Perceptions of tourism in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality with special reference to the Red location in New Brighton

Township tourism is a relatively growing sector of the tourism market; therefore, many large cities in developed and developing countries, such as Brazil, have adopted tourism-led approaches to township tourism. Township tourism now forms part of the South African local and regional economic development strategies of some of the major cities, such as Johannesburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. In turn, it is perceived as the fastest growing type of tourism in the world and can function as a powerful tool in township development and transformation. Township tourism has the potential to produce economic benefits, improve physical environment, inner-city image and the welfare of community members. The focus of the research was to study the perception of tourism in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality with special reference to the community of the Red Location in New Brighton. Additionally, this study explored to understand how tourism stakeholders (government, provincial government and local municipality), tourism development agencies, as well as the community of the Red Location, could use tourism as a tool for township development, local economic growth and to increase visitors to the Nelson Mandela Bay area. The research adopted a qualitative research method. The research builds on an extensive review of a broad range of secondary sources from different academic and institutional backgrounds to give a more objective and nuanced analysis. The qualitative literature that was used include, but is not limited to, academic articles, books, official reports from the various tourism organisations, publications from tourism authorities, news media, South African legislation and publications from government organisations. Based on this study, it was found that tourism has the capacity to rejuvenate the area and contribute to the local economic development, poverty reduction, as well as create the identity of a place, and serve as a part of the solution for township problems. The potential of tourism to stimulate township development strongly depends on the presence of tourism resources that can be developed into consumable products or visitor attraction as well as on the financial capacity of public and private partners to strengthen and increase visitor facilities, infrastructure and activities. The study employed a descriptive study to capture detailed and meaningful information from the literature search. The literature search gave the researcher an understanding of the research area, tourism policies and the role of the communities in tourism. This understanding improved the quality of the study. Furthermore, the literature provides township tourism precondition guidelines which may be followed to develop tourism in South Africa, especially in communities, such as the Red Location. Overall, the results of this study demonstrate the need to draft and adopt a township tourism strategy, one that is unique to the culture and community of the Red Location in New Brighton