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19 March 2019 | Story Dr Cinde Greyling
Dr Mutana and Prof Mukwada
Many people enjoy spending time in the mountainous Drakensberg region. Prof Geofrey Mukwada’s involvement with the UFS Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) sparked an interest in sustainable tourism in the area. Pictured here are Dr Sarudzai Mutana with Prof Mukwada.

Not only is the Qwaqwa Campus situated in a beautiful region – its researchers also contribute to keeping the area pristine. Recent research by Prof Geofrey Mukwada and his PhD student, Dr Sarudzai Mutana, focused on indicators monitoring sustainable tourism development in the Drakensberg region.

Dr Mukwada is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography on the University of the Free State (UFS) Qwaqwa Campus. 

Our majestic mountains are fragile

Many people enjoy spending time in the mountainous Drakensberg region – either as adventure seekers exploring the many trails, or just relaxing and reconnecting with nature. Prof Mukwada’s involvement with the UFS Afromontane Research Unit (ARU) sparked an interest in sustainable tourism in the area. “Mountains are fragile but attractive environments which continue to attract tourists,” he said. “Tourism is one of the major business sectors in the Drakensberg region, with promising growth opportunities and proving to be an anchor of green economy in the future – if practiced correctly.” Unfortunately, the issue of monitoring sustainable tourism has not been widely researched in African mountains. 

According to international standards

“We specifically looked at the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC), which is an international best-practice framework to help destinations monitor and ensure that tourism is developed in a responsible manner,” Prof Mukwada explained. “South Africa’s Manual for Responsible Tourism was designed according to some of the recommendations of the GSTC. But we found that, while the tourism and hospitality operators in the Drakensberg region appreciates the need to monitor and ensure sustainable tourism in the area, there is limited use of indicators as a tool for monitoring.” 

Forward together

There are competing demands between land-use and development practices and alternatives in the region – unless the focus shifts to sustainable practices, the short-term gains could be followed by dire consequences. “We suggest an integrated monitoring of tourism development, with a pro-poor focus that involves more local community leaders. Going forward, we would like to see the industry adopt the indicators proposed in our study.”

News Archive

Centre receives bursaries from auditing firm
2007-05-09

The Centre for Accounting at the University of the Free State (UFS) received five bursaries from the auditing firm SizweNtsaluba VSP. These bursaries were awarded to three first-year students, one third-year student and one honours student. The centre also presented an open day this week on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein. Auditing firms from as far as Johannesburg took part. Attending the open day were, from the left: Mr Sipho Sano (partner at SizweNtsaluba VSP in Johannesburg), Thabiso Kgotle (B. Acc. third-year student at the UFS), Prof. Ronell Britz (Chairperson of the Centre for Accounting), Mr Linda Filtane (Manager: Human Resources at SizweNtsaluba VSP) and Prof. Hentie van Wyk (Programme Director at the Centre for Accounting).
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs
 

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