Community tourism as a form of empowerment for women : the case of the Mothers of Creation Route Western Cape South Africa

Abstract

Tourism has received much attention in recent years in the academic environment with regard to the negative impacts of tourism (Meethan et al., 2006; Hall & Lew, 2009; Wall & Mathieson, 2006; Wang, 1999; Cooper et al., 2008). This study focuses on the contrary, rather on a positive impact of tourism of empowerment in the community tourism context. The research uses the domains of empowerment (economic, social, psychological and political), distinguished by Scheyvens (2000) and Timothy (2002), as an approach to assess the impacts of tourism on women who are associated with the so-called Mothers of Creation Route in the vicinity of Knysna in the Western Cape of South Africa. The study was conducted by means of semi-structured interviews in respect of their life histories not only to collect but also to obtain the necessary perspective of their empowerment. The findings yield a number of women empowered on economic, social and psychological levels. However, the research also revealed a sample of women who show a low level of empowerment on a political level. The study also responds to information gaps in literature in respect of community tourism in South Africa with particular attention to women in tourism situations. The study also illustrates the need for more integrated approaches to the analysis of the impacts of tourism.