Tourism in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park: A review

Transfrontier Parks (TFPs) have been a key feature of nature-based tourism in many parts of the globe since the 1920s, with large expanses of land made available for this purpose. Although African countries are relative newcomers to this form of reserve, since the early 1990s there has been the rapid formation of TFPs -especially in southern Africa. The post-colonial/post-apartheid period has afforded countries the opportunity to develop tourism through the establishment of TFPs. An ambitious example was the establishment of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (GLTP). in 2002. Significant tourism development research over a range of themes has been carried out in this TFP, which straddles the borders of Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Themes explored include carrying capacities, communities, management, political ecologies, conservation, travel motivations and poaching. Despite a sustained focus, the need to consolidate academic understanding of tourism in the GLTP through a systemic review is necessary and timely. This paper reviews the core tourism research foci of the GLTP, highlighting the disparity in geographical focus of investigations, being predominantly centred around South Africa. An argument is made for the need to understand the role and influence of each region equally. In addition, the paper proposes a consolidated research agenda for the future.