Residents’ Perceptions of the Socio-cultural Impacts of Tourism: A Case Study of the Tokyo Sexwale Community in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to examine the residents’ perceptions of socio-cultural impacts in the Tokyo Sexwale community in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa. A quantitative study (n=400) was conducted to determine the Tokyo Sexwale residents’ perceptions of the socio-cultural impacts of tourism in Jeffrey’s Bay. The findings indicated that local residents have noted positive and negative socio-cultural impacts in their community and Jeffrey’s Bay at large, as a result of the growth in tourism. In addition, the findings also revealed that the majority of the respondents were knowledgeable in terms of what tourism was all about and its impact on the community. The implications of this study are that local government and specifically the local tourism authority, despite all the good policy frameworks in South Africa, fail to consider the community as a key stakeholder in tourism development. So even though a community may be knowledgeable about tourism and its potential to bring about change, they may not necessarily be engaged as a stakeholder and included in tourism initiatives.

Keywords

• tourism
• socio-cultural impacts of tourism
• community participation
• stakeholders
• townships