This study looks at the ailing Zimbabwean tourism industry and efforts to reverse the negative trend in tourist arrivals. Despite this sector of the economy enjoying positive growth both globally and at a regional level, the local industry had been adversely affected by negative perceptions about the country. The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), whose mission is to professionally market Zimbabwe as a leading tourist destination, has embarked on various initiatives. Unfortunately however, the organisation has enjoyed limited success in recapturing the demand experienced in the years prior to 1999. In order to investigate other avenues to pursue, this study sought the perspectives of two major stakeholders of the local tourism industry. These were namely "buyers" comprising the international tourist, who were probed for their motivations in selecting a holiday destination. In addition, local "suppliers" to the sector who interface directly with the international traveller, were asked to give their perspective on the performance of the ZTA in fulfilling its mission. Personal interviews were conducted in the resort town of Victoria Falls. This area was chosen over other attractions in Zimbabwe because our neighbouring competitors, South Africa and Zambia have promoted the resort for their own benefit, at the expense of the local industry. Another reason is the worldwide recognition and appeal of the attraction, owing to its historical significance. The study established that the resort still enjoys immense popularity, with international visitors opting to return several times in order to gaze at the scenic wonder. However, since the falls lack a truly Zimbabwean identity or image, travel agents and tour operators have either channeled tourist to the Zambian side or flown them in via South Africa as day visitors. The resultant effect has been minimal financial benefit to Zimbabwe by way of receipts from tourist expenditure. Adopting a co-operative strategic orientation with these neighbouring countries is recommended. At a local level the study found that the local tourism industry lacked a unified approach in tackling the challenges facing sector. / Thesis (MBA)- University of Kwazulu-Natal, 2004.

This tourism strategy provides an overview of the DMA tourism product, an analysis of the strategic influences affecting the region and recommendations to achieve our vision 2010, of making the DMA a "must-see" destination in Africa. It provides a cohesive framework for the development of tourism in the region, bringing together key players including local tourism agencies, the city council, hotels, visitor attractions, retailers and transport providers. The regions strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats were evaluated and this led to identification of the key issues that will affect the future success of tourism in the DMA. The impact of tourism is much wider than the purely economic. Tourism initiatives also support local businesses, culture and craft. The need to maintain attractive, high quality visitor destinations has meant that tourism contributes to the protection and upkeep of the regions built and natural environments. There are a number of key issues and challenges that face the tourism sector of the DMA. These were addressed with recommendations in order to achieve our Vision 2010: • Market segmentation • Image-and branding • Developing market intelligence • Communication and information technology • Partnership and co-ordination • Competing through quality • Business support • Development of "Must-Sees" • Major sporting events • Monitoring and Evaluation An aggressive competitive strategy to outsmart our competitors and make the DMA a "must-see" destination in Africa has been clearly outlined. There is a need for strategic leadership to bring all the relevant parties together to drive the strategy to success. The DMA is on the threshold of becoming one of the major tourism destinations in the world and it is up to every resident in our region to make this dream come true. / Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, 2003.

Tourism destinations need to continuously improve in quality to succeed, if not to survive. To improve quality, current levels need to be measured to identify areas requiring improvement. However, no adequate technique for measuring the quality of a tourism destination has yet been developed. More importantly, tourists' understanding of the meaning of the term 'quality of a tourism destination' has not been investigated; a pre-requisite step for developing a technique for measuring the quality of a tourism destination. This thesis aims to ascertain the attributes and dimensions of quality of a tourism destination and to specify implications for the development of a technique for measuring its quality. To achieve this aim, a qualitative research approach is employed in the first stage of the thesis. The findings from this stage are used to inform the ensuing, mainly quantitative phase. The main results are summarised here. Firstly, seventy-five attributes and twelve dimensions of quality of a tourism destination were revealed in the qualitative phase of the study. Secondly, in the quantitative stage, an analysis of mean score values revealed that tourists strongly associated all seventy-five attributes and twelve dimensions with the quality of a tourism destination. Thirdly, it was established that the twelve dimensions of quality of a tourism destination differ in either breadth or scope from both service quality dimensions widely used in tourism and product quality dimensions from the quality management field. This thesis suggests that the quality of a tourism destination can best be defined as 'conformance to tourist requirements'. The main hypothesis; that there are significant differences in interpretations of the meaning of 'quality of a tourism destination' within groups oftourists, is rejected. Finally, the thesis ascertains that a tool for measuring the quality of a tourism destination can be developed based on the findings of the thesis. Such a tool, though predominantly quantitative, should include open-ended questions. This would allow changing tourist needs to be captured periodically and the results used to update the tool for measuring the quality of a tourism destination.

For more than a decade tourists originating in developed nations have been giving various gifts to locals of tourism communities in developing nations. This occurrence is commonly associated with the Caribbean, and is particularly well known to occur in Cuba. Tourism has often been adopted as a part of economic development strategies of developing nations, however due to a lack of studies on tourists’ philanthropic gift-giving it is unclear how the occurrence affects both human and economic development, and likewise its impacts such as possibilities of population disparity. There are current restrictions in Cuba which forbid locals from accepting the gifts of international tourists (Taylor & McGlynn 2009; Mesa-Lago 2005), however the island’s unique need for material goods seems to over-rule this policy. The implication herein indicates benefits to accepting gifts from tourists. Tourism employees most frequently come in contact with tourists and the potential of gift receipts by tourism employees is heightened. This in turn carries implications of social disparities amongst the population resulting from unequal gift receipts by tourism employees. Furthermore, current research suggests that complex social relationships are created through gift-giving yet little is understood within the context of tourist-to-local community member. The goal of this thesis is to determine whether international tourist philanthropic gift-giving contributes to social disparity within a local community as well as its affects on human and economic development. This has been achieved through case study research from a mixed-methods approach in Trinidad, Sancti Spirtus, Cuba. The results of this research point to significant economic gains and improvement in access-to-material-goods through tourists’ gift-giving, which in turn have been found to contribute to economic development. However, the external nature of tourists’ gift-giving limits using the phenomenon as a reliable tool for economic development. Impacts on human development are not as clearly defined. Although tourists’ gift-giving contributes to some aspects of human development, the phenomenon cannot be considered to contribute to overall human development. Although population disparity was found to be an impact of tourists’ philanthropic gift-giving, community members viewed the occurrence as a positive benefit of tourism. The policy in Cuba restricting locals from accepting tourists’ gifts has been largely ineffective as this type of economic gain was found to be well integrated in the informal economy. The general public is largely unaware of the policy and it is likely Cubans will continue to accept tourists’ gifts. Although this research has revealed interesting insight regarding tourists’ philanthropic gift-giving much remains to be known of its impacts and several recommendations for future studies are suggested.

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