| Summary: | A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Centre for Recreation and Tourism at the University of Zululand, 2007. === It has been observed that the tourism industry is facing many challenges in KwaZulu-Natal. First and foremost, the ownership of tourism resources still does not reflect the demographics of the population of the province. Second, indigenous Zulu culture remains under-packaged for tourism purposes. The little that is packaged generally lacks cultural authenticity and the dignity associated with it. This research study has therefore, identified that Zulu culture is one of the most important reasons for patronage of foreign tourists. This was evident in comments coming from the filling-in of visitors' records at each of the tourist attractions. It became apparent that there is a general desire out there to learn more about Zulu culture and heritage.
The fundamental objectives of this research inquiry are three-fold: (a) to identify the levels of engagement in systematic alignment between policy formulation and policy implementation in the tourism sector in KwaZulu-Natal; (b) to reveal the various recreation and tourism practices taking place and experienced at the three case-study sites of Impi YaseNcome Museum, the Spirit of eMakhosini Valley and the Inanda Heritage Route, all in KwaZulu-Natal; and (c) to determine the extent to which international benchmarking in tourism policy formulation has been adopted in the study area.
To achieve these objectives the research adopted both a qualitative and quantitative approach, each of these approaches was expected to address the intangible and tangible aspects of the tourism attractions and resources in the study area. Analysing the materia! and non-materials facets of tourism is a challenge on its own, because the fields of recreation and tourism, are a fairly virgin field of study. The qualitative and quantitative approaches as applied in the empirical investigation of cultural and heritage tourism phenomena, are utilised and married in chapters five and six of this thesis.
The findings of the study reveal that, although the tourism promotion strategies in KwaZulu-Natal centre around the concept of the Zulu Kingdom brand, there is general under-development of the very tourist attractions which would maximise the presence of Zulu culture on the ground. At Impi YaseNcome Museum, there is a static permanent exhibition. At the Spirit of eMakhosini, there is a misrepresentation of Zulu symbolism to be antiquated. The Inanda Heritage Route was found to be exceedingly underdeveloped.
Considering that the study has found a deficiency in the systematic alignment between policy formulation and policy implementation in KwaZulu-Natal, it has nonetheless succeeded to put forward a theoretical model that seeks to align policy and practice in the context of achieving a broad based black economic development in the tourism sector. The model proposes the integration of policy, resources and the industry towards developing the community.
The study has focused on the development and promotion of cultural tourism in KwaZulu-Natal, for the benefit of communities, through utilising cultural, heritage and historical resources. Moreover, the study has strongly recommended that the economic and development value of cultural tourism ought to be taken seriously by those involved with tourism policy development in the province, so as to be of benefit to one and all. In this regard the study raises many possibilities for further research. === University of Zululand
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