Abstract
On the East Coast of South Africa, on the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, lie the shores of Coffee Bay
town. This small predominantly rural beach town beams with multitude of tourism potential. The town
prides itself for its magnificent beach, hotels, and tourism activities like: horse riding, hiking and boasts of
other tourism facilities and attractions. Besides tourism potential this small town faces number of
challenges. The majority of the town’s economically active population is illiterate, unemployed and lives
under the poverty line. The town on its own is a pot of gold; however, the community needs to be more
involved in the decision making for developments within the town, as well as encouraging of pride of
citizenship. This would ensure maximum benefit for residents, in terms of economic growth, access to
opportunities, betterment of livelihoods, etc. In the pursuit of Tourism-led Local Economic Development
(LED) oriented growth in Coffee Bay, the place making determinants becomes central in order to address
the number of challenges faced by the local communities.
Place making determinants and processes applicable to the area entails optimal use of resources that are
unique to an area, for the economic (increased investment in the area, rise in tourists coming in, improved
environments for fishing, establishment of a fully functional and beneficial fishing industry), social
(improved well-being of local residents), community (infrastructure and livelihood within the town) and
otherwise benefits. The paper discusses the place based tourism-led approaches in the context of rural
communities and highlights the key determinants of place making process in a rural centric tourism-led
local economic development. The research is based on mixed method approach (qualitative and
quantitative) and brings out the discussion on: essence, self-sufficiency, sustainability and inclusion of
communities based on locally available assets, potential and resources.