Tourism development and its effects on host community: A case study of Kakum National Park in the Central Region of Ghana
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Date
2014-07-27
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Abstract
Tourism is now the world‘s number one export earner. It has generated an estimated
gross output of US 3.5 trillion and the Figure is expected to increase to US 7.0 trillion
by 2011 (World Travel and Tourism Council, 2009). In Ghana, it is presently the third
largest foreign exchange earner after merchandise exports and remittances from
abroad and has become one of the most important and fastest growing sectors of the
Ghanaian economy (Bank of Ghana, 2007).
The study was carried out to find out the degree of tourism development and its
effects onKakum Conservation Area. Two communities along the park were
purposively selected. Abrafo-Odumase and Jukwa Mfuom are the southern and the
northern gateways to the Kakum National Park. The case study approach was used
since the work focused oninteraction between the park and host
community. Bothstructured and non-structured questionnaire were administeredto 369
local residents, 168 tourists and an in-depth interview with the Park Manager. The
local residents andthe tourists were randomly sampled. In addition, direct observations
and transect walks were also used to generate data for the study.
The study revealed that the study communities benefited from the Kakum National
Park‘s operations in the area of water, electricity extensions, library, market, teachers‘
quarters, employment and revenue generation. Also, household incomes and general
quality of life of the people have improved by 10 percent. The environment has also
been preserved because by providing economic incentive for protecting natural and
cultural diversity, has made conservation efforts possible, as well as providing
revenues to continue supporting the conservation efforts.The degradation of local
infrastructure results from the heavy traffic of cars and tour buses. The degradation of
local infrastructure results from the heavy traffic of cars and tour buses.
However, some negative effects are the displacement of the natives from their land,
increased social gap, frustration, loss of cultural identity. Unfortunately the local
communities are not aware of their cultural heritage and so they imitate tourist‘s social
cultural traits.
The study recommended that local people should be involved in the tourism
development in their area. The people should be involved in the sharing of tourism
benefits and local capacity building of the people. Finally, all of the Park's
development initiatives should address the socio-economic needs of the communities
that surround the Park development in the area.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Department of Planning,
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Kumasi,
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN DEVELOPMENT POLICY AND PLANNING.