Residents' perceptions towards the impacts of tourism development: the case of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

The primary objective of this study was to assess residents' perceptions towards the impacts of tourism development in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The questionnaire was based on Kim, Uysal & Sirgy's (2013) research. In order to meet the survey goals, the residents' perceptions towards the environmental, cultural, social, and economic impacts of tourism development were measured on a 5- point Likert-type scale. The empirical results show that the highest perception score was for “traditional local activities” (4.92), whereas the lowest perception score was for “prostitution” (1.09). In general, the local residents were found to support tourism development, but there were signs of wear that ought to be taken into consideration by planners and decision-makers. For instance, using the paired samples t-test the results indicated that nine attributes, namely “environment and ecosystems protection”; “preservation of sites with historical, cultural and aesthetic value”; “drug use and trafficking”; “criminality”; “prostitution”; “moral values”; “price of land”; “price of houses”; and “price of basic staples” were statistically significant (Sig. 0.1529), meaning that these attributes require more attention in terms of changing the negative perceptions of residents towards tourism development. If the tourism planners do not take measures in order to change the negative perceptions of residents towards these attributes, the population will tend to experience increasing levels of wear and saturation, with a consequent decline in the support of the development of the tourism activity. The implications for the study are that national tourism policymakers should redefine the policy to ensure that the factors currently impacting negatively on tourism development are addressed