Taking the Township to the Tourist

Introduction Township Tourism is unique to South Africa and it attempts to defy the old tourism adage that tourists spend most of their money within walking distance of their accommodation. There are other examples in other countries where tourists pay to visit an indigenous population but none has the political significance of the townships, which were the base for both the civil disobedience and the armed struggle used to fight and eventually overthrow apartheid. Township Tourism is perceived to involve large numbers of tourists and is the main policy mechanism for township inhabitants to benefit from tourism. This has not…