| Summary: | In a time of global economic recession, developing countries are focusing on alternative methods to better the overall life satisfaction and therefore living standards of its communities. Life satisfaction relates to the well-being of an individual with regards to their different life domains. This study focusses on the tourism industry in South Africa, specifically, township tourism in the Western Cape. The purpose of this article was to investigate the relationship between socio-cultural impacts of a township tour, namely: the perceived level of respect towards resident’s traditions, cultures and beliefs by tourists; whether social interaction exists between residents and tourists; whether residents perceive an infringement on their privacy, and; whether the residents perceive a positive result from the interaction with tourists and the overall life satisfaction, constituting; the material-life; the community-life; the emotional-life, and; the health-life of residents in townships in the Western Cape, South Africa. Furthermore, the Bottom-Up and Top-Down Perspectives of life satisfaction are utilized to explain the relation between the variables of this study. A quantitative research design was used for the purpose of this study and the data was collected by means of a self-administered questionnaire. The findings of this study indicate that socio-cultural impacts of a township tour correlate strongly with the emotionallife domain of residents of townships. From the findings, recommendations to the stakeholders of township tours are made. The managerial implication is that township tour operators should focus their attention on the residents of the township communities and find ways to incorporate residents into their business. The study is significant as it adds to the limited research on township tours in South Africa and, as far as could be established by the researchers, is the first study to investigate the relation between socio-cultural impacts of a township tour and the overall life satisfaction of residents in townships in the Western Cape, South Africa.
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