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Involvement in Tourism Activities and Perceived Benefits in Communities around Udzungwa Mountain National Park in Tanzania

Received: 8 April 2015     Accepted: 17 April 2015     Published: 28 April 2015
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Abstract

Tourism constitutes one of the fastest growing sectors in Tanzania. The industry is placed as one of the major means through which development of local communities can be achieved. There is, however, paucity of information on how local communities living close to the national parks are involved in tourism. A cross-sectional study was carried out in February 2013 in six villages adjacent to Udzungwa Mountain National Park (UMNP). The objectives of the study were (i) to examine the extent to which people living close to UMNP participate in tourism, (ii) to identify the determinants of individual involvement in tourism activities, and (iii) to assess the benefits accrued from tourism by local communities. Data were collected from 150 households using a semi-structured questionnaire. A 3-point Likert scale was used to obtain information on residents’ involvement and perceived benefits in tourism activities. Data were then analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) program version 20. Results show that almost all respondents (97%) were involved in at least one activity related to tourism. The activities include hotel and local restaurant services, agro-tourism, environmental protection, transport services, adventure tourism, local handcrafting, revenue sharing and walking safari. In most of these activities, residents’ involvement was rather moderate. Overall, findings show that tourism provides array of benefits that contribute to the wellbeing of people. However, lack of transparency on revenues from UMNP was identified as ingrained challenge that affected cooperation and trust between residents and leaders. These results underline the need for the Local Government Authority to contextualize governance challenges taking into account the social-political environment. These results underline the need for changes in social-political environment with emphasis on increased accountability and transparency. Addressing these challenges will build greater trust between community members, village leaders and UMNP authority in pursuit of economic development, conservation requirements and sustainability in tourism industry.

Published in American Journal of Environmental Protection (Volume 4, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajep.20150403.12
Page(s) 120-126
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Benefits, Community Development, Conservation, Tourism

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  • APA Style

    John Safari, Vicent Gowele, James Lwelamira. (2015). Involvement in Tourism Activities and Perceived Benefits in Communities around Udzungwa Mountain National Park in Tanzania. American Journal of Environmental Protection, 4(3), 120-126. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20150403.12

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    ACS Style

    John Safari; Vicent Gowele; James Lwelamira. Involvement in Tourism Activities and Perceived Benefits in Communities around Udzungwa Mountain National Park in Tanzania. Am. J. Environ. Prot. 2015, 4(3), 120-126. doi: 10.11648/j.ajep.20150403.12

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    AMA Style

    John Safari, Vicent Gowele, James Lwelamira. Involvement in Tourism Activities and Perceived Benefits in Communities around Udzungwa Mountain National Park in Tanzania. Am J Environ Prot. 2015;4(3):120-126. doi: 10.11648/j.ajep.20150403.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajep.20150403.12,
      author = {John Safari and Vicent Gowele and James Lwelamira},
      title = {Involvement in Tourism Activities and Perceived Benefits in Communities around Udzungwa Mountain National Park in Tanzania},
      journal = {American Journal of Environmental Protection},
      volume = {4},
      number = {3},
      pages = {120-126},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajep.20150403.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20150403.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajep.20150403.12},
      abstract = {Tourism constitutes one of the fastest growing sectors in Tanzania. The industry is placed as one of the major means through which development of local communities can be achieved. There is, however, paucity of information on how local communities living close to the national parks are involved in tourism. A cross-sectional study was carried out in February 2013 in six villages adjacent to Udzungwa Mountain National Park (UMNP). The objectives of the study were (i) to examine the extent to which people living close to UMNP participate in tourism, (ii) to identify the determinants of individual involvement in tourism activities, and (iii) to assess the benefits accrued from tourism by local communities. Data were collected from 150 households using a semi-structured questionnaire. A 3-point Likert scale was used to obtain information on residents’ involvement and perceived benefits in tourism activities. Data were then analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) program version 20. Results show that almost all respondents (97%) were involved in at least one activity related to tourism. The activities include hotel and local restaurant services, agro-tourism, environmental protection, transport services, adventure tourism, local handcrafting, revenue sharing and walking safari. In most of these activities, residents’ involvement was rather moderate.  Overall, findings show that tourism provides array of benefits that contribute to the wellbeing of people. However, lack of transparency on revenues from UMNP was identified as ingrained challenge that affected cooperation and trust between residents and leaders. These results underline the need for the Local Government Authority to contextualize governance challenges taking into account the social-political environment. These results underline the need for changes in social-political environment with emphasis on increased accountability and transparency. Addressing these challenges will build greater trust between community members, village leaders and UMNP authority in pursuit of economic development, conservation requirements and sustainability in tourism industry.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Involvement in Tourism Activities and Perceived Benefits in Communities around Udzungwa Mountain National Park in Tanzania
    AU  - John Safari
    AU  - Vicent Gowele
    AU  - James Lwelamira
    Y1  - 2015/04/28
    PY  - 2015
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20150403.12
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajep.20150403.12
    T2  - American Journal of Environmental Protection
    JF  - American Journal of Environmental Protection
    JO  - American Journal of Environmental Protection
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5699
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajep.20150403.12
    AB  - Tourism constitutes one of the fastest growing sectors in Tanzania. The industry is placed as one of the major means through which development of local communities can be achieved. There is, however, paucity of information on how local communities living close to the national parks are involved in tourism. A cross-sectional study was carried out in February 2013 in six villages adjacent to Udzungwa Mountain National Park (UMNP). The objectives of the study were (i) to examine the extent to which people living close to UMNP participate in tourism, (ii) to identify the determinants of individual involvement in tourism activities, and (iii) to assess the benefits accrued from tourism by local communities. Data were collected from 150 households using a semi-structured questionnaire. A 3-point Likert scale was used to obtain information on residents’ involvement and perceived benefits in tourism activities. Data were then analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) program version 20. Results show that almost all respondents (97%) were involved in at least one activity related to tourism. The activities include hotel and local restaurant services, agro-tourism, environmental protection, transport services, adventure tourism, local handcrafting, revenue sharing and walking safari. In most of these activities, residents’ involvement was rather moderate.  Overall, findings show that tourism provides array of benefits that contribute to the wellbeing of people. However, lack of transparency on revenues from UMNP was identified as ingrained challenge that affected cooperation and trust between residents and leaders. These results underline the need for the Local Government Authority to contextualize governance challenges taking into account the social-political environment. These results underline the need for changes in social-political environment with emphasis on increased accountability and transparency. Addressing these challenges will build greater trust between community members, village leaders and UMNP authority in pursuit of economic development, conservation requirements and sustainability in tourism industry.
    VL  - 4
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Institute of Rural Development Planning (IRDP), Dodoma, Tanzania

  • Institute of Rural Development Planning (IRDP), Dodoma, Tanzania

  • Institute of Rural Development Planning (IRDP), Dodoma, Tanzania

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