The Drivers and Barriers of Wildlife-Based Tourism: Cases from Southern Africa

Wildlife-based tourism is popular in the southern African region due to the abundance of wildlife. Countries in this region have come up with initiatives such as transfrontier conservation areas to promote wildlife-based tourism. Through a review of existing academic literature that includes peer-reviewed journals, books and book chapters, theses, published and unpublished reports and government policy documents, this chapter discusses the factors that influence and deter wildlife-based tourism in southern Africa. The results show that the drivers of wildlife-based tourism in the region include abundant wildlife, good conservation strategies, the landscape, the formation of transfrontier conservation areas, and the local communities. Poaching, human-wildlife conflicts, failure to devolve authority to communities, political instability, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species [CITES] regulations, unreliable and convenient transport links, and socioeconomic factors were identified as the ones that deter wildlife-based tourism in the region. The chapter concludes with recommendations on how best the region can maximise the drivers of wildlife-based tourism while minimising the barriers to wildlife-based tourism. The chapter contributes to the available literature on the discussion of the drivers and barriers to wildlife-based tourism.