Limitations to community participation in tourism from local people’s perspectives: Manicaland Province, Zimbabwe

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article, examines the perspectives of rural people in Manicaland on the barriers to community participation in tourism. A qualitative approach was selected to give local people from the four districts of Manicaland a voice. In-depth interviews, observations and informal conversations were used to collect data. Data was collected from the various levels of the local communities. Data was collected from 43 local people in Manicaland and twenty more interviews were done with key informants. The findings indicate that local people are limited to participate in tourism by their lack of tourism knowledge, limited finance, peripherality, the marginalisation of women, and elite domination. Suggestions are made to mitigate these barriers. These findings may expose the strengths and weaknesses of the current strategies and approaches used to promote community participation in Zimbabwe’s community-based tourism development, making way for the best policies and approaches to boost community participation in tourism.