| Summary: | A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for Master's degree in
Recreation and Tourism, in the Department of Recreation and
Tourism at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2010. === The study was conducted with the view of investigating community
participation and benefits from tourism activities and facilities at the Umvoti
Municipality. Though the uMvoti people could be perceived as not
understanding tourism a human activity and its related benefits, most of them do
not seem to participate in any tourism development activities taking place in the
area.
In an attempt to investigate the research problem, the following research
objectives were formulated:
(a) To investigate the degree to which the community understands the
importance of the concept of tourism.
(b) To ascertain the adequacy of the provision of tourism activities and
facilities in the study area.
(c) To identify the tourism participation patterns of the local
community in terms of tourism activities and facilities found in the
study area.
(d) To reveal the perceived tourism benefits that the local community is
expecting to enjoy in the study area,
(e) To assess the perceived management strategies or practices, that are
been used by the tourism authorities to promote tourism
development in the uMvoti municipal area.
The research methodology used in an attempt to execute the objectives of the
research study involved a stratified sample size of 128 respondents, who were
distributed in the uMvoti Local Municipality as follows : sample consisting of
Tourism & Municipal officials [13], Tourists [18], tour operators [20] and local
communityl"??]. Data was collected by means of questionnaires, which were
analysed using the statistical package for the social sciences [SPSS] computer
programme, available at the Department of Recreation and Tourism, University
of Zululand.
The findings of the study essentially revealed that there exists a positive
perception towards tourism in the study area. The community has also
displayed a variety of expectations since tourism has not achieved any
remarkable development in the study area. The findings were that tourism
facilities and activities in the study area were inadequately provided and
unsatisfactory: there was also minimal to fair participation practice in tourism
activities and facilities, mainly influenced by social and education variables.
The tourism management practice in the study area were found to be
ineffective and inadequate for encouraging community beneficiation.
It was further discovered that, notwithstanding that the local community was
aware of tourism activities and facilities in the study area, there were tangle and
adequate benefits for the community, since they were for a long time excluded
from enjoying the rewards of tourism. The community members tend to be
sceptical, where there are no identifiable and observable improvements in their
lifestyle.
The research study finally came up with recommendations that were based on
the outcomes of study. The study recommended that there must be heavy
investment in skills training and education of the community in uMvoti area.
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