Local community participation and tourism development: a case study of Kabale district, western Uganda.

Abstract

The study examined the role of the local community participation in the development of tourism. The study was guided by the following objectives notably, to examine the contribution of local people to the development of tourism in Kabale, to assess the attitudes and perceptions of the local people towards tourism development and to examine the factors influencing the attitudes and perceptions of local people towards tourism development. The study used a descriptive and quantitative approach. Data was collected from a target population of 50 members of the local community in kabale district, using simple random and purposive sampling techniques. Data were collected with the aid of closed ended questionnaire and Statistical Packages for Social Sciences was employed for analyzing data from which frequency tables, descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), reliability, validity, correlation, and regression results were obtained. The study findings revealed that there is a positive and significant effect of decision making on tourism development, planning and implementation on tourism development, management on tourism development. The study recommends efforts to improve on the development of tourism depends on local community participation (decision making, planning, implementation, and management). Finally the study concludes that there is a strong predictive power that the dimensions of local community participation contributes towards the development of tourism in kabale district.