Community Participation in Tourism Enterprise Development: The Case of Tanzania

This study reviews theoretical and case studies conducted in Tanzania regarding indigenous participation in tourism development. It applies different tourism development models and other empirical literature in order to cultivate the understanding of tourism development in general before narrowing down to Tanzania. The study found that communities participate in tourism for different reasons although the most emphasized reasons is the economic benefits of tourism. The participation also was found to be through different enterprises but the most notable ones were cultural tourism, Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) and tourism operating enterprises. The study recommends investments in the form of tourism infrastructure, conservation, training and capacity building, marketing, and equitable planning and sharing of the benefits of tourism. The study also, calls for further research in the areas of packaged tourism because Tanzania is known for its classy packaged tourism, which does not encourage much interaction with the indigenous community