Tourism in the New South Africa: Social Responsibility and the Tourist Experience (Tourism, Retailing and Consumption)

A new socially responsible tourism has recently emerged out of a widening and acute concern for the environment. Known variously as "ecotourism," "new tourism," "socially responsible tourism," etc., huge claims are made for this new model of tourism development. Garth Allen and Frank Brennan discuss these claims and explore the experience of three tourist areas in South Africa. Under the new political dispensation in South Africa, conservation authorities are now obliged to utilize their natural resources and expertise in local sustainable development, and socially responsible tourism has been identified as an important option by the national government. The South African experience thus provides an important and rare view of how the "new tourism" works in practice.