Inclusion of local community farmers in the last-mile supply chain processes of luxury wildlife tourism destinations

Abstract

The fresh produce supply chains' content, nature, and characteristics for luxury tourism wildlife destinations in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa are unknown. There is no synthesised document that compares the current body of knowledge in the form of subject literature, primary and secondary data that has investigated and explored the concept and objectives of including fresh produce from local community farmers in the supply chain (SC) processes of luxury wildlife tourism destinations, which in turn may guide future research needs and identify niche research areas. This study aimed to establish the probability of including fresh produce from community farmers in luxury wildlife tourism destinations' last-mile SC processes. The study's methodology used available literature, including relevant theoretical and applied research findings. The philosophy that underpinned this research was interpretivism, which involves a researcher interpreting elements of a study and focusing on their meaning, which typically materialises at the end of the study. The method used for this study was a literature review and content analysis. Three different types of interviews were used, The focus was supported with research, particularly concerning the discipline of supply chains (SCs), food SCs, sustainable SCs, tourism SCs, hospitality industry, replenishment strategies, local communities, tourism business management, food from cradle to plate and community sustainability. Primary and secondary data were used to develop a community farmer inclusion coefficient (Cfic), which organisations can use to determine the probability of including fresh produce from community farmers in their last-mile SC processes. Other areas of SC research were identified; green SCs, SC integrations, globalisation and SC challenges, transparency in the SC, and robotic automation of the SCs. This study identified research gaps in community farmers' fresh produce SCs and the fresh produce SCs of luxury wildlife tourism destinations. It is recommended that researchers consider investigating other business-to-business (B2B) processes that can exist between a local community and a luxury wildlife tourism destination. This will ensure greater alignment between researchers and the collaboration processes between community farmers and luxury wildlife tourism destinations.