This book investigates small town tourism development in South Africa taking into account the most common strategies: branding, promotion, festivals and theming. The contents of the book resonate with the intersection of the power elite and their impacts on small town tourism.

Because the book focuses on small town geographies in South Africa, the literature on small town tourism in the country is reviewed in Chapter 2 to provide a contextual background. Each subsequent chapter begins with an overview of international literature to give the conceptual context of the case studies each chapter explores. In Chapter 3 the concept of small town tourism branding is illustrated by an exploration of the Richmond book town. In Chapter 4 the branding theme is probed further in an investigation of two winners of the Kwêla Town of the Year competition namely Fouriesburg and De Rust. Chapter 5 documents the branding of Sedgefield through its proclamation as Africa’s first Cittaslow (slow town), a process driven by the local power elite to the exclusion of town’s poor who have no understanding of the intentions of the Cittaslow movement and its potential benefits for the town. Chapter 6 is a case study of Greyton’s tourism-led rural gentrification by which a small town has transformed in three decades to become a sought after place of residence for elite inmigrants so making the town a jewel tourism destination while reinforcing racial segregation. Because festivals and events - creations of the wealthy - have made significant financial contributions to small towns, Chapter 7 considers festivals and events as strategies to market and brand small towns in a particular way. Case studies of the economic impacts of festivals on small towns are assessed and the assessment methodologies used are critiqued. Chapter 8 provides a synthesis by drawing on the thesis of the urban growth machine by power elites.

本书调查了南非的小城镇旅游发展，考虑了最常见的战略：品牌、促销、节日和主题。本书的内容与权力精英的交集及其对小城镇旅游的影响产生了共鸣。

由于本书关注的是南非的小城镇地理，因此在第二章中回顾了该国小城镇旅游的文献，以提供一个背景。随后的每一章都以国际文献的概述开始，为每一章所探讨的案例研究提供概念背景。在第三章中，通过对里士满书城的探索，说明了小城镇旅游品牌的概念。在第四章中，通过对Kwêla年度城镇竞赛的两个获胜者，即Fouriesburg和De Rust的调查，进一步探讨了品牌建设的主题。第五章记录了Sedgefield通过宣布成为非洲第一个Cittaslow（慢城）而形成的品牌，这个过程是由当地的权力精英推动的，而镇上的穷人却不了解Cittaslow运动的意图和它对镇上的潜在好处。第六章是一个关于格雷顿的旅游主导的农村绅士化的案例研究，通过这个案例，一个小镇在三十年间转变为精英移民追捧的居住地，从而使该镇成为珠宝旅游目的地，同时加强了种族隔离。由于节日和活动--富人的创造--为小城镇做出了巨大的财政贡献，第七章将节日和活动视为以特殊方式推销和塑造小城镇的战略。对节庆活动对小城镇的经济影响的案例研究进行了评估，并对所使用的评估方法进行了批评。第八章通过借鉴权力精英的城市增长机器的论述，提供了一个综述。