African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure (Feb 2017)
Community-based tourism development in Victoria Falls, Kompisi Cultural Village: an entrepreneur’s model.
Abstract
The development of Community Based Tourism has encountered numerous challenges in the last decade in a global context and also in Zimbabwe. The decline of mainstream tourism and the withdrawal of donor funding at the height of Zimbabwe’s socio-political crisis at the turn of the millennium, spelt doom for most community-based tourism projects which were donor-funded. However, as the tourism sector begins to recover, it is critical to take a serious look at issues contributing to the success of community-based tourism projects such as Ko Mpise in Victoria Falls and how such a model based on community entrepreneurship can be replicated elsewhere. The study identifies the importance of marketing linkages by community-based entrepreneurs, as they ensure that there is guaranteed business to the community-based tourism project. However, a compelling weakness is that tour operators are not keen to reduce this relationship into a binding contractual agreement, which could lead to more transparency in the business relationship. In addition, this could help widen the revenue base for the community-based entrepreneur. It is also telling to note that the level of business management practices by community entrepreneurs is still very low based on practical feedback from the study and this is an area requiring capacity building by authorities and mindset shift on the part of the entrepreneur. Ultimately, where community-based tourism projects weathered the test of time they need to be nurtured into sustainability if they are to then gravitate into bigger scale companies. The critical role of Governments in enacting appropriate policy frameworks for community-based tourism projects to thrive is also a key finding of this study. The study also concluded that the private sector needs to develop linkages with community-based tourism projects to guarantee them of business and revenue inflows.
