Tourism and township development: Stakeholders’ perceptions of the role of Inanda Heritage Route in creating jobs and alleviating poverty within the eThekwini Municipality in South Africa 1 Author: Makanishe, Bisimwa Timothee 2 Abstract The Inanda Heritage Route (IHR) is a tourism development initiative which has been redesigned to address persistent socio-economic challenges while preserving the rich historic heritage and cultural landscapes in previously marginalized areas within the eThekwini Municipality. This chapter employs qualitative data to understand the tourism significance of the IHR and to analyse stakeholders’ perceptions of its role in creating jobs and alleviating poverty in the township of Inanda. Framed within the social exchange theory, the findings of the study reveal that stakeholders have had mixed perceptions towards the role of the IHR in creating jobs and alleviating poverty. The study finds that there are three main categories of stakeholder perceptions, including optimistic, cautious, and pessimistic perceptions towards the importance of the IHR in creating jobs and alleviating poverty. These perceptions are probably informed by the participant stakeholder’s experiences with and knowledge of the IHR tourism development opportunities and challenges. The study is important in the context of tourism development policy because it considers a multi-stakeholder point of view, which is necessary for the sustainability of the IHR initiative. Keywords: Inanda Heritage Route, stakeholders, perceptions, cultural heritage, tourism development, employment, poverty. Introduction and research problem Tourism has been hailed as the world’s largest and fastest-growing industry because of its impressive growth over the last five decades (United Nations Development Programme [UNDP], 2011; George, 2007; Ivanovic, 2008). Seen as an export opportunity for foreign exchange earnings on the one hand, and as a labour-intensive industry on the other, tourism has been prioritized by governments in many developing countries in their efforts to boost the economy, generate employment and reduce poverty (NTD, 2012; UNDP, 2011; WTO, 1 This book chapter has been published as Chapter 8 in Rukema, J. R. (2015) (Ed) Thinking and Re-thinking Development in Africa. Published by the African-International Alumni Press. ISBN 978-0-620-66858-3. 2 BT Makanishe is a PhD Candidate in Economic History and Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal where he has also worked as a Lecturer, teaching Cultural and Heritage Tourism, amongst other disciplines.