Residents’ Perception of the Impacts of Tourism and Satisfaction: Evidence from Zanzibar

Abstract

The current research trend in Sub-Saharan Africa suggests only a handful of studies on residents’ perceptions of the impacts of tourism and its associated benefits. Despite tourism being a booming industry in Tanzania, the extent to which tourism development contributes to resident’s satisfaction and their general welfare is not known. This paper sought to fill in the specified knowledge gap by capturing various insights depicting perceived economic, socio-cultural and environmental impacts of tourism in Zanzibar Island, and establish the level of satisfaction on the studied phenomena. To meet the desired aim, a total of 200 respondents were selected strategically from targeted localities in Kiwengwa area to respond to a structured questionnaire. Obtained data were analysed descriptively, and a multiple linear regression was carried out. The regression analysis results indicate that perceived social-cultural and environmental impacts of tourism have significant positive impacts on residents’ satisfaction; while perceived economic impacts of tourism lack significant effect on the satisfaction. Based on these results, the assumptions of the social exchange theory (SET) employed in this paper as a conceptual model are confirmed since the perceived impacts of tourism significantly contributed to residents’ satisfaction with tourism. The results shed light on the need for strategic stakeholder‘s interventions that may boost the tourism industry in the Island, and similar destinations, by considering the triple bottom line aspect of sustainability (economic, socio-cultural, and environmental), and consequently increasing residents’ satisfaction with tourism in their destinations.