Research Articles Base: Rural Development

The Role of Tourism in Rural Development

Introduction             Many rural areas are facing different challenges. These challenges are interconnected and include problems such as depopulation, decline in agricultural employment and ageing. On the other hand, tourism is increasing in prominence as a tool for rural development. This opens up new opportunities for rural areas. However, transition from traditional rural economies to tourism brings challenges for the policy makers in deciding on how to plan and implement rural tourism policies. Typically such decisions require trade-offs between economic, environmental and social interests.             The aim of tourism development is rural areas is, in general terms, to provide opportunities for economic and social development. In some areas, tourism provides the main source of income and employment, as well as providing social and environmental benefits. Inevitably, negative aspects of rural tourism development are evident also. There is a substantial literature on the impacts of tourism in rural areas. Much of the early tourism impact research focuses on rural areas, arguably because the relationship between tourism and the environment in the countryside is more pronounced. The benefits of rural tourism in general are: ·         Increases the range and viability of local businesses (food and non-food shops, hotels, pubs and cafes, garages, indirect spending to other non-tourist businesses) ·         Contributes to social and community life (encourages new businesses, provides employment, supports fund-raising and community events, makes a greater choice of recreational opportunities available to local people) ·         Helps maintain or improve services (health services, entertainment, banks, public transport) ·         Brings about environmental and/or infrastructural improvements (pride generated, revenue pays for environmental improvements, large car parks, interpretation, enhanced visual amenity) (Page & Connel, 2006)             Several negative impacts were reported. Rising house process, traffic congestion, parking problems, disturbance and litter were the most common aspects reported (Page & Connel, 2006).   Research Questions             This research aims to investigate on the roles played by tourism in rural development. The following questions will be answered through this research: 1. What are the trends in rural tourism? 2. What are the opportunities for rural development offered by tourism? 3. How are rural resources being managed to support tourism and development? 4. How can sustainable development be achieved in rural areas with active tourism industries?   Research Methodology This research will make use of both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. According to Newman and Benz (1998), a qualitative research involves an interpretative, naturalistic approach of the subject matter. Qualitative research is about studying things in their natural settings. A researcher conducting qualitative research attempts to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meaning people bring to them. Qualitative research involves different methods of gathering and collecting of empirical materials such as case study personal experience, introspective, life story, interview, observational, historical, interactions, and visual texts. This method of data collection is about exploring issues, understanding phenomena and answering questions. The quantitative paradigm is based on positivism which takes scientific explanation to be nomethetic (i.e. based on universal laws). Its main aims are to measure the social world, to test hypotheses and to predict and control human behavior (Newman and Benz 1998). Quantitative research is based on the assumption that the world can be investigated using scientific method and that there is an independent reality. Quantitative research is based on the belief that measurable influences (independent variables) affect measurable outcomes (dependent variables) in a cause-effect manner. Quantitative studies are studies in which the data can be analyzed using conventional statistical methods (Peat 2001). As its name implies, quantitative research is concerned with quantities – how to measure phenomena and how to express those measurement. A researcher who takes a quantitative approach to investigating a topic aims to learn more about it. Taking a quantitative approach to research implies asking questions about the phenomena that can be counted. Researchers who take a quantitative approach often work within positivism, as this paradigm frames the world as a collection of apparently independent phenomena to be counted, measured and otherwise catalogued as the prelude to deducing the rules or laws underlying them and giving them coherence (MacNaughton et al 2001). This is a method of data collection, that usually emphasizes on words rather than numeric in the collection of data and analysis whereby questionnaires, surveys and experiments are carried out (Bryman and Bell, 2003).     References Page, S & Connell, J 2006, Tourism: A modern synthesis, Cengage Learning EMEA. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

The Role of Tourism in Rural Development

Introduction Many rural areas are facing different challenges. These challenges are interconnected and include proble...

Service Delivery for Rural Communities

Service Delivery for Rural Communities     The evolving government in South Africa engages in local development and  service delivery by way of a decentralized system with strong community support. It concentrates on speed and delivery in dealing with the remnants of apartheid, the struggle against which has also left a legacy of community-based organizing and a significant civil society sector, where blacks and women play a critical role.[1]   However, there is a disconnect  between community-based development and community-driven development (CDD), where communities control the identification of projects, due to the local government’s use of ward committees in community involvement. These are not independent bodies and have no budgets for their initiatives.[2]   Municipalities in South Africa are mandated to have policies and institutional frameworks that support and sustain local development that is in line toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and basic rights of the people. Local government officials must promote good governance by performing their duties with efficiency, transparency and accountability.[3]   Local governments must coordinate to realize several goals which include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, installing universal primary education, practicing gender equality, decreasing child mortality and fighting human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), malaria and other diseases.[4]   Since 2004, people have gone to the streets to protest the political leadership’s inadequate response to community issues on the incompetence and corruption of local governments, which reflects the crisis of local democracy. However, municipalities cannot deliver services due to fiscal distress, a weak revenue base and a shortage of the required skills for the job at hand.[5]   The following are recommendations to address the challenges of delivering service to rural communities in South Africa:[6] The public should be consulted and enjoined to participate on vital governance issues, policy formulation and implementation. Municipalities must review and upgrade their internal control systems to check maladministration, financial mismanagement, fraud and corruption. Transparency, accountability and openness to public scrutiny must be promoted in local governments. Municipalities must integrate the needs of the community in their budget allocations and development programs. Prevailing tensions between politics and administration must be resolved and made sure not to compromise the delivery of service. Fiscal allocations must be made according to the economic capabilities of different municipalities to ensure uniform development. The capacities of municipal officials must be built to make them render services more effectively.   Moral renewal is needed in the country where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and it is important for civil society to address the failure of  government service. These organizations are committed to the values of a moral society and receive the support of local and foreign donors and ordinary workers.[7]     		 		 		 		[1] David Everatt, Lulu Gwagwa, 		“Community Driven Development in South Africa, 1990-2004”, 		Africa Region, Working Paper Series No. 92, October 2005, 		 		<http://www.worldbank.org/afr/wps/wp92.pdf> [accessed 20 April 2011] 		 		 		 		[2] ibid 		 		 		 		[3] Idasa, “The State of Local 		Government and Service Delivery in South Africa: Issues, Challenges 		and Solutions”, 22 January 2010 <www.pmg.org.za/files/docs/100204idasa.doc 		> [accessed 21 April 2011] 		 		 		 		[4] ibid 		 		 		 		[5] ibid 		 		 		 		[6] ibid 		 		 		 		[7] Shelagh Gastrow,“’Tis the 		Season of Promises”, service delivery, sa ngo net pulse, 		<http://www.ngopulse.org/category/defined-tags/rural-development/service-delivery> 		[accessed 21 April 2011] Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Service Delivery for Rural Communities

Service Delivery for Rural Communities The evolving government in South Africa engages in local development and service delivery...

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