Perceived community participation in tourism activities and facilities at the uMvoti

• Main Author: Jila, Gabisile Elsie
• Other Authors: Magi, L.M.
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: University of Zululand 2013
• Subjects: Community participation > tourism > South Africa > KwaZulu-Natal > uMvoti
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10530/1127

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.