Developing nations continue to place a high priority on rural development, especially those like South Africa (SA) that have large rural populations and little or no economic activity. In addition to ...urban tourism, rural tourism is another type of tourism that is gaining popularity. This study conducted in the context of SA, KwaZulu-Natal, aimed at assessing the potentials of rural tourism in the communities surrounding Hluhluwe iMfolozi Park (HiP). A qualitative research method based on the explorative and interpretative paradigms was used. A purposive technique was used in a form of non-probability sampling. Focus group discussions were held with the participants. Three (3) focus group discussions were conducted with a total of twenty-four (24) participants, eight (8) participants in each group. Content analysis was performed to analyse data. Results revealed that the study area lacked access to basic infrastructure like decent road networks as well as access to clean water and sanitary facilities. The research further revealed that residents in the study area lacked fundamental understanding of what it takes to operate effective tourism enterprises. The study recommends that rural offerings be positioned and offered as parts of tourist products and services within this rural space, after the study area weaknesses have been addressed. The study further suggests that leadership should be committed to advancing the growth of rural tourism through capacity building, including training citizens and assisting in the creation of business strategies and the acquisition of funding for the launch of new ventures.
This study aims to explore the key push travel motivation factors from Dann’s theory of push and pull motivation and analysed the influence of tourists’ socio-demographic variables on push travel ...motivation factors to visit protected areas (PAs). Data were collected via a structured questionnaire from 435 randomly selected tourists visiting Hluhluwe-iMfolozi park (HiP). Data analyses employed descriptive statistics to generate frequencies, mean scores and standard deviations using IBM's SPSS version 28 software. Mann-Whitney Wilcoxon test implemented in Stata software version 15 was employed. The findings revealed that the key tourists push factors are “relaxation and family togetherness”. The study further indicates that demographic variables such as “nationality, residency, employment status and age” have significant effects on tourists’ overall push factors (i.e., relaxation, social interaction, family togetherness, and prestige motivation). Based on the findings, the study made recommendations directed to the park management focusing on promoting and sustaining activities that address the key push motivation factors.
