Description
Abstract
The potential for rural tourism in Zimbabwe is based on the uniqueness and rich variety of tribal culture and the various artefacts that represent those cultures (Woyo and Woyo, 2018). However, that potential remains unfulfilled because villagers lack the skills and tools to promote their communities as destinations for tourism (Runyowa, 2017). Tourism marketing in Zimbabwe has suffered the effect of macro environmental forces like political unrest in the early 2000s which impacted on the arrival of international tourists and the economic collapse in Zimbabwe which impacted local tourism (Musasa and Mago, 2014). More specifically, rural tourism in Zimbabwe suffers from poor marketing, lack of government support, and community apathy when opportunities to develop rural tourism products arise (Woyo and Woyo, 2019). According to Maziliauske (2024) value co-creation presents an opportunity for tourism product development, tourist markets development, economic empowerment for rural communities and professional development for collaborators in the proposed tourism product development.
This paper examines a proposal for tour operators and sculptor communities in rural areas to work together to create tours into villages where tourists can experience the daily lives of artists, learn the rich heritage of Shona sculpture and the art of sculpting. The present sculptors in Guruve, Zimbabwe are descendants of dynasties of sculptors who used stone sculptures to tell stories of the lives of their people. Collaborative consumption in the village through hosting of tourists in daily life settings can come together to create a sense of place, (Jaremen et al, 2019). Previous studies (such as Lew, 2019) have defined place-making as a co-creative process in which stakeholders come together to activate the attachment, belonging and commitment to a place through knowledge sharing and collaborative experiences. Other studies (Sitinga and Ogra, 2014) also found rural place making to be a driver of sustainable tourism enterprises that bring local economic development. This paper argues that value co-creation between sculptor communities in rural Zimbabwe and tour operators can be mutually beneficial to stakeholders (Moyo and Tichawa, 2017). There is also potential to develop a new tourism product that pivots away from the traditional nature-based products like safaris and game to focus on emotive experiential culture-based products like living with and learning from host communities (Runyowa, 2017).
The methodology for this qualitative study is underpinned by grounded theory and data collection will be done through workshops comprised of rural community representative focus groups, sculptors and tour operators (Charmaz and Belgrave, 2019). The focus group workshops will be facilitated by the researcher using prompts to guide participants in collaborative discussions on developing a sense of place for rural spaces where sculptors live and identification of potential tourist experiences using tour operators’ insights on successful tourism products (Lian, 2020).
This research will examine whether sculptors, the rural communities in which they live, and tour operators will see the value of co-creating mutually beneficial products. The research will also examine the process of place-making in bringing host communities closer, strengthening their sense of belonging, pride of belonging and commitment to collective success. Barriers to successful co-creation and placemaking will also be explored, including lack of business knowledge or entrepreneurial skills, which could limit the extent to which rural community representatives can contribute to the co-creative process. It is acknowledged that the local community’s willingness to participate could be hampered by the perception of applicability of novel western-centric theories on a global south target group.
Keywords: Value Co-creation, place-making, rural tourism, cultural and heritage tourism, collaborative consumption
