Cultural heritage routes in South Africa: Effective tools for heritage conservation and local economic development?

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.

Keywords:

• tourism
• heritage
• cultural heritage routes
• local economic development
• cultural capital

1. Introduction

Route tourism can be described as a strategy which links up less well known, often rural, tourist attractions in order to market them more effectively under a unified theme and improve the management and conservation of heritage assets (Timothy & Boyd 2006; Stoddart & Rogerson, 2009). The objectives of heritage routes include protecting and documenting smaller heritage sites, often of mainly local significance, dispersing visitor spending towards less developed areas, attracting more visitors by increasing the appeal of the sites through collective marketing, increasing length of stay and overall spending and increasing the sustainability of tourism products (Meyer, 2004; Rogerson, 2009). The design and establishment of cultural heritage routes as a means to both protect smaller, relatively dispersed heritage sites and attract tourists is a relatively well established local economic development strategy. The Camino de Santiago in Spain and Route 66 in the USA are well known, but there are a host of lesser known examples in developing countries, such as the Cracow Industrial Heritage Route in Poland, the Dandi Heritage Route in India and the World Heritage Route in Vietnam.

South Africa has some fairly well known and developed tourism routes, such as the Midlands Meander in KwaZulu-Natal and wine routes in the Western Cape (Lourens, 2007; Rogerson, 2009). A recent project is the development of a series of heritage routes in the Eastern Cape which combine scenic beauty and the commemoration of historical events and places. These include routes named for local chiefs or kings, such as the Makana, Phalo and Maqoma Heritage Routes. Others, such as the Liberation Heritage Route, recognise the role of a number of local leaders and communities in the struggle for political self-determination. Many of the aims and projected outcomes of the routes are to produce largely intangible goods: recognising the role of African leaders in the Liberation (or ‘Frontier’) Wars, recording oral histories, managing and protecting heritage sites for future generations, and educating visitors and local populations, all of which may help to build social cohesion (Mqingwana & Peires, 2008). Arts and heritage can thus supply non-market goods, such as pleasure, national pride and building and expressing community identity, which cannot easily be valued in monetary terms (Carson et al., 1999).

Another important anticipated outcome of most heritage route projects is an increase in visitor spending and local economic development (LED). This is also reflected at a national level in South Africa (in the form of the National Heritage Resources Act and the Provincial Heritage Resources Authorities), where heritage resources and their management are expected to be integrated with economic development strategies. Yet LED strategies in South Africa often do not generate significant economic returns, are sometimes not sustainable in the long run, or, where they have been successful, are driven by the private sector and exclude impoverished local communities (Nel & Goldman, 2005).

This paper analyses the Liberation Heritage Route, currently being established within the Chris Hani District in the Eastern Cape in South Africa, in terms of its protection of cultural heritage and generation of inclusive local economic growth. The paper is organised as follows: Section 2 discusses the economics of cultural heritage assets, Section 3 reviews the literature on LED and route tourism, Section 4 describes the establishment of the Chris Hani Liberation Heritage Route, Section 5 analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the route in an LED framework, and Section 6 concludes.

2. The economics of cultural heritage

Defining cultural heritage can be unexpectedly problematic, since it can refer to tangible things (buildings, sites, locations) as well as intangible ones, such as traditions and customs (Throsby, 2007). As Peacock & Rizzo (2008:117) conclude, ‘what constitutes heritage is not an objective fact, but rather a social and cultural construct that is likely to change through time’. Ultimately, what determines whether something is ‘heritage’ or not is the value placed on it. Built heritage and heritage sites can produce two broad types of value: market value (determined by the sale price) and non-market values (or externalities). Peacock & Rizzo (2008) refer to these as the physical capital value (a stock variable) and the cultural value (which provides a flow of services over time). They also point out that these two values are not independent: if the physical asset is not conserved or developed, the flow of services and values will also diminish.

Heritage can also be said to give rise to ‘cultural capital’ (Throsby, 1999). This is related to the flow of values described by Peacock & Rizzo (2008) but also has strong links to the idea of bequest values; that is, cultural capital is part of a nation's wealth and should be conserved for future generations. Throsby (2007:22) defines cultural capital as ‘an asset that embodies a store of cultural value separable from whatever economic value it might possess’. Thus a heritage site might produce not only economic values in the form of the market value of the site itself and income generated from tourism but also intangible cultural values.

The idea that economic development and the preservation and documentation of heritage are linked is clearly reflected in the motivation for the development of the Liberation Heritage Route in South Africa, which mentions such ideals as the ‘preservation of national memory for continuity and national identity’ (Chris Hani District Municipality [CHDM], 2007:1) and ‘attempts to improve the quality of life … for those who feel left out around the footprints of freedom, democracy and justice’ (Mqingwana & Peires, 2008:2).

Heritage tourism is, as Timothy & Boyd (2006) point out, a highly political phenomenon, which can be used to exclude certain histories – referred to by Kim et al. (2007) as ‘collective amnesia’. It can also be used to emphasise particular points of view and build nationalism and patriotism, as it is in North Korea (Kim et al., 2007). During the apartheid era in South Africa, heroes of the liberation struggle were detained and imprisoned and their histories were deliberately suppressed, and the revitalisation of these stories can be seen as ‘an attempt to begin the process of healing’ as well as being a more accurate historical record (Timothy & Boyd, 2006).

Nevertheless, the preservation of cultural heritage is not without cost and, given the limited resources in many developing countries, choices need to be made about how to allocate funds (both public and private) most effectively. While the costs of protecting and developing a heritage site are quite easily determinable, the benefits deriving from it are often not. This is largely because of the non-market value of many of these benefits, which can only be quantified using methods such as contingent valuation1 and, in some cases, hedonic pricing2 (Ruijgrok, 2006), which have their own problems and biases (Snowball, 2008). The financial benefits, usually related to tourism spending in the area, are captured in the market and are thus much more easily measurable using tools such as economic impact studies and property prices (Noonan & Krupka, 2010), but they only show the private benefits of heritage conservation and may in fact be the smaller part of the total economic value (Throsby, 2007).

Using the standard theoretical framework in environmental economics, Throsby (1997) suggests that the marginal private benefit of heritage conservation lies below the marginal social benefit. Thus, basing the amount of heritage conservation only on market studies, such as the economic impact of tourism spending, would result in an under-provision of heritage conservation, when the equilibrium point for the socially optimal amount of the good is greater. Similarly, if too much conservation is undertaken, there is a loss to societal welfare through the inefficient allocation of resources which could have been used more effectively elsewhere (Throsby, 1997). Questions relating to the optimal number of heritage sites to conserve are likely to be even more difficult to answer when dealing with a large number of fairly similar smaller sites with primarily local significance, as in the case of the heritage route sites discussed in this paper, than when dealing with larger sites of national or international importance.

To conclude, there appears to be a good case for the public support of heritage conservation, but it is not without cost. In developing countries in particular, the opportunity cost of spending on heritage as compared to other important areas, such as education, healthcare and infrastructure, must always be counted. Also, while the actual costs of conservation are fairly easy to determine, the benefits are often less well defined and accrue to society at large as well as to private individuals. This makes finding the optimal level of conservation problematic. A potential solution to this problem is to link heritage conservation with LED initiatives, potentially resulting in conservation being self-financing and part of the strategy of economic development.

3. Local economic development and route tourism

Local economic development is defined as a process whereby sector partners work together to increase economic growth and the level of employment in a specific geographic region (World Bank, 2009). The flexibility and adaptability of LED strategies have made them popular throughout the developing world (Rodriguez-Pose & Tijmstra, 2005). These strategies, which potentially generate regional economic growth, can also lead to the fulfilment of other social goals, such as an increase in employment opportunities, poverty alleviation and the social and economic inclusion of previously excluded communities (Rodriguez-Pose & Tijmstra, 2005).

The small scale of most LED projects can allow local people to have a more active say in their design and implementation, which can lead to a stronger local civil society while holding local institutions accountable (Rodriguez-Pose & Tijmstra, 2005). Furthermore, there is some evidence that environmental resources are more likely to be conserved when local residents participate actively in decision-making (Sinclair, 1998).

Nevertheless the fact remains that many LED strategies have been unsuccessful. Nel & Goldman (2005), in an extensive survey of pro-poor LED strategies used in South Africa, found that despite the developmental focus of many projects, pro-growth strategies, which tend to involve the private sector to the exclusion of impoverished local people, are more often successful. Pro-poor strategies do not have a good record of long-term sustainability and success in South Africa. Nel & Goldman (2005) note a clear pro-growth bias in most municipalities' LED strategies, where the promotion of competition and economic growth is the focus, although they pay lip-service to pro-poor development philosophies. LED projects are also often hampered by limited capacity and resources and the need to deal with ‘a legacy of support for unsustainable, low skilled community projects which has negatively impacted on perceptions of the efficacy of LED’ (Nel & Goldman, 2005:ix). One reason for the lack of sustainability is that small centres often do not have the resources, skills and experience to provide the necessary levels of services and infrastructure to implement and run LED projects effectively (Nel & Rogerson, 2007).

Route tourism brings together places and activities in a particular geographical area under a specific marketing theme. Besides the core sites, it also offers opportunities for local entrepreneurs to provide related activities and tourist goods and services, such as accommodation, and the sale of local crafts and food (Lourens, 2007). Heritage routes frequently also have social or political goals, as pointed out by Moulin & Boniface (2001), such as crossing boundaries (geographical, political, cultural, organisational, operational) and making connections (professional, social, thematic, financial) between sectors. The flatter organisational style (as opposed to a top-down approach, where the actual providers of the services have little say in overall strategy) fits in well with LED philosophies.

By linking several small attractions and marketing them collectively, it is hoped that tourist numbers (local, international and repeat visitors) will increase and also that people will stay longer and spend more (Rogerson, 2007). Since goods and services are provided by local communities (as envisaged in LED strategies), leakages from the system are smaller than in traditional development strategies.

In a study of tourism in Indonesia, Hampton (2005) identifies community participation as a crucial determinant of how big a role tourism can play in LED. He argues that, while conventional tourism had a top-down planning approach, ‘new tourism’ is much more participatory and benefits local communities more. For example, conventional tourism provides visitors with accommodation in large hotels, with ‘international’ food and mass-produced souvenirs. New tourism provides accommodation in smaller guest houses or ‘homestays’, with local food from food stalls or small restaurants and hand-crafted souvenirs made by local people. In a new tourism approach, leakages from small towns to cities are reduced, and more jobs are created for local people and they have a much greater level of ownership and control. Hampton (2005) does, however, acknowledge that effective community participation in tourism planning and management is difficult to achieve. To work well, it requires the inclusion of local communities at the planning stage, as well as training and financing initiatives from government.

An example of an established tourism route in South Africa is the Midlands Meander in KwaZulu-Natal, in its 25th year of operation in 2010. This is the earliest example of route tourism in South Africa (Lourens, 2007). Its main focus is local arts and crafts, but more than half its turnover (56 per cent) comes from accommodation and food provision (Midlands Meander, 2010). As of 2006, the membership was made up of 120 primarily white-owned small enterprises including craft workshops, trout farms, country hotels and art studios (Conference, Workshop and Cultural Initiative, 2006:5). Current annual turnover is in the region of R359 million, with the route providing employment for 2100 people (Midlands Meander, 2010).

The success of the Midlands Meander can primarily be attributed to the efforts of the private sector (Rogerson, 2007, 2009). Two of the main reasons for its success are that it targets a specific niche market and has a strong marketing association. Funding for coordination and marketing was secured through membership fees paid by private sector members of the association (Rogerson, 2009). It is acknowledged that, especially when pro-poor tourism initiatives are starting, potential participants may not be able to pay such fees. In a case study of the Crocodile Ramble in Gauteng and the North West province in South Africa, membership fees and volunteer labour were found to be important driving forces in the early stages of route development. A later pro-poor initiative to include local black communities in a ‘route to township tourism’ has had to be funded by government and has so far had only limited success (Stoddart & Rogerson, 2009).

The Midlands Meander attracts mainly wealthy white South African tourists. Local Zulu communities have mostly not benefited, although emerging black entrepreneurs have now become members of the route association through an outreach initiative (funded by the route association) promoting local artists (Lourens, 2007). Many factors still limit the participation of local communities in the Midlands Meander, including inadequate information, poor financing, insufficient interest on the part of the existing establishments in developing partnerships with local communities, inexperience, insufficient training and lack of incentives for private firms to develop local capacity and create employment opportunities (Rogerson, 2007).

In general, the management of tourism routes is a challenge, since user fees can be difficult to collect because of the multiple ownership and control of the attractions (Timothy & Boyd, 2006). Route tourism planning is also not always well executed. For example, where cultural resources are exploited for the sake of economic benefits, the negative socio-cultural and environmental impacts and the conservation of the heritage site itself are often not considered (Timothy & Tosun, 2003; Timothy & Boyd, 2006). In a developing country context, the lack of human resources and experience can exacerbate the problem (Tosun & Timothy, 2001).

To be sustainable, route tourism planning should also be linked to broader regional and national tourism plans (Timothy & Tosun, 2003). For example, although the South African tourism White Paper (Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, 1996) emphasises the importance of spreading tourism benefits more widely in order to develop lesser known regions, current government marketing focuses only on a few top destinations (Viljoen & Tlabela, 2006).

As Timothy & Boyd (2006) point out, much of the research into heritage route tourism focuses on the supply side, while the demand side of the equation is relatively underdeveloped. This seems to be related to a current tendency in tourism and route tourism planning to believe that supplying the goods will automatically generate demand. An example is tourism development in Turkey, where generous government incentives to suppliers of tourism services, unaccompanied by market research into such matters as advertising and the size of the target market and competing attractions, has led to an over-supply of tourism services, with a resulting ‘high inefficiency and low profitability (Tosun & Timothy, 2001:355).

The potential for over-supply has also been a criticism of the African Dream Project, organised by Open Africa, which seeks to develop (through community participation) and link together a network of African tourism routes from the Cape to Cairo. This currently includes 55 routes in six southern African countries (Open Africa, 2010). The most important aspect of the project is the electronic coordination and marketing of routes via the Internet (Briedenhann & Wickens, 2004). Lourens (2007:88) suggests that ‘too many routes have been developed over too short a space of time’ and that the marketing has not been effective in increasing tourist numbers.

4. The Chris Hani District Municipality Liberation Heritage Route

The main tourist centres of the Eastern Cape province are accessible from South Africa's three largest cities, Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg, via a modern transport network. The Eastern Cape is one of the poorest provinces in the country as it inherited the apartheid government's deliberate underdevelopment of the homeland areas. The province is currently attempting to use new ways to bring local rural communities, who survive mainly on subsistence farming, migrant labour and welfare grants, into the mainstream economy (Eastern Cape Development Corporation, 2009).

The CHDM consists of eight local municipalities, which are a combination of urban and rural communities (Figure 1). The region is 71 per cent rural and has been identified as one of South Africa's 13 worst ‘poverty nodes’ by the Office of the President's Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme. The CHDM has specifically identified heritage as one of its priorities that could make a considerable contribution not only to developing the economy but also to preserving the available heritage resources for present and future generations. The National Heritage Council, together with the Nelson Mandela National Museum and the Eastern Cape Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture, has undertaken to develop a National Liberation Heritage Route which will be piloted on a local level in the Eastern Cape. It is hoped that the Liberation Heritage Route, together with other Eastern Cape heritage routes, will be the foundation of a South African and African route that will ultimately form part of a UNESCO heritage route (Mqingwana & Peires, 2008:4).

Figure 1: Chris Hani District Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Heritage policy in South Africa is managed at three levels: national (the South African Heritage Resources Agency), provincial (the Provincial Heritage Resources Authority), and local or municipal. While the ultimate authority rests at national level, much of the identification and management of cultural heritage is the responsibility of provincial and local government. The general principles of heritage management, as set out in the National Heritage Resources Act (Republic of South Africa, 1999), include identifying a wide range of cultural heritage, protecting and managing it, and educating local populations about its value. Another important principle is integrating heritage conservation (which can include both tangible and intangible heritage) into urban and rural planning and economic development. One of the aims of the Liberation Heritage Route, emphasised by the CHDM, is to translate the wealth of heritage knowledge and resources into economic capital.

Phase I of setting up the local CHDM section of the Liberation Heritage Route, the research phase, began in January 2008 and has now been completed. Fifty-six sites have been identified along three principal routes, each of which will take a day to travel (see Figure 2). These sites include tombs, caves and places with special aesthetic, historic, scientific and environmental significance. The houses of leaders who were instrumental in the struggle, and noteworthy schools and churches will also be showcased.

Figure 2: The Calata day route section of the Chris Hani District Municipality Liberation Heritage Route

The process of identifying the sites along the route involved a great deal of community participation. In each of the eight municipalities a Local Municipal Steering Committee was set up, chaired by the mayor and meeting at least once a month to discuss progress and work plans. In addition, Community Facilitators were appointed (one for each municipality), funded by the CHDM, and tasked with calling meetings of local community members to explain the project and to collect information on potential heritage sites and local histories. Overseeing the whole process was a Reference Group, including technical advisors, mayors and municipal councillors, representatives from other relevant departments of provincial and national government, academics, traditional leaders and non-governmental organisation representatives, among others.

Given that in a significant number of cases there is no written history of the region, and that information about icons of the struggle for freedom in colonial and apartheid times was deliberately suppressed, Peires emphasises the value to current and future generations of recognising and recording this history as a way of restoring dignity and pride (personal communication, J Peires, Acting Director, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 12 August 2009). From a practical point of view, however, a limit to the number of sites identified had to be imposed.

Phase II of the project, which began in the latter part of 2009, aims to provide signage and infrastructure and will cost approximately R3.2 million, which includes provision for heritage management, site development, marketing, infrastructure development and a business plan. The breakdown of budgeted costs is shown in Table 1 (Peires, 2008:23).

Table 1: Breakdown of budgeted costs of Phase II

Type of cost	Cost (South African rand)
Salary of heritage manager	500 000
Projects and workshops	500 000
Signage	50 000
Support for community tourism	600 000
Total marketing cost	600 000
Infrastructure	500 000
Business plan	400 000
Total cost of Phase II	3 150 000
Source: Peires (2008:23).

5. The Liberation Heritage Route as a local economic development project

Several preconditions are identified (Meyer, 2004; Hampton, 2005; Rogerson, 2007, 2009) as being necessary for successful tourism routes: community participation, cooperation networks, an explicit pro-poor focus, information provision and promotion, and product development and infrastructure. This section of the paper evaluates the planning and establishment of the Liberation Heritage Route within the theoretical framework provided by the literature discussed above, specifically Hampton, Meyer and Rogerson.

5.1 Community participation

If the economic benefits of tourism are to be spread more widely, local communities must be considered in the decision-making process with regards to the type and scale of development. Involving communities in tourism can be challenging (Hampton, 2005; Rogerson, 2007). The case studies of the Midlands Meander (Rogerson, 2009) and Crocodile Ramble (Stoddart & Rogerson, 2009) show that little development of local communities occurs if they are not specifically included at the start of the process. In the case of the Liberation Heritage Route, a great deal of effort was made to include local communities through the identification and prioritisation of heritage sites so that, as Hampton (2005) suggests, local people would have more ownership of the project, which has a ‘new tourism’, participatory management approach.

A commitment to local small business development should be central to any tourism route planning that is linked to the objectives of LED. Many small businesses in developing countries have a limited understanding of tourism, however, as they have not had access to markets, are not skilled in entrepreneurship or have not travelled themselves (Rogerson, 2007). Emerging Tour Operators (ETOs) on the Liberation Heritage Route voiced their concerns about meeting and accommodating international tourists, having only worked with local tourists in a small capacity themselves (ETO Workshop, Queenstown, Chris Hani District Municipality, 3 September 2009). There is also an obvious danger of creating unrealistic expectations with regards to short-term financial rewards when dealing with inexperienced businesses operators, as was found in the case of the township tourism initiative in the Crocodile Ramble (Stoddart & Rogerson, 2009).

5.2 Cooperation networks

According to Meyer (2004:16), an essential element for successful route development is ‘the formation of co-operative networks among a multitude of often very diverse tourism suppliers’. A framework of collaboration between local government, private enterprises, the tourism industry and the surrounding community should be in place (Rogerson, 2007). In the case of the Midlands Meander, while there was strong collaboration between private enterprises, local government remained relatively inactive and thus development of the local black communities was minimal (Rogerson, 2007).

Similarly, it took a number of years for the Crocodile Ramble to develop an effective association for collective marketing and management of the route, even when only commercial enterprises were included. The extension of the route to include poorer local communities, through the ‘route to township’ initiative, links into the current established network, offering products and experiences designed to complement, rather than compete with, the original Crocodile Ramble route. Membership fees for township participants are funded by the local municipality. Even so, the scheme has yet to show significant financial benefits for the township participants (Stoddart & Rogerson, 2009).

Conversely, in the case of the Liberation Heritage Route, local government is leading the process, but there is a lack of participation from private enterprises, particularly the more established ones. Peires emphasises the need for networks between the new tour operators and established local businesses, but these have yet to be established (personal communication, J Peires, ETO Workshop, 3 September 2009). The danger is that, if public sector leadership in establishing such cooperative networks is not forthcoming, private sector competition will exclude the emerging tourism suppliers (Rogerson, 2007, 2009).

At the ETO Workshop (3 September 2009) the emerging local tour operators (who are envisaged as providing many of the tourist services associated with the Route) commented that while their municipalities constantly assure them that tourism is a top priority, they do not appear to budget for it. The tour operators also believe that they have very little authority within the municipality and that there is a breakdown in communication between them and municipal officials. As Rogerson (2009) notes, the success of tourism routes as an LED tool depends on local governments taking a proactive leadership role in both overall management and upgrading of local enterprises.

Another challenge is that, as of 2009, no contact points for the Liberation Heritage Route had been established, which made it very difficult to communicate with the parties involved. The lack of tourism offices in the district and the number of ETOs without telephones exacerbate the problem. Links with tourism authorities and private tour operators in the larger cities in the province in order to market the Route are also yet to be established (tour operators, ETO Workshop, 3 September 2009).

5.3 Explicit pro-poor focus

Route tourism can be approached in a pro-poor manner by aiming, from the start, to involve and benefit the surrounding poor communities (Hampton, 2005; Rogerson, 2007). There can be tension between private sector-led, pro-growth strategies and an LED pro-poor approach (Nel & Goldman, 2005). In the case of the Liberation Heritage Route, the project is specifically focused on LED and the uplifting of local communities. The CHDM plans to provide opportunities that will lead to economic participation by the poorest citizens, by, for example, creating jobs for performers and crafters (Peires, 2008). The Phase II budget sets aside R50 000 to support community tourism and another R50 000 will be spent on outreach and training sessions (Peires, 2008:22).

There is thus the potential for the Route to offer opportunities to disadvantaged rural communities (Peires, 2008). These may need to be facilitated, at least initially, by government funding and training and by providing incentives for more established private enterprises to become involved. As in the cases of the Midlands Meander and the Crocodile Ramble, it was not until a formal association with full-time employees was established that financial rewards for members became appreciable (Lourens, 2007; Stoddart & Rogerson, 2009). Phase II of the Liberation Heritage Route does include a budget for a full-time heritage manager and a business plan (Table 1).

5.4 Information and promotion

International experience shows that routes designed to attract day visitors often fail because of inadequate provision of information and a lack of publicity. According to Meyer (2004:25), ‘successful promotional practices, like the more general marketing practices, are those tools that effectively ensure or create a stable tourist demand while meeting, and not overburdening, current resource supply’. The Liberation Heritage Route has largely been a supply-side process, although the business plan development of Phase II of the project may include some demand-side analysis.

Another critical factor for the successful marketing of a tourism route is adequate funding with a solid long-term commitment. In small towns the range and quality of skills is usually limited and insufficient to cover all the aspects of route development, especially tourism marketing. International experience shows that route tourism often depends on funding from provincial and local authorities in order to function properly (Rogerson, 2007). In the Liberation Heritage Route budget, R600 000 has been allocated to marketing. A comprehensive information booklet for the various sites along the heritage route has already been produced (CHDM, 2009), and brochures are being developed for all emerging tour operators who submit an adequate business plan. A substantial amount of the budget (R250 000) is being spent on a short video that will document the history of the heritage route sites and market the Chris Hani District as a whole, but ETOs are concerned that it is not yet certain how effective the video will be (tour operators, ETO Workshop, 3 September 2009).

An amount of R550 000 has been budgeted for site development, which includes designing and erecting signage for the heritage sites to replace the current outdated and incorrect signs (Peires, 2008). A concern is that the signs will be erected without any actual development of the sites, which has been the experience of some of the other Eastern Cape heritage routes, where route booklets and signage have been produced but there is little protection of the heritage site itself, no other marketing and almost no infrastructure development. As Peacock & Rizzo (2008) point out, the flow of cultural value (both market and non-market) is not independent of the physical capital of the heritage site and deterioration of the latter may also lead to a reduction, or complete loss, of the former.

5.5 Product development and infrastructure

To attract tourists to a specific area, a unified image in the form of a theme or ‘product’ should be developed, which may include a heritage route, but would also encapsulate other services and activities (Rogerson, 2007). The theme of the Liberation Heritage Route is clearly defined and fits in well with larger national and international visions, such as the 2005 resolution of the UNESCO/World Heritage Committee to foreground ‘Roads to Independence’ heritage routes (Mqingwana & Peires, 2008).

At the implementation level, however, the emerging tour operators in the CHDM feel inexperienced and overwhelmed by the prospect of setting up their own tour packages. They lack formal education, are deficient in basic literacy and numeracy, and need training if they are to embark on such a big project (personal communication, J Peires, ETO Workshop, 3 September 2009).

Although the long-term vision for the route includes an international profile, this particular area of the Eastern Cape does not currently receive many visitors. Queenstown (one of the larger towns on the route) attracts many businesspeople and government employees, who might be a worthwhile target market, but this is still to be comprehensively investigated. The lack of infrastructure, including a good road network and sanitation facilities, has already been mentioned. Another problem is the lack of suitable infrastructure in the area, including a good road network and sanitation facilities. In the Liberation Heritage Route plan, R600 000 has been budgeted for infrastructure development, but it is doubtful whether this is sufficient to upgrade the existing infrastructure to a level suitable for tourists.

6. Conclusions

The promising combination of tourism and LED strategies has significantly increased heritage route tourism in developing countries, with the expectation that heritage conservation will become self-financing and part of broader economic development strategies. The opportunity cost of spending scarce public resources on heritage is thus dismissed, as is the question of what the socially optimal level of heritage conservation is. If the expected financial benefits do not materialise, it is unlikely that all these heritage routes will be sustainable in the long run. With their collapse, important cultural heritage may be lost owing to neglect and lack of funds for their protection.

Through the research and documentation of local histories of the struggle for liberation, the welfare of the people living in the CHDM has been improved by the Liberation Heritage Route, as has been found in other studies where heritage conservation has been used to construct national identities (Hampton, 2005; Kim et al., 2007). However, although a number of LED principles have been applied in the design of the project, the fact remains that the area is relatively remote from large cities, contains small sites of largely local significance, has a severe shortage of most forms of tourism infrastructure, lacks local skills and enjoys little private sector involvement. Its conception was not based on the ‘solid market research’ identified by Lourens (2007:486) as key to successful route tourism development, but was instead a supply-driven initiative. Procedures necessary for success, such as setting up administrative structures, exercising quality control, developing a clear brand identity, devising long-term marketing strategies and making a work plan for day-to-day running (Hampton, 2005; Rogerson, 2007, 2009), are still at the development stage. Lourens (2007) does note, however, that most successful routes take a long time (20 to 30 years) to mature to the point where they are delivering substantial economic benefits to local communities, and also points out that, while most successful tourism routes in Africa have been private-sector driven, there are examples from other countries where the public sector has led the way, as has been the case with the Camino de Santiago in Spain.

The authors thus suggest that, rather than basing decisions to protect heritage on LED strategies and financial benefits, it is the non-market value of the heritage itself that should be the primary determinant of conservation level and activities. If this cultural capital can also be translated into financial capital in the long run, so much the better, but if this does not happen, the heritage will still be protected.

Notes

¹Contingent valuation is a survey method used to place a monetary value on a good not sold in the market. Respondents are asked directly what they would be willing to pay for a greater amount of a particular good (e.g. the protection or upgrading of additional heritage sites). Their values are thus contingent upon the particular scenario presented (Snowball, 2008).

²Hedonic pricing uses housing prices to capture the value of non-market goods by comparing the average price of property in areas with different characteristics (Ruijgrok, 2006).