Opportunities and challenges to development of community-based tourism as land use

Abstract

This study sought to examine the possibility of integration of community-based tourism in Buhoma village. The study assumed the existence of CBT products in Buhoma village which can be used in the local economy development, which eventually translates to region development. Methods used in the collection of data were questionnaires, interviews, observation and desktop literature review. Quantitative data from the study were analyzed using SPSS while qualitative data from discussions and key informant interviews were analyzed on the basis of emerging themes. Investigation on the tourism products within the area identified several products ranging from cultural activities to nature-based assets. Tourism did not come out as a current land use in the area. Agriculture was the predominant land use in the area. Despite the efforts by the government to beef up the sector, there is still low community interest in tourism in the region. Several challenges were identified that have led to this ranging from poor leadership and lack of policy support, lack of guiding plans, corruption, marketing to lack of infrastructure amongst many others discussed in this paper. This paper concludes by making policy recommendations and providing a community-based tourism land use planning development.