'Something that's coming to the people': A comparative analysis of backpacker tourism and community development in South Africa's Wild Coast

Since South Africa's democratic transition of 1994, backpacker tourism has become an important contributor to various local economies in the impoverished Wild Coast region. In theory, backpacker tourism holds significant development potential within communities, especially in rural areas, providing opportunities for informal sector engagement, skills training, and employment of local residents. Drawing on three months of qualitative fieldwork within five communities, this study seeks to reconcile this theory with a grounded investigation of the interplay between backpacker tourism businesses and the communities in which they are located. The study explores ways in which the developmental potential of backpacker tourism is successfully being tapped within Wild Coast communities, as well as some of the ways in which it continues to fall short. In the final chapters, the study turns to a discussion of various social, economic, political and historical factors that constrain backpacker tourism's developmental potential in the region.