ABSTRACT
During the past two decades a considerable amount of research has been undertaken on issues surrounding the impacts of tourism in the developing world, in particular assessing the contribution that the sector can make to economic development (Ashley et al. 2001; Brohman 1996; Harrison 1992, 1994; Sharpley & Telfer 2002; Sinclair 1998; Sinclair & Stabler 1998). Nevertheless, it remains true, as pointed out by Lea (1988), that the extent to which tourism “can actually promote business activity in a Third World country has not receivedmuch attention.” To borrow a recent analogy used in discussing tourism small firms research in the developedNorth, the field of tourism small business development in the South is terra incognita (Page et al. 1999). Questions concerning entrepreneurship and small firm development occupy only a relatively minor role in the volumes of writing produced on tourism in the developing countries of Africa, Latin America and Asia developing world (Gartner 1999; Hampton 2001; Kirsten & Rogerson 2002; Rogerson 2001a). In this chapter the aim is to contribute to this undeveloped literature by investigating the problems and opportunities for the development of small firms in the tourism economy of South Africa, as an example of developing world tourism.
