism industry interested in Bushman arts and artefacts. Similarly his wife’s ‘biographical’ book Kalahari Rainsong (2004) is critiqued interactively and allows me to appreciate my encounters with people and text in the Kalahari. My visits to cultural villages where either the Zulu or the Bushman self-perform permit me to indulge in critical performative writing in which I also investigate the role and place of (anthro)tourists in the reinvention of site-specific identities. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.