Abstract
The paper reports an investigation on how community-based tourism can be used as a development strategy for the efficient and sustainable use of tourist resources in seventeen (17) communities within the Hippopotamus (hippo) Sanctuary of the Wa West District of the Upper West Region of Ghana. Specifically, it explores three interrelated questions with regard to the promotion of rural development in the Wechiau Traditional Area where the Sanctuary is located. These are: (i) whether the development of the Wa West District, particularly the catchment communities, are being impacted by community-based tourism and how; (ii) whether there is a high level of beneficiary participation in the management of the Hippo Sanctuary and; (iii) whether there have been any challenges at all and what strategies can be adopted for the sustenance of the Sanctuary. The investigation was done using probability and non-probability techniques to select participants for a survey and data collected from both primary and secondary sources. Based on the findings, the study concludes that, though community-based tourism is gaining prominence, the tourism development and promotion area is beset with ownership and participation challenges. Therefore, recommendations have been made for exploring more dialogue between and among the stakeholders of the Sanctuary in order to deepen community participation for the sustainable management of the Sanctuary.KEY DESCRIPTORS: Community-based Tourism, Nature Conservation, Eco-system maintenance, Participatory Planning; Rural Development.
Highlights
The decline of natural forests, loss of species, global warming and increasing land degradation has heightened public support for nature conservation
It is no accident that the interest in ecotourism and nature-oriented tourism has coincided with this world-wide concern
This paper reports the results of an investigation on the extent to which community-based tourism can serve as a strategy for rural development, using the case of Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary (WCHS)
Summary
The decline of natural forests, loss of species, global warming and increasing land degradation has heightened public support for nature conservation. It is no accident that the interest in ecotourism and nature-oriented tourism has coincided with this world-wide concern. Ecotourism helps to maintain ecosystems and as a result provides longer lasting economic opportunities than extraction industries, which remove part of the system (Weaver, 1997). To address some of these issues, development strategies have shifted from centrally managed and supply-driven approaches towards bottom-up and demand-based approaches that place local stakeholders at the heart of the process (World Bank, 1991; Chambers, 1983)
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