Cultural heritage routes in South Africa: Effective tools for heritage conservation and local economic development?
Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: Protecting cultural heritage is a challenge for developing countries, particularly where heritage sites are widely spread in rural areas and may not include impressive buildings and monuments. A potential solution adopted by a growing number of these countries is to link small sites of mainly local significance into a cultural heritage route and market them as a package while also improving the management and conservation of heritage assets. The tourism potential of such routes is often emphasised in local economic development (LED) strategies, envisaged as providing revenue-generating opportunities for conserving heritage assets. This paper explores the potential for economic development and heritage conservation of the Liberation Heritage Route in South Africa. This project may have non-market value in protecting cultural capital, but financial and other LED benefits are unlikely to be forthcoming in the short run, which could jeopardise the sustainability of the heritage protection.
Source: Development Southern Africa
Authors: Jeanette D Snowball, Sinead Courtney
Institution: Rhodes University
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2089355184