Tourism 8,000 miles apart
What have Cornwall and South Africa in common? They are both top spots for tourists but also have a long history of mining, fishing and agriculture.
How the two communities have managed the decline of these industries is part of a new study led by Surrey’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management and the Human Science Research Council in South Africa.
The research will determine how people living 8,130 miles apart in the UK and in Paternoster in South Africa cope with changes to their key industries, the role tourism plays in diversifying local livelihoods, what obstacles individuals face to enter the tourism industry and how these changes impact gender and community relations.
Paternoster is one of the oldest fishing villages on the West Coast of South Africa and, like Cornwall, its economy relies heavily on tourism.
Dr Albert Kimbu said: “We live in a fast-moving world and sometimes we do not appreciate just how much has changed in a short period of time. This is a great opportunity for Surrey and our partners to investigate just how people in these two marginalised regions of their respected countries have coped with the loss of key industries.”