A framework for tourism value chain ownership in rural communities

Tourism is prevalent in rural areas of South Africa, where natural settings provide attractive opportunities. Despite tourism’s potential to improve societies, many surrounding rural populations struggle with poverty. They have low involvement in tourism activity and need more access to empowerment programmes, and there need to be community-based structures that encourage equitable tourism engagement. This conceptual paper presents a framework for action designed for rural communities’ participation in a business or earning capacity in the local area’s tourism potential. The framework draws on published secondary data sources related to community-based tourism, community involvement, and potential rural community ownership of the tourism value chain. The literature is used to inform the development of our tourism value chain ownership framework, which can be applied in rural communities for poverty reduction and community empowerment.