Implications of Responsible Tourism for Conservation and Development in Southern Africa - Responsible Tourism: Critical Issues for Conservation and Development - page 345

mistrust, allegations of the misuse of funds and restrictions in access and use of
coastal reserves. Unrealistic expectations of the potential positive impacts of
tourism held by members of the Mqobela and Mpukane communities have led to
disappointment among those who have not experienced tangible benefits.
Simpson stresses the importance of open communication between communities
and the private sector to ensure good relationships and to ensure a realistic appre-
ciation of the tourism development process and its potential impacts. He also
emphasizes the importance of the private sector's role in driving responsible
tourism development, and engaging in mutually beneficial partnerships with host
communities. The chapter provides a valuable contribution to the literature, and a
basis for further exploration of the role of local equity in tourism enterprises (as in
Chapter 3 by Varghese) and local supply chain linkages (as in Chapter 6 by Ashley
and Haysom). The chapter also presents a research approach that could be
systematically applied by other practitioners and researchers to collect compara-
ble data on the impacts of responsible tourism on local livelihoods. Simpson's
research demonstrates that in areas of high population and extreme poverty,
isolated tourism enterprises have only a limited impact on prevailing livelihoods,
and that tourism should be considered as one element of an integrated local
economic development approach. A destination approach with greater economies
of scale is critical. The work also highlights how case studies are generally cross-
sectional research, while longitudinal studies can demonstrate how the impacts of
tourism enterprises (and modifications to their operating and institutional struc-
tures) can adjust the level of impacts and also local perceptions of benefits. A
comparison of Murray's research undertaken in 2004 and 2005 with earlier
studies at Rocktail Bay Lodge (Poultney and Spenceley, 2001) and more recent
analyses of its sister enterprise, Rocktail Beach Lodge (Spenceley, 2008d), illus-
trate how tourism operators learn and adapt their management systems over time.
Recognizing where initiatives with local communities have failed, and adapting to
re-think partnership arrangements is fundamental to change within the tourism
sector, and the evolution of approaches. Responsible tourism approaches need to
address revising and improving the performance of existing operations, and not
only focusing on establishing new ones.
Concluding the responsible nature-based tourism section, Piers Relly evalu-
ates the local economic impacts of nature-based tourism lodges in Madikwe
Game Reserve in South Africa. Relly demonstrates that by taking a destination
approach, substantial and tangible benefits can be derived by local people. In
2007 investment by the private and public sector in Madikwe was estimated at
around US$93 million from 20 commercial lodges and 14 corporate lodges. The
20 commercial lodges provide capacity for visitors in 412 beds. These enterprises
have resulted in the employment of 773 people: 74.5 per cent of whom live locally
and earn 48.4 per cent of the total cash remuneration (an estimated US$3.3
million per year). However, Relly found that there has been little transformation
from unskilled to skilled labour among local people, indicating limited opportuni-
ties for training and advancement. One of the two community-owned commercial
lodges in the reserve has been estimated to currently generate an average annual