Community participation in cultural tourism

Sankuyo villagers, from the Trust's web site

In a new article published in the online periodical, TourismWatch, HOORC researcher Susan Keitumetse argues that the protected area model limits local communities' opportunities to engage their cultural landscapes in tourism taking place in national parks. A study of the Sankuyo Tshwaragano Management Trust showed that that cultural tourism can assist re-connect Delta communities with the Okavango Delta wilderness that is currently a tourism product, and at the same time address possible conflict of resources use between business operators and communities in some areas of the Okavango Delta. Local people get opportunities to interact with the international tourist at a more direct level, giving them exposure to tourism business needs. Moreover, since cultural authenticity is largely dependent on the local communities themselves, cultural tourism will enhance local participation almost by default. You can find the article, Cultural Tourism in Botswana : Community Participation in the Okavango Delta Tourism online and in HOORC's Library.