Ronnie Donaldson 
Small Town Tourism in South Africa 

This book investigates small town tourism development in South Africa taking into account the most common strategies: branding, promotion, festivals and theming. The contents of the book resonate with the intersection of the power elite and their impacts on small town tourism. 






Because the book focuses on small town geographies in South Africa, the literature on small town tourism in the country is reviewed in Chapter 2 to provide a contextual background. Each subsequent chapter begins with an overview of international literature to give the conceptual context of the case studies each chapter explores.  In Chapter 3 the concept of small town tourism branding is illustrated by an exploration of the Richmond book town. In Chapter 4 the branding theme is probed further in an investigation of two winners of the Kwêla Town of the Year competition namely Fouriesburg and De Rust. Chapter 5 documents the branding of Sedgefield through its proclamation as Africa’s first Cittaslow (slow town), a process driven by the local power elite to the exclusion of town’s poor who have no understanding of the intentions of the Cittaslow movement and its potential benefits for the town. Chapter 6 is a case study of Greyton’s tourism-led rural gentrification by which a small town has transformed in three decades to become a sought after place of residence for elite inmigrants so making the town a jewel tourism destination while reinforcing racial segregation. Because festivals and events –  creations of the wealthy – have made significant financial contributions to small towns, Chapter 7 considers festivals and events as strategies to market and brand small towns in a particular way. Case studies of the economic impacts of festivals on small towns are assessed and the assessment methodologies used are critiqued. Chapter 8 provides a synthesis by drawing on the thesis of the urban growth machine by power elites.

Table of Content

Introduction: small towns in context.- A decade of small town tourism research in South Africa (2007 – 2016).- In the name of tourism: Developing an image and brand – the case of the Richmond book town.- Some more branding: ‘National Town of the Year’ as stimulus for tourism growth.- Cittaslow: going nowhere slowly?.- Rural (small town) tourism-led gentrification.- And then there was another festival .- Conclusion: The power behind tourism development.

 

About the author

Ronnie Donaldson is Professor of Geography at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa and Co-Director of the Tourism and Urban Research Unit
. His field of specialization is urban development, urban social geography and tourism development.