An assessment of the usefulness of spatial agricultural land resource digital data for agritourism and ecotourism
Date
2005-12
Authors
Mugadza, Precious
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch
Abstract
The study broadly assesses the usefulness of available digital spatial land resource data as a source
for agritourism and ecotourism information by comparing the inventory of available spatial data sets
for South Africa and the SADC region, with the needs for spatial data as derived from a literature
study of travel motivations and demand determinants.
Spatial land resource data have been collected, processed and stored for agricultural planning
purposes, like land suitability assessment, agricultural production and infrastructural planning.
Given a) the growth in agritourism and ecotourism, b) the more detailed information required by
tourists to aid them during decision making processes like destination selection and c) the progress
in information technology rendering access of information via the internet easier; the question arose
whether the available land resource digital data can be processed to provide relevant tourism
information on internet websites. Four tasks had to be done, namely: a) identifying tourists’ needs
by means of a literature study on travel motivations and demand determinants; b) identifying the
land resource data sets that could be processed into information to meet these identified needs; c)
determining the accessibility of spatial information on internet tourism websites to potential
agritourists and ecotourists, and d) exploring opportunities for adding value by looking at what
information existing websites are offering in comparison with what can be obtained from
repackaging the land resource data.
Common ground was found between the spatial tourist information needs and the available spatial
land resource data. This, coupled with the ability of combining meteorological and other humanmade
environmental data in GIS modelling, suggests that repackaging land resource data seems to
have the potential to offer useful tourism information in correspondence with confirmed tourist
information needs.
Description
Thesis (MScAgric (Agricultural Economics))—University of Stellenbosch, 2005.
Keywords
Agritourism -- Africa, Southern -- Information services, Ecotourism -- Africa, Southern -- Information services, Agritourism -- Africa, Southern -- Data processing, Ecotourism -- Africa, Southern -- Data processing, Digital mapping, Land use, Rural -- Africa, Southern -- Data processing, Spatial information needs -- Africa Southern, Dissertations -- Agricultural economics, Theses -- Agricultural economics