Tourism in Rural Protected Areas

Despite its potential to unlock socio-economic benefits in rural and protected areas in a manner that addresses the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), rural and protected areas tourism is yet to be thoroughly examined by academics, scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. This lack of exploration has undermined the potential benefits associated with tourism development in rural and protected areas. Given the complexity of rural tourism, this contributed volume explores current and future debates on the subject using cases in Southern Africa. The book is useful for various audiences, including tourism academics, planners, cultural and heritage practitioners, and rural development planners. The topics covered include gender, transformation, service delivery, visitor experience, wildlife tourism, and host-community tourism interaction.

Prof. Kaitano Dube is a leading tourism geographer interested in tourism, climate change, sustainable development and aviation. He is a National Research Foundation of South Africa C2-rated researcher. He has mentored 5 Post Doctoral Fellows and graduated with several Masters and is currently supervising several Doctoral and Masters students. He has published and co-edited 13 books to date. Apart from his engagement as a professor of Tourism Geography at Vaal University of Technology, where he lectures on ecotourism management, Prof Dube is also a visiting professor at Emirates Aviation University, Dubai, UAE. He is also a consulting supervisor at Durban University and the University of South Africa. He has collaborated with several other university and industry players in his field. Prof. Ikechukwu O. Ezeuduji obtained a PhD from the BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria. After that, he received a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He taught at the University of Johannesburg and Cape Peninsula University of Technology before joining the University of Zululand. He is a Full Professor of Tourism Management in the Department of Recreation and Tourism, University of Zululand, South Africa. He teaches and supervises Postgraduate students (Honours, Master's and Doctoral). Magdalena Petronella (Nellie) Swart is an associate professor of tourism at the University of South Africa (Unisa) and a certified meeting professional with a DCom in leadership performance and change. As an author, conference organiser, and industry speaker, she chairs Tourism Educators South Africa (TESA), leads the Executive Development Programme for Women in Tourism at Unisa, and serves as the G100 City Chair for Johannesburg. Nellie has co-authored over 70 publications in journal articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings. She has co-edited three handbooks and successfully supervised seven Postgraduate Students. In 2022, the International Hospitality Institute recognised her as one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Africa Hospitality. In 2023, she was honoured as one of Africa's top 5 Women in leadership.