PEOPLE-FIRST TOURISM Concept Test in South Africa

Many tourists are interested in locally-beneficial experiences, which should afford opportunities for vulnerable individuals to earn their way out of poverty. However, host communities remain largely relegated to the role of passive tourees receiving only scraps from the tourism industry. This paper introduces “People-First Tourism”, a project that attempts to leverage information technology innovations and ubiquitous cellphones to provide microentrepreneurs with access to markets and to support peer networks, with two factors accounting for much of tourism’s unfulfilled potential to enable dignified and sustainable rural livelihoods. The paper reports the findings from fieldwork conducted in South Africa in January-February 2010, testing project validity with individuals from rural communities and with high-level tourism and telecom stakeholders.