Due to the numerous developmental constraints that they face, often Small Island Developing States (SIDS) relies on tourism as the means by which to achieve development. As such, SIDS governments promote sustainable tourism in policy agendas on the grounds that it will enhance the lives of local people through the creation of employment and subsequent increase in income level. However, often in SIDS, sustainable tourism development largely focuses on the management of resources and the impacts associated with tourism development. In this regard the focus on tourism development has remained on developing the necessary infrastructure for attracting international tourist markets, neglecting the crucial components of tourism education and local employment. Therefore, the aim of this research was to determine the role of tourism education and local employment as factors contributing to the sustainable development of tourism in the context of a SIDS destination. The context of the Maldives was selected as the SIDS case. This research indicated that in aggressive pursuit of increasing the number of international arrivals and with an ‘expansionist’ attitude, the SIDS case under study has neglected the crucial aspects of tourism education and local employment as contributors to the sustainable development of tourism. Consequently, tourism education neither meets the local needs for employment nor the industry needs for a skilled and educated workforce. The research revealed that this is an outcome of insufficient attention being given at policy level to tourism education, and local employment. Indeed, the research revealed that an increase in the number of international tourist arrivals and subsequent increase in foreign exchange earnings does not necessary mean that tourism brings economic sustainability to the destination by providing employment opportunities to the local communities and increased income. The research further revealed the complexity of issues which affect local participation in tourism. Moreover, the research also indicated how sustainable tourism development is intrinsically linked to tourism education and local employment. As the SIDS governments have a catalytic role to play in ensuring that tourism is developed in a sustainable manner that benefits all stakeholders, instead of implementing piecemeal policies in tourism education and local employment, this study advocates the integration of tourism education and local employment policies as part of the broader national development plan. This thesis contributes to tourism policy and practice. From a theoretical perspective, this research adds to the body of knowledge relating to the study of sustainable development of tourism in the context of a SIDS destination. Further, this research presents a number of practical recommendations for the government and the industry to ensure that tourism is indeed developed on a sustainable manner that benefits all stakeholders.

Local perceptions and livelihood strategies have in this study been examined through extensive fieldwork in two villages in rural Pondoland in the former homeland Transkei in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province. Using a bottom-up perspective, changes in livelihoods and the processes involved in choosing between and combining various types of livelihood activities are analysed. The study also looks at specific South African policies, targeted at poverty relief and restriction of natural resource use, from the local perspective and points at communication problems between the national and local levels. Livelihoods in Transkei are today often conceptualised as consisting of subsistence agriculture combined with monetary incomes in the forms of state pensions and remittances from migrant labourers. This view is challenged by the results of the present study, showing that local jobs are the major components of livelihoods in the studied villages. Informal jobs are stressed as constituting an important, and perhaps previously underestimated, part of local job opportunities. While pensions also do make important contributions to livelihoods, the significance of agriculture, livestock keeping and various forms of natural resource use is shown to be relatively low. Key insights are that livelihood activities in rural Transkei vary a lot between specific localities, and that important recent changes in livelihoods have taken place. Transkei is furthermore often conceptualised as a region where severe environmental degradation is taking place, a fact that is also contradicted by findings from the study area. In accordance with recent research on an ‘African degradation narrative’, the hopeless and homogenous picture of Transkei as a generally degraded region is questioned. These results are also used to critically examine concepts such as ‘multiple livelihood strategies’ and the tendency to generalise about rural livelihoods across regions, countries or even continents. / Lokala uppfattningar och försörjningsstrategier har i denna studie undersökts genom långvarigt fältarbete och omfattande intervjuer med lokalbefolkningen i två byar i den rurala kustregionen i Pondoland, i Sydafrikas f.d. ‘homeland’ Transkei (idag Östra Kapprovinsen). Under apartheidtiden tvingades Sydafrikas befolkning av afrikanskt ursprung i hög utsträckning att bo i dessa s.k. homelands, vilket anses ha lett till både fattigdom och omfattande miljöförstöring i dessa områden. Transkei konceptualiseras idag därför ofta som ett problemområde, där befolkningen överlever på småskaligt jordbruk, nyttjande av, statliga bidrag och pengar från släktingar som jobbar i storstäder. Denna studie ifrågasätter upprätthållandet av en sådan bild av Transkei, genom att peka på att majoriteten av hushållen i fältområdet idag har lokala jobb. I detta sammanhang har informella jobb en viktig och troligtvis tidigare underskattad roll. Studien pekar också på att försörjningsstrategier är föränderliga och att det finns stora skillnader mellan olika lokaliteter med avseende på olika försörjningsmöjligheter. Många studier i Afrika har på senare tid ifrågasatt antaganden om att olika regioner är generellt degraderade, och visat på att detta ofta kan vara ett narrativ som av olika skäl upprätthålls utan att närmare granskas. Denna studie visar däremot på att miljön i fältområdet inte är generellt degraderad och att lokalbefolkningen inte överutnyttjar naturresurserna. Därmed bidrar studien till att nyansera en ibland alltför homogen och hopplös bild av Transkei som region. Studien granskar också specifika Sydafrikanska policies för naturvård och fattigdomsbekämpning utifrån lokalbefolkningens perspektiv och visar på problematiska kommunikationsbrister mellan nationell och lokal nivå.