san peoples have long been involved in various forms of cultural towenien for over a centurer the hosted explorers, anthropologists, and inal so sought to experience firsthand their distinctive cultural practices, physical appearance. Non-San tourism operators, many of whom employed or even coerced San individuals and families to perform cultural stereotypes, mediated and profited from leisure tourism encounters. Visitors often treated the San as 'primitive' objects of fascination to be gazed at and photographed. While these exploitative relationships still occur, there is an important shift in San involvement in cultural tourism. Increasingly, San peoples are participating in their own community-based tourism ventures. Mindful of outsiders' fascination with their cultural heritage, they are establishing cultural activities and accommodation facilities in order to entertain and educate guests. The San use these projects to take pride in their culture, correct tourists' misunderstandings about them, and above all, to earn an income. These tourism projects not only contribute to San livelihoods but also help increase political recognition by governments that support the expansion of national tourism economies. Based on a survey of San-owned cultural tourism projects in Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa, this chapter addresses how San peoples exert political agency by commodifying their own identities in the cultural tourism industry. Specifically, it addresses how they engage their 'strategic essentialism' by sharing their heritage through cross-cultural encounters with tourists.