Fonte: Journal of Tourism & Development; Vol 41 (2023); 9-19
Palavras-chave:
Resumo: Community participation is a key ingredient to sustainable tourism development in local communities. Yet, community participation is limited in the Capricorn District of Limpopo because communities are not aware of the developmental extent and potential of tourism. The purpose of this paper is to analyse community participation in tourism in the Capricorn District of Limpopo. This study analysed community participation in tourism by making use of a survey, as a result, the quantitative research method was the most suitable and suited for the study. This study was a cross-sectional design study, where data was collected at a single point in time from a group of respondents (communities in the Capricorn District). A questionnaire was distributed to 550 respondents in this study. The population sample for this study was the Polokwane, Molemole, Blouberg, and Lepelle Nkumpi communities of the Capricorn District. These communities thus formed the target population. The population (N) of the Capricorn District is estimated at around 1.3 million. Therefore, through stratified random sampling, a sample size of n=394 was sufficient for this study. The results indicated that tourism awareness, community participation benefits, and tourism development have strong and positive relationships, signifying the importance of benefits and encouraging the community to take part and be involved in tourism. The community in Capricorn District of Limpopo indicated that community participation is driven by awareness, good management practices, and support from stakeholders, among other factors. Managerial implications are that when tourism policies are being developed, local communities want to be integrated and incorporated into the current systems in order to influence policymakers in developing policies that fulfill their needs and defend their interests.
