The Bantustans of Apartheid South Africa: Transitioning From Industry to Tourism

Abstract

The Bantustans were created during the apartheid period of South Africa’s history and represented one of the key pillars of planning for ‘grand apartheid’. A major challenge was the promotion of economic development in these territories in order to give them a facade of economic legitimacy. Four of the ten Bantustan ethno-states eventually acceded to the grant of ‘independence’ which created a changed environment for territorial economic development. The article explores a transition in economic development planning by the apartheid state from Bantustan industrialization to a focus on tourism and casino resort developments as a potential driver of Bantustan economic progress. In terms of methods and sources the paper applies an historical approach that blends secondary sources with primary documentary material.

Incipient special interest tourism: Sea angling as recreational sport in South Africa

“…From the latter, access was obtained to the collections of guidebooks and information booklets which were issued by the South African Railways and Harbours. From 1910 this state-owned organization assumed a highly influential role in stimulating overseas tourism to South Africa and especially by familiarizing potential visitors about the varied landscapes and tourism assets of South Africa (Foster, 2008;Rogerson, 2024). As van Eeden (2014) shows South African Railways and Harbours provided the infrastructure and the publicity material to establish patterns of travel and tourism in the country for both domestic and international visitors over a period of 30 years.…”

“…Although the expansion of research interest and scholarship is relatively recent, special interest tourism is not a new phenomenon. Many of its manifestations enjoy a long history such as, for example, the activity of mountaineering (Beedie, 2015;Gill, 2022;Rogerson and Rogerson, 2024). Most academic writings concentrate, however, on contemporary issues relating to segmented markets or destination development.…”

The Planning Challenges of Extended Metropolitan Areas: Issues From South Africa

“…The strategy was seeking to leverage new opportunities to spread tourism benefits away from the coastal zone into the rural hinterland areas, which are essentially 'in-between' rural tourism spaces (Rogerson and Rogerson, 2021b). The territory of these rural areas formed part of the former Bantustan of KwaZulu which was a creation of apartheid planning (Rogerson and Rogerson, 2023). As a traditional labour reservoir the existing tourism base of these rural spaces would be dominated not by leisure travel but instead only by visits from friends and relatives who were working in other parts of South Africa (Rogerson, 2017;Rogerson and Rogerson, 2021a).…”

Rural Tourism Under Apartheid South Africa: The Case of Transkei

“…With the growing acknowledgement of the disappointments of regional policy for industrial decentralization the potential of encouraging tourism development in the mainly rural Bantustan areas came onto the policy agenda of the South African government (Drummond, Rogerson & Drummond, 2022;Rogerson & Rogerson, 2023). In the case of Transkei it was a rediscovery of tourism as a sector for development.…”