As Tourism Month wraps up, we celebrate the power of community-based tourism to connect travellers with the people and heritage that make South Africa.
South Africa (30 September 2025) – Tourism Month draws to a close, so let’s take this moment to reflect on the role communities play in shaping South Africa’s travel story. Iconic landmarks like Table Mountain and Kruger National Park continue to attract visitors from around the world. But how about we shift the focus from the usual “tourist gaze” and towards experiences rooted in everyday community life?
Community-based tourism (CBT) has been viewed as a way to do just that. It allows travellers to step into local spaces and engage with the people who make up a country’s population. C.R. Botha, Lecturer in Heritage and Cultural Tourism at the University of Pretoria, highlights the importance of CBT.
“Community-based tourism is kind of a hallmark of this country, seeing that it encapsulates a lot of things that we strive for. The cultural heritage of this country, Ubuntu, and it’s really a mechanism for us to get to those transformative goals we set ourselves in tourism.”
CBT holds enormous potential; its promise has not yet been fully realised. C.R. notes that despite significant investment, the benefits are not always reaching communities.
“Although community-based tourism ticks all of these boxes, there has perhaps been a question as of late (especially after the COVID-19 pandemic) why has this phenomenon not reached those intended heights? There seems to be a disconnect between the actual benefits in theory and the actual benefits in practice.”
For many tourists, the country’s image is still tied to wildlife, sun, and sea. This means that local communities are often sidelined.
“There’s clearly a misalignment. Where the community is almost sidelined in the tourism value chain. Communities rely on CBT as a lifeline. If the tourists are not coming, then CBT goes into decline, especially in rural settings.”
Success stories do exist. The best practice examples are the Witsieshoek Mountain Lodge on the Free State–Lesotho border, Khwa ttu San Heritage Centre in the Northern Cape, and the Guga S’thebe Arts and Cultural Centre in Langa. These showcase what is possible when communities, government, and the private sector work together.
CBT looks to diversify South Africa’s tourism by ensuring that communities are included and able to benefit.
As C.R. puts it,
“Communities are this country’s biggest tourism asset, but why are they not uplifted, empowered, and at that optimal level of inclusion as yet?”
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