The purpose of Niche Tourism is to provide students with foundational insight and practical understanding of the various types of niche tourism sectors within southern Africa. Each of these uniquely established niche tourism sectors contributes towards the development of the southern African tourism product and service offering and attracts large volumes of tourists annually to southern Africa.

Niche tourism has grown and expanded into various formats over the past few years. Within southern Africa there are unique tourism establishments that showcase how these niche tourism establishments contribute towards growing the economy, uplifting local communities, and conserving the natural and cultural heritage of southern Africa.

The tourism industry in southern Africa offers various entrepreneurial opportunities for tourism graduates. The aim of this textbook is to provide students with a strong theoretical foundation on the respective niche tourism segments supported with current practical examples of how these niche tourism sectors operate, to enable graduates to establish their own niche tourism establishments. In doing so, graduates would be able to not only contribute towards the regional economy of southern Africa but also enable the resolution of socio-cultural challenges whilst conserving and protecting both the natural and cultural heritage of southern Africa.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.