Original Research

The development of a tourism research framework by South African National Parks to inform management

Duan Biggs, Louise Swemmer, Glen Phillips, Joep Stevens, Stefanie Freitag, Rina Grant
Koedoe | Vol 56, No 2 | a1164 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/koedoe.v56i2.1164 | © 2014 Duan Biggs, Louise Swemmer, Glen Phillips, Joep Stevens, Stefanie Freitag, Rina Grant | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 19 April 2013 | Published: 24 June 2014

About the author(s)

Duan Biggs, Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Science, University of Queensland, Australia; South African National Parks Scientific Services, Kruger National Park, Skukuza, South Africa
Louise Swemmer, South African National Parks Scientific Services, Kruger National Park, Skukuza, South Africa
Glen Phillips, South African National Parks Tourism Managing Executive, Pretoria, South Africa
Joep Stevens, South African National Parks Tourism Managing Executive, Pretoria, South Africa
Stefanie Freitag, South African National Parks Scientific Services, Kruger National Park, Skukuza, South Africa
Rina Grant, South African National Parks Scientific Services, Kruger National Park, Skukuza, South Africa

Abstract

Tourism is critical source of financing for conservation in Africa. South African National Parks (SANParks) raises in excess of 80% of their own funds through tourism revenue. SANParks has a culture of co-learning between scientists and conservation managers through a process known as strategic adaptive management (SAM). Despite the critical role that tourism plays in SANParks, it has, until recently, not been formally incorporated in the SAM process. Moreover, SANParks recently adopted a new responsible tourism policy to guide the development and management of tourism across all national parks. The new policy calls for tourism that supports biodiversity conservation, is environmentally efficient and socially responsible. In 2011, SANParks initiated a tourism research programme to support the incorporation of tourism in SAM and to provide enabling information for the implementation of the responsible tourism policy. This article summarised the development of the tourism research programme in SANParks and its key research themes.

Conservation implications: An active tourism research programme that integrates science and management is necessary for tourism to play a stronger role in delivering outcomes for conservation, neighbouring communities and broader society.


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