Assessing the impact of marine safety on the development of Lake Victoria’s marine tourism

Abstract

This study was done with a purpose of assessing the impact of marine safety challenges on Lake Victoria‘s marine tourism development in Uganda using the study area of Kasenyi, Nakiwoogo Entebbe and Bugala. The study objectives were to describe how marine tourism safety is catered for under existing maritime laws and regulations, to examine the extent to which marine tourism operations adhere to the existing maritime laws and regulations on Lake Victoria and to assess the impact of maritime safety on marine tourism development on Lake Victoria. Data collection from the field was carefully edited, sorted and coded to eliminate the inconsistencies in error that would be made during data collection. Data was then subjected to further analysis in SPSS Version 17.0 a computer package which helped in generating statistical summaries where conclusions were drawn. The study established that 37.8% of the tourists and local community respondents are aware of the law of wearing a life jacket while on water. The greatest impact of marine tourism safety with 49.2% of respondents from community agree that marine tourism safety encourages innovations through increased investment which arise the expectations and confidence of the tourists to participate in the marine tourism activities: 29.7% of the tourists engage in boat cruising, followed by 14.6% engaging in Beach sports like volley ball and soccer. This study revealed that inadequacy of fund was the major challenge facing the management of the marine tourism safety at the sites, limited awareness about marine tourism safety measures and high cost of marine tourism safety equipment and maintenance of tourist vessels hinder the implementations of marine tourism safety measures. The highest percentage (8.7%) of the respondents from marine tourists and people in the local communities near marine tourism sites around Lake Victoria recommended advertising in form of banners, posters, television programs and social media platforms to increase awareness of the marine tourism safety measures. The conclusions drawn from this study were that the major challenge facing marine tourism safety especially for inland water bodies in East Africa like a case of Lake Victoria is inadequate finances to facilitate the management, planning and implementation of marine safety regulations and this can be addressed through reducing over dependency on Government financial support.