Efforts to diversify local and regional economies through the addition of tourism
have been a significant state objective in post-apartheid South Africa (Republic of
South Africa 1998). Rural and small town places are similarly turning to tourism as
an economic building block in the face of deindustrialization (Hill et al. 2003). Many
of these rural and small town tourism initiatives are using a “place-based” approach
which includes “the use of cultural and nature-based tourism, which draws on local
skills” (Gardyne et al. 2005, 128).