The impacts of tourism on local communities : developing and operationalising a comprehensive monitoring framework

Abstract

Monitoring the impacts of tourism in local communities ensures sustainable tourism development. In order to do so effectively, a monitoring framework is essential. Surprisingly, there has been no scholarly attention on the development and operationalization of a comprehensive framework to monitor the impacts of tourism. Similarly, the post-1999 era has not seen the development of new or improvements to existing theories on tourism impacts and residents' reactions. This study fills the above research gap by developing and operationalizing a comprehensive framework for monitoring tourism impacts by revising Faulkner and Tideswell's (1997) original framework. Specifically, the objectives of this study are: (1) to examine local residents' perceptions and their reactions towards tourism and its impacts; (2) to identify and examine factors (extrinsic and intrinsic) which facilitate or hinder the development of tourism in addressing the problems of unemployment and poverty; (3) to examine the contribution of tourism to community livelihoods; (4) to examine the extent of local communities' involvement and participation in tourism planning and development; and (5) to revise and operationalize a framework for monitoring tourism impacts in local communities. The study adopted a descriptive research design which employed qualitative and quantitative methods to collect data from Alldays and Musina communities that border Mapungubwe National Park and World Heritage Site in Limpopo Province, South Africa. In-depth interviews, focus groups, informal conversations and a survey were used for data collection. The major results indicate that although tourism is advocated as a tool for poverty alleviation, most residents perceived tourism to have had little or no significant impact in alleviating poverty. Most residents attributed this phenomenon to the: lingering effect of the apartheid regime; short length of stay of tourists; lack of tourism knowledge and skills; unbalanced ownership of businesses; lack of tourism revenue sharing; lack of tourism research; and perceptions that tourism is a business for the white community. Although tourism has not reduced poverty as most residents expected, their perceptions and attitudes towards tourism are positive, and they anticipate that tourism will alleviate poverty in the future. In this study, 'anticipation' has been classified as a 'new' residents' reaction to tourism.