Tourism SMMEs and Policy Formulation: Recent Evidence from Namibia

Abstract

Despite the importance of SMMEs for tourism development across sub-Saharan Africa and for pro-poor impacts, research on tourism SMMEs in developing countries (including sub-Saharan Africa) remains embryonic. One knowledge gap relates to the neglect of tourism SMMEs in scholarship on tourism policy in African countries. Although some useful studies have appeared on tourism policy so far there has been little systematic examination of the particular contribution and position of SMMEs in national tourism policies. The aim in this article is to investigate the role of SMMEs in tourism policy development in Namibia, which is one of Africa’s most rapidly growing destinations for international tourism. The results from detailed interviews reveal that SMMEs are essentially marginalised in policy formulation processes.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n10p244