Agriculture-tourism linkages and pro-poor impacts: The accommodation sector of urban coastal KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

The leveraging of tourism's potential for backward linkages is critical for enhancing local impacts in developing countries. The aim is to analyse food supply chains of tourism accommodation providers in the coastal region of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Based upon 50 hotel interviews it is demonstrated the coastal tourism economy of KwaZulu-Natal is characterised by a pattern of sourcing by hotels which is on the one hand geographically localised but on the other hand, is not pro-poor. The food supply chain of high end accommodation establishments is articulated mainly through a network of intermediaries with linkages that only marginally incorporate the area's groups of poor agrarian producers. Findings are contextualised within wider international debates relating to pro-poor tourism, of the building of linkages between tourism and agriculture as a whole and barriers to strengthened pro-poor linkages between accommodation establishments and poor producers.

► Backward linkages are critical for maximising tourism local impacts.
► Linking tourism and agriculture offers opportunities for pro-poor impacts.
► Study shows linkages are geographically localised with limited pro-poor impacts.
►  Multiple barriers must be addressed for pro-poor impacts to be realised.