Tourism development and community response : the case of the Inhambane Coastal Zone, Mozambique

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Tourism development is a complex process which many researchers have attempted tounderstand from various social science perspectives. This study adopts a geography approachto analyse tourism development in the Inhambane Coastal Zone (ICZ) by using the Miossec(1976) and the Butler (1980) models as basic frameworks for analyses. Although both modelswere found to be useful, they require more accurate data than what was generally available forthe ICZ.Before the country's independence in 1975, Mozambique was considered one of manypremier tourism destinations in Southern Africa and the tourism sector had played animportant role in the economy of the country. The 16 years period of internal conflict (1976-1992) resulted in a rapid decline in the performance of the sector. Since the end of the armedconflict in 1992 and the democratic transition, a slow recovery of the tourism sector inMozambique has set in. Tourism facilities for accommodation and leisure activities haveincreased considerably over the last ten years, despite the absence of any integrated tourismplanning.In this study questionnaire surveys of tourist establishment representatives and local residentsas well as focus group discussions and interviews were conducted to acquire primary data toanalyse the evolution of the ICZ as a tourist destination during the period 1992 to 2008. Inaddition, secondary sources such as reports, tourism plans, tourism statistics and maps of thestudy area were used.It was found that tourism is developing slowly in the ICZ and the opening up (orrediscovering) of the zone as a destination remains limited due to the slow development ofinfrastructure in general. The tourism nodes are in different stages of their destination lifecycle and the local residents living in the seven communities react differently toward tourismdevelopment. The ICZ has not progressed further than phase two in Miossec's model. TheMiossec model was found a suitable tool for analysing tourism development in the ICZ but itremains a challenge to identify both the evolutionary stage of the ICZ as a destination and thestage of each tourism node. The study also found that local residents in the ICZ expressedpositive views about tourism development but they are still not satisfied with the currentbenefits they acquire from the current development status of tourism in the zone.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University