An Advanced Community Tourism Development Management Model for Local Economic Development in Umzumbe Local Municipality

Description

Page: 09-18

Clifford Mhlanyukwa Duma¹ and Innocent Moyo¹ (Department of Sociology, University of Zululand, South Africa¹ and Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Zululand, South Africa²)

The research is focused on Umzumbe Local Municipality, which is the second largest municipality within the uGu District Municipality. The study change to understand the capacity of community tourism (CT) to stimulate local economic growth in Umzumbe Local Municipality, located within the uGu District Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal. The study region comprises untapped community tourism assets. The primary aim of this article is to put up a development management strategy for community tourism that will result in local economic development (LED) in the Umzumbe Local Municipality. To accomplish this goal, the study utilized a mixed methods research methodology to gain a more profound and thorough comprehension of the potential of community tourism in driving local economic growth in the specific area under investigation. The study revealed the existence of community tourism resources in Umzumbe Local Municipality, albeit most individuals were unaware of their presence. Furthermore, the research concluded that implementing targeted development methods focused on promoting community tourism might potentially result in local economic growth in the studied area. The model suggests that the key factors for achieving successful implementation of CT leading to LED are education, planning, political and technological support, capacity building, participation, partnership, human capital and economic growth, human resources and development (HRD), entrepreneurial leadership and teamwork, identification of passionate and goal-oriented members, facilitators and funders (government, private sector, & NGOs), infrastructure, conflict resolution, monitoring, and evaluation.