The tourism industry in sub-Saharan Africa has been experiencing one of the fastest growth rates in the last decade at more than 10% in 2006, +7% in 2007 and +5% in 2008 and 2009 respectively and this positive trend is predicted to continue in future in spite of the present global recession. However, there are significant variations in tourism growth between the various countries and different sub-regions. Until now, there has been no detailed examination by researchers to find out the reasons for these variations in general and the stagnation and even decline in tourism growth observed in countries of the Central African sub-region in particular, which have recognised natural and socio-cultural potentials of developing a thriving sustainable tourism industry. Using Cameroon as a case study, this research examines the reasons of this stagnation in the Central African sub-region, and explores the possibility of tailoring, adapting and/or applying the key concepts of sustainable tourism in developing and managing the tourism industry in the Central African sub-region which is still at an early stage of development through the conception of a strategic framework for sustainable tourism development management in Cameroon. The principal objectives of the thesis are: a. To identify and outline the growth potential of the tourism industry in Cameroon as a means of improving the socio-economic conditions of the local communities. b. To examine the contradictions and challenges facing the development of a viable sustainable tourism industry in Cameroon. c. To determine how far sustainable tourism concepts successfully applied in other countries can be adapted and used in developing and managing the tourism potential of Cameroon in particular, and its sub-region. The research philosophy is interpretive and it adopts the case study (which is both exploratory and descriptive) as the research strategy. Mixed methods were used in collecting data for this research which combines both the deductive and inductive approaches, the former being the secondary approach and the latter being the primary. Primary data was obtained through a tourist satisfaction questionnaire, in depth semi-structured interviews and field observations while secondary quantitative data was collected from existing published literature on (sustainable) tourism, grey literature and unpublished documents from the Ministry of Tourism as well as the Ministry of Forestry and Fauna in Cameroon. The questionnaire data was analysed with the aid of the SPSS (Version 15) statistical package, and a thematic content analysis was done of the interview transcripts and observation notes. The results of the data analysis not only answer the research objectives and questions, but also identify core and enabling themes affecting the management of the development of a sustainable tourism industry in Cameroon. These include issues dealing with the overall tourism policy, finance, tourism promotion and marketing, stakeholder relationships, service infrastructure, human resource development, as well as national and sub-regional peace and stability. Drawing from theoretical and successfully implemented practical models of sustainable (tourism) development in other developing destinations, the study concludes by proposing a strategic framework for sustainable tourism development management in Cameroon as well as suggestions for future research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:629188 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Kimbu, A. N. |
| Publisher | Nottingham Trent University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/185/ |
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